[SEL] OT: Spindle Oil, Lathes & Hammonds

[guitronics]

John: You sure know your Hammond stuff. I'm not a keyboard player,I'm a 
guitar picker.My younger brother in Florida has been in a Blues/Rock 
band(Redeye Express) for 15 years or so.His keyboard player was dragging 
a B3 and one or 2 Leslies all over....but it was a vintage instrument, 
and started having problems.He has it in his band room, with the 
Leslies....the Leslies got motors rebuilt 3 yrs. ago....Now he has some 
kinda newfangled Electronic (Portable) setup,and darned if it doesn't 
sound EXACTLY like the B3 + Leslies! He has had people Beg him to sell 
any part of the B3 setup, but is keeping it as an investment,and uses it 
occasionally as a "Stationary Model".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Culp wrote:

> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> SEL mailing list
> SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com
> http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/sel
>