[SEL] OT: Spindle Oil, Lathes & Hammonds

[John Culp]

Don, your son likely knows this, but the tone generators need lubing 
annually. When the organs first came out they said 3 months, then 
decided that was too much. There are three cups on the back, at least 
of the M3 model I've been working on; I think some models have two. 
You're supposed to put in enough oil to fill the cups 3/4 full, but 
they're really funnels so you don't try to keep them full. The cups in 
the cover over the tone generator are funnels that drip into similar 
cup/funnels on the inside, right on the tone generator, and they drip 
into that copper trough I mentioned. From there the cotton threads wick 
it to the bearings.

If the thing's stuck and won't turn over, there are a few likely fixes. 
It's actually quite unusual for either the start or run motors to burn 
out. Sometimes switches go bad and have to be replaced. More often, the 
bearings have gone dry from lack of oiling, and old oil may have gummed 
up in them. Fully oiling the thing and letting it sit for a week or so 
is the first thing to do. Find that Bendix drive I mentioned and put a 
little oil directly on it. Work the sliding gear back and forth to make 
sure it's free and oiled. If it's sticking, you'll hear the start motor 
whir and grind, but the tone generator never spools up. If the tone 
generator bearings are gummed up, after time for the oil to penetrate 
to the bearings you may have to give it a boost by hand to start it. On 
the left side of the generator looking from the back, there's a wheel 
attached to the main shaft. You can manipulate the start switch by 
reaching around from the back with the left hand while giving that 
wheel a shove with the right hand, turning it over the top toward the 
front of the organ. I had to do that with this M3 that hadn't been 
oiled in 5 years. Once it's going, let it run a while and it'll free 
itself up as long as it's got new, fresh oil in it. The normal starting 
drill is to hold the "Start" switch for about 8 seconds, continue 
holding it while flipping on the "Run" switch, then after about 4 more 
seconds the "Start" switch can be released. Turning on the "Run" switch 
turns on the amplifier.

I'm still hunting for a Hammond of my own. The Loyal Bereans weren't 
doing anything with this one, of course, till I fixed it up, but now I 
think they've got somebody playing it. I'll be glad to maintain it as 
long as they're using it, but I may make 'em an offer for it at their 
next class meeting and see what they say. Found a guy out in St. 
Joseph, Missouri with an A-100 at a very reasonable asking price a 
while back, but he's been very slow responding and hasn't gotten back 
to me in weeks. I think he's out of the picture. Got a tantalizing 
report from a friend in a nearby music store of a little Pentecostal 
church that's maybe going to ditch their C3 with Leslies for a modern 
keyboard, but the only contact info I've got's a cell phone that's 
never answered and has no voice mail. Can't find any further info on 
the church anywhere.

As for B3s, guitronics, yeah, they're cool. But they've gotten 
overpriced. C3s are identical, in a different style case. The A100 
series has the innards of the B3 combined with the power amplifier and 
speakers of the Hammond FR40 tone cabinet in a spinet-like case, so it 
was a very practical organ for home use with limited space. They don't 
sell for nearly as much as B3s, because a lot of people don't know 
they're the same internally. The M3 spinet I'm working on is also 
similar in many ways to the B3 and others of the -3 series, but has 
fewer keys and pedals, has a built-in power amp and speaker for 
stand-alone use without a tone cabinet or Leslie, has no presets, and 
lacks the "foldback" connections that keep all the drawbars active on 
the higher notes by "folding back" to the harmonics of the same note an 
octave down. The M3's nicknamed the "Baby B3" because of its tonal 
similarities. It's popular to add foldback kits to the spinets, but 
it's a lot of work. Any of these things can be hooked to a Leslie, but 
Leslies have gotten pricey. Ebay's largely turned around the giving 
away or throwing away of these organs (and Leslies) that was so common 
till very recently.

BTW, if you remember Booker T. & The M.G.s' "Green Onions," that was 
recorded with an M3, no Leslie. Remember Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade 
of Pale?" An M102 spinet.

Keith Emerson used to get really rough with his M102, wrestling with it 
onstage, stabbing big knives into it, pulling it over on himself, 
throwing it offstage... The roadies reinforced the case with angle iron 
and put retainers on the tubes to keep them from jolting out, but the 
little Hammond kept right on playing for years. When he hit it big with 
Emerson, Lake and Palmer (who sold more albums than anyone else in the 
'70s), he went mainly to a C3 with Leslies and started supplementing it 
with a synth.

John

On Mar 26, 2005, at 9:52 AM, Don wrote:

> Hi bro John
> Gee tnx fer the info on the hammon My son has 3 of them and thats 
> sounds just like the thing it needs as it doesn"t want to spool up..


John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA