Hammond Organs

[greatcyber]

Just got back from trying out the Commodore. Unfortunately, the pedalboard was not hooked up but was sitting next to the organ. The guy at the shop said he couldn't put it in by himself, but there really wasn't enough room for him to have done it anyway.

The organ is dirty, of course, from being in storage and it has one broken tab for some instrumental sound. All of the drawbars work as do the presets.

The ONLY problem I could hear was that no matter which settings were being used out of the six octaves on the lower manual the highest 4 "c" notes sort of "chirped" when played. A piano tech there told me that they had a similar experience during the Jazz Festival and it turned out to be a loose wire that needed to be soldered. They gave me the name and number of an allegedly fabulous organ technician in the area.

I also read where organs that have been in storage probably need to have their contacts cleaned with something (it's called ox something) and that it is strong enough to get the crud off the contacts but not caustic enough to damage them.

So, I am going to call the tech and ask what he thinks. Bottom line, I am still planning on purchasing the organ. I still feel that $500 is a good deal for purchase and delivery. It has built in leslies so I don't need even more extra space for separate speakers, luckily. I know they sound better, but space is an issue for us. I'm going to have the organ delivered next week.

The place was really incredible. It was inside a piano tuner's storage facility and workshop. There were pianos and pieces thereof in just about every configuration you could possibly imagine. Lots of antiques. From what I saw, they know their pianos and restore them with the utmost of care.

Film at 11.

Stephen

 

[Krummhorn]

Great to hear that things went well, Stephen.
Sounds like this organ really wound up in the best storage place possible. I would shudder to think what kinds of extensive damage could have been incurred at a non musical instrument warehouse. Big difference when musicians or those who truly appreciate musical instruments are the ones doing the moving and storing.

Contact points can be fussy - especially when they are not used for an extended period of time. De-Oxit might be the contact solution you may have read about - I've heard of it being used for this purpose on older electronic instruments.

Years ago as an Allen Organ road technician, I used a newer dollar bill to clean the contact points when I had nothing else to use on a service call.

 

[jvhldb]

.... (it's called ox something) and that it is strong enough to get the crud off the contacts but not caustic enough to damage them.

Stephen

I serviced my Yamaha last month using "electric contact cleaner", that's all I could find in the RSA. Worked like a charm.

 

[greatcyber]

KH, yes it was De-oxit that I read about using. jvhldb, thanks for the input. I'm going to see what the organ tech feels would be the best solution for the problem. The bottom line, of course, is to get all of the keys in working order without "chirping." It was really a strange sound...and obnoxious. Stephen

 

[greatcyber]

Today, it arrived at long last.

It's too bad that the drivers forgot to load the bench onto the truck. I won't get that until next week some time. Doesn't it firgure? Now, if I can only find that organ tech's name that they gave me a couple of weeks ago I'll set about having it serviced.

I'll keep you updated as to how it goes turning this into a Midi beast.

Stephen

 

[Krummhorn]

Stephen,

Impressive picture - I mean the organ looks like new with all the chrome pieces. The whole organ looks in very good shape.

Bummers about the bench - you could fake it with a picnic table bench and some pillows ... :crazy:

 

[Mat]

It looks great. Looking forward to hear you play it.

 

[greatcyber]

Thanks guys. I think it is going to be a fun project...either that or a lesson in Extreme Frustration. But, thanks to CT's postings of all the PDF music it will be fun to dive in once I can actually sit on something that straddles the pedals.

Stephen

 

[matsoljare]

That's a very interesting looking Hammond. Are there any features that distinguish it from the "classic" Hammond type, sound wise?

 

[greatcyber]

Other than the built in "poly-syntheses/percussion" (boy, is that dated or what?) it does sound quite a bit like the B3 I learned on. I can't really play it yet because of a problem with 5 of the "C" notes. 4 on the lower and the high C on the pedalboard "chirp" instead of play the note. When I bought it, they thought it was from a loose wire. I'm waiting to get the organ tech's number and have it thoroughly serviced before I start "modifying" it.

Stephen

 

[Krummhorn]

Stephen,

Any progress update on this project?

 

[greatcyber]

Funny you should ask... Just 2 days ago I decided to take the back off, lift the top up and fold down the "innerds." I then used the de-oxit to clean up most of the contacts. Since that didn't help with the chiprping c's, I sent another email to the piano storage place from which I purchased the organ and once again asked for the info for an organ tech. They responded yesterday with the name and number of a tech but then told me that they only "know" of him but have no personal experience with him and have never met him so they couldn't vouch for his expertise. They wished me luck.

I have a call in to him and hope to have him out at his earliest convenience to give me his opinion. I'm sure we'll start with a good cleaning and oiling and go from there. As soon as the c's are fixed then I will start with the modification process to turn it into a midi machine (sorry Hammond). My software packages can make waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy better sounds than the organ. If it turns out that once I start to use midi with it that the original Hammond sounds go away, I can always use "emulated Hammond synths" from one of about a dozen packages I have now amassed.

I'll surely keep you posted as the progression continues. I'll take a pic of the bench later on. It is in keeping with the style of the organ, but I think it is definitely "unusual" in appearance.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha GC,

Since you're talking about hammonds, listen to this lass and her *midied* hammond:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl5-ohFTEcU&NR=1&fmt=18

Cheerio,

CD

 

[greatcyber]

Hi CD,

I REALLY appreciated hearing that. We had a B-3 at home when I was little and that is what I learned on. We had the huge separate cabinet leslie and added a "rhythm ace" to it. My mom always wanted to add a "string base" to it but never got around to affording it.

My Hammond has the string base but only an internal Leslie.

Me thinks I'm going to have a blast with this project!

BTW, did you ever get that Modart Pianoteq program?

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha GC,

Glad you liked Barbara Dennerlein. She's my and my Lady's fave hammond stylist.

Thanx for asking me about the Modart Pianoteq program. I have been so busy with work, domestics, and other projects on my plate. So, thanx for reminding me - its still on the agenda for acquisition and learning

Cheerio,

CD

 

[greatcyber]

CD, glad to be a memory jogger.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha GC,

I do verily and truly appreciate your most magnanimous and thoughtful gesture of sending a compressed file. May I take a *raincheck* on that please? Thanx.

Cheerio,

CD

 

[Albert]

I suggest the first thing you do before even attempting to start the organ is oil the generator. The generator turns at fairly high speed, and I have met several that were really in need of new bearings because of neglecting the lubrication. Hammond generator oil is readily available, even on eBay.

PS - it's not a sound I care for, except in blues.

 

[Mat]

Hi Stephen,

Well, it's been a while since your last update. And I'd like to hear more about your project. Actually, I do have some questions.

After turning it into a MIDI machine, are you going to *remove* the original Hammond sound somehow?

What do you actually mean by a MIDI machine?

How's the unusual bench working you?


I've been planing to get myself a used (yeah, economics comes first...) keyboard and turn it into a poor substitute (yeah, economics again) of Hammond organ. There's this B4 software available and I think I might get that for myself. Unfortunately, it's not all that easy to find used keyboard here. Furthermore, there's matter of some kind of drawbars and the rest of *switches* controller. Of course, I could controll it all with the computer mouse but the inconvenience... Original Hammond controller costs nearly $400. Looking for a alternative way. Any thoughts?



Cheers and good luck with the beast

 

[greatcyber]

Hi Mat,

Well, I really haven't started to work on the Hammond conversion too much yet (also economics). I am not quite sure about exactly what will be the best route for me and until I find a good organ tech to give me an opinion I am kind of at a stand still.

I also have the B4 software which makes my casio sound just like the Hammond B3. Since there is an internal Leslie speaker in the Hammond I think it would be silly to remove it. But as for the other internal sounds, I was thinking about just putting a computer inside the Hammond and controlling the sounds with software. There are connectors, I think they are called MOP56, or something similar, but can be found by reading MIDI forums which will allow you to use the switches on the computer to trigger MIDI control changes, etc.

Since I really wanted to get pipe organ sounds, it might just be easier to use an internal computer for this. To control different stops, couplers, etc. I am planning on getting 2 touch screen monitors which will act as virtual stops so I wouldn't be restricted to using a mouse. Of course, I want to make it as easy as possible to change sounds while playing.

Reason has some really nice sound banks. Again, back to economics, if you check out newsgoups, either through your email program (i.e. Outlook) or just get a standalone program, you can get access to all sorts of programs for free. I use giganews.com as my newsreader and the provider is usenet. There are many free sites, but I pay for the premium service (about $20USD/month). That has allowed me to get programs to try to see if they are actually what can be usable for what I want to do. This is also how I download movies and just hook my laptop up to my plasma tv and watch movies that way.

Since I have this problem with the organ which makes some of the "c" notes on the lower manual and one on the pedalboard not work, but rather "chirp" I have this sneaking feeling that it will be expensive to fix. Yet one tech told me that it might be as simple as a loose wire to fix that problem. I have used De-oxit on the contacts to clean off the crud as the organ was in storage for a while, but that didn't fix the problem.

If it turns out that it will cost more than $500 to repair the Hammond, then I think that putting a computer in and using that for ALL of the internal sounds would be a wiser choice for me. I did purchase a midid foot controller that has 2 swell shoes as well as 10 foot switches which can be used as couplers or for selecting different sound banks.

Since several of the tabs are loose and would need to be replaced that is part of my dilemma. If it doesn't cost too much to fix those, then I will go ahead and do that. If that is the case, then I would still have the function of the original Hammond and it's sounds as well as the option of using software driven sounds via the computer.

Let me go through my bookmarks and find the midi forums which I have been researching and I will post the links here and provide you with a better understanding of what I am talking about. But from what I remember, a MOP unit is around $99USD and would control one keyboard. So I would need 3: one each for the manuals and the pedalboard. External midi controllers can be purchased for ease of changing sounds and I am definitely going for easy and not complex. But I do plan on cutting away the fabric which covers the speakers and enlarging the opening where the swell shoe is to make room for the midi foot controller. This will give me 3 swell shoes which will control swell, great and crescendo.

I'm looking to see if I can find push button pistons knobs and will drill holes between the manuals to add these. Then, of course, I would need to get yet another MOP unit to enable these to "talk" to the software.

Check my profile and feel free to email me with specific questions and I can go into a little more detail and provide you with some of the "tricks" I have used to get where I am so far.

I also have found 2 programs (freeware) called Organ Tool and Organizer http://www.organtool.nl/ which allow you to set presets, but you still need to select with a mouse.

Have a good one.