B3

  • Thread starter Thread starter notCardio
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notCardio

I walk the line
Aside form the obvious (bulk, weight, etc.), what are the drawbacks to having a real B3? Do they need some sort of specialized maintanence (sp?), or are prone to breaking down, fussy about temperature or humidity, etc.?

I don't mean to lug around, either, just to park it in the studio.

Thanks in advance.
 
They are mechanical devices as much as being electrical. I recall lubricant is one requirement, and oxidation is an enemy in some settings.
 
I've been cruising Craigslist looking for an old Hammond, not necessarily a B3; and some of the other tonewheel models are pretty cheap compared to the B3's. But I'm concerned about the mechanical/electrical aspects of 40-plus year old instruments as complicated as a tonewheel organ.

And IHNFI how I would get a 400-pound organ into my living room.
 
there is real maintenence issues with old hammonds... first as mentioned earlier there's the oil... fill all the cups twice a year.... if the vibrato scanner is gone it MAY be impossible to rebuild... some of the parts are no longer available... then there's the tubes... most of them can be found and or substituted for... there are a few models that use off the wall #'s... if the keyboard doesnt key solidly for each note within a rank it's a serious PITA to clean but can be done... although this is one of the things that contribute to the "individual character" of each organ... i worked on them for years...
 
I'll get flamed for this but I gave up my Hammond and Lesile for
NI B4. A lot easier to carry around, Ed
 
My wife found me a Hammond L-103 for $10. The tone wheel was locked up. I worked on it for weeks with WD40 to free it up and then GENEROUS amounts of Hammond oil for lubrication. WD40 is not a lubricant and was just used to get the tone wheel (which is as complicated as Swiss watch) freed up. I allready had a Leslie 147. I had to fabricate the the interface between the Hammond and the Leslie but if you can solder, it wasn't that hard. Was it all worth it? HELL YES! I had been recording synth Hammond emulations for years and was pretty satisfied but when I started using the real deal it made me want to go back through all the old stuff and rerecord it with the L-103. If you want to hear the L-103, check out "Fruit Of Another" on the link.
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=1331/singles.shtml
 
Track Rat said:
I worked on it for weeks with WD40 to free it up and then GENEROUS amounts of Hammond oil for lubrication. WD40 is not a lubricant and was just used to get the tone wheel (which is as complicated as Swiss watch) freed up. ]
Click to expand...

WD40 is a good trick here but be careful to use the reg oil afterwards... or you're seriously screwed.... i cant count the times we had to try to ressurect one after they thought the WD40 was all it needed... no shit...
 
You can use sewing machine oil. It's $1.97 at walmart and is the same thing.
 
Nothing beats a B3

The Hammond sound is amazing. Just make sure it's properly grounded and shielded. The quantum anomaly it uses for tone generation is a hungry beast and the radiation and neutrino emissions will fry all your gear in a nano-second.
 
I think the question boils down to:

Do you want to spend your time playing music or tinkering with an aging mechanical device in between stints of playing a cool instrument?
 
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