Last organ I had was Yamaha FS-500. It was a beast. Hauling it along with pedals, Leslie, PA system, etc., completely filled my full-sized Chevy van!
DonM

I've dome my time in the trenches with B-3's, Rhodes Suitcases, CS-60's (the 'smaller' sibling to the CS-80, hah!), and entire band van just for the keyboard rig, concert level PA's, 3 phase light shows...

A 45 lb arranger is still a dream come true. When I get a bit older, I can drop 25 lbs easily by moving from the flight case to a padded bag!

Anyway, the way the music biz is going (I'm not in a really NH heavy environment, here on the Gulf Coast), by the time I can't lug my G70 around, there won't BE a music business! It will all be karaoke and DJ's and pimply solo guitarists with looper pedals and auto-tune! I will at least be happy to go out on a high note...

Other than the B3, I can honestly say that my G70 equals or trounces all those older behemoths. It will be a sad day if I find myself looking nostalgically back at a merely 45 lbs keyboard that did EVERYTHING!

Anyway... haven't you guys ever heard of guitarists? We don't hire them to play sounds we already have! We hire them to halve the weight of everything we lug!

I've never owned an FS-500, but we had one as the teacher's instrument at the Yamaha Electone School where I taught for several years. If I remember correctly, it was a triple manual, with the uppermost being made mostly for solos. It was VERY heavy, as I remember moving it around when they were putting in new flooring....a real beast to be sure. I would guess it was around 300 lbs., so you had your work cut out for you, Don.

Back in those days these instruments were as far up the ladder as keyboard technology could go, as much of the newer stuff was first tried out on Yamaha's Electone series...Yamaha's monster GX-1, or "Dream Machine", as Stevie Wonder called it, was in actuality an Electone organ. Nowadays, a Tyros4, or S950 blows this stuff, and pretty well anything else, into the weeds at a fraction of the price, and a portion of the weight.

We were fortunate to be playing at a time when all this stuff was sent to Weight Watchers to be transformed into something so much more manageable, and yet, far more powerful.

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling the Tyros4 will quite likely be my last major investment in an arranger, and at less than 35 lbs., it certainly is within my target weight for a keyboard and has everything I could want in an arranger.

Like many others are experiencing, local "live" arranger playing gigs seem to be getting scarcer with each passing year, and, at 63, I am glad I have been able to "semi-retire" (only doing the occasional Yamaha demo gig) and have also been fortunate enough to be able to move into much more affordable and smaller living quarters, so I guess I've downsized in more ways than just arranger keyboards.

Ian

Yep I remember those day. Carrying around 24-36 par 64 lights and a PA with concert W bins that required removing doors from their hinges at some venues so we could actually get them inside.

And even when we opened for other bands like INXS they would roll up with 3 big rigs full of gear we had to help unload and setup ... one big rig for PA, one for lighting and one for stage gear. Those were the days lol.

Wow! Makes me feel like a 'wuss' for complaining about having to haul around a B3 and Leslie. And yes, I did have to own and keep a full-sized van dedicated soley to hauling that sucker around......but that was true for almost all the organ players at that time. Somehow, I don't seem to remember minding all that much, after all, we were young, strong, and getting lots of ....uh, female companionship . Ahhhh, sweet memories.

chas

I remember I cut both my 147's in half & put a plywood bottom on them to haul them back then, we didn't miss what we DIDN'T have...