[SEL] Not Quite OT: Gray Motor (And Hammond Organ) Trivia

[John Culp]

> You bring back memories -  Used to have an "Organ Trio" band.(Bobby
> Kasper Trio)
> The organist had a C3 (Church Model) that we hauled around and carried 
> up
> steps and over bars, etc. Heavy bugger.

Yeah, a C3's a pretty big lump to lug around. They've been more favored 
by English players than B3s, I think just because there were more of 
them over there.

> About Leslie speakers - I was probably one of the first to ever use a
> Leslie spinning horn on top of my guitar amp. Really a neat sound.  
> Three
> Dog Night used it on "Just an old fashioned love song".

Leslies are a big part of the classic Hammond sound, and something you 
hear over and over in classic rock music is a steady high note held on 
a Hammond while the Leslie's cranked up from low speed to high speed.

Today I've been listening to "The Best of Deep Purple," and their 
organist Jon Lord made mighty good use of his B3. Back in the '70s I 
was a huge fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer's music. Keith Emerson used 
the Hammonds a lot as well as synthesizers. He did some pretty 
unspeakable things to a little L-100 spinet in concert. It kept right 
on playing, though. His roadies reinforced the case with angle iron and 
put retainers on the tubes so they wouldn't bounce out when he pulled 
it over on himself and stabbed it with knives, kicked it off, sometimes 
dropped it off the stage...

Today I've also managed to get the tone generator of that M3 lubricated 
and got the drive clutch of the start motor unstuck so it'll start 
itself. Had to spin the shaft by hand at first. All the playing stuff 
works, but the volume is very low. Now we're talking tube amp issues, 
and I'm confident that's something I can sort out and fix. Sort of like 
that first start on an old engine, this is the first time this thing's 
spoken in several years.
:-)

John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA