Reanimating a '65 tone wheel organ: a Hammond L-122

35. Van Iterson Muziek

2010-06-18T21:49:00.000+02:00

Van Iterson Muziek
http://www.vanitersonmuziek.nl

34. 1968 Hammond L122 tonewheel spinet restored and running

2009-11-29T13:53:00.004+01:00

Cheers to Donald 'Deep' Jeffs from Sydney, Australia and his L-122...

33. Vibrato | Volume pedal

2009-11-23T11:53:00.010+01:00

Long time no write. This doesn't imply nothing happened here. Among other things that went on, yesterday I unscrewed the volume pedal and cleaned it. I did not open the pedal to clean the inside, because the volume is working fine - no need to do that...

Also there a lot of dust and stuff gathered around. With the pedal removed, I could peek at the pedals from the side. Dust there too, of course, but not too bad. Maybe one day I´ll somehow lift the organ up so I can get to work at the bottom of it.

In my last post I mentioned the vibrato stopping from functioning. I didn't know how, but out of the blue it started working again. And it is just as fine as it was.

:-) Happy to be back again!

32. The organ is here, it is here!!!

2009-01-11T21:14:00.000+01:00

It is here!!!
:-)
And a miracle has happened with the vibrato function. More soon...
R.

31. New project - the move!

2008-12-10T08:19:00.002+01:00

The Hammond has to move from where it is now to my place. As I live on the second floor, and the Hammond is too big for the stairway of the old building, I am going to take the Hammond apart and move it by bits!
See you soon!
Rogier

30. New post soon

2008-11-01T21:15:00.005+01:00

I've been busy with other things (for instance, this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4907540922643918266). Within two weeks or so I will post a video which will bring the updates on my L-122.
Thanks for holding on!
Rogier

29. Focus: Focus 2

2008-08-29T22:18:00.000+02:00

Look at what gem Thijs van Leer is playing on...

29. P.U.R.E.: Hammond and drums - from the Netherlands

2008-08-27T18:24:00.003+02:00

"P.U.R.E brings a a blend of funk music, combined with jazz, soul and hiphop. Jazz was orinally dance music, and P.U.R.E brings jazz back to the dancefloor. These cats are funky as hell and want to see everybody movin' and groovin' into the music. So move your hips and get into the groove!"

Please do check out their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/puredrumsandorgan

Below a few low quality vids of P.U.R.E.
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28. Almost finished

2008-08-27T18:20:00.002+02:00

Still crazy after all those weeks.

The organ is almost finished. Apart from the two vibrato tabs, everything seems to be working. I sent a request for L-122 photo's of the preset wirings to The Hamtech Technical Discussion List. I recieved two photos. It turned out that I had the grey wire soldered wrong. I soldered the yellow, the blue and the grey wires accoring to the photographs.

Now all the tabs are working. So far so very good.

I don't wish it to be over just jet! I'll finish it in just a week.

Regards,

Rogier

27. Wires from drawbar housing: yellow, blue

2008-08-17T18:30:00.007+02:00

Above are some pictures of the wires coming from the drawbar housing. You will see that the yellow and the blue wire aren't soldered to where they belong. They were broken off already when I bought the organ. There is a wire schematiscs scan available. But I'd rather see some pictures of other L-122 owners, showing exactly how it should be done.

I replaced the original wires (the yellow, the blue, the grey and the black ones) with newer and longer wires. The grey-black striped wire replaced an all grey wire. The old ones were about 11,5 cm (4,5 inches).

Take care,
Roger

26. It's alive! It's alive!

2008-08-14T16:44:00.005+02:00

The best news after a long period of silence!!! The Hammond lives! I managed to solder two remaining wires together. I discouvered why the 2nd and 3rd percussion tab switches aren't working that well and I even got the trumpet and the full organ tab switches to work. Only the vibrato switches and the clarinet switches will not work (yet...).

Later on I will report more in detail, and I will bring more structure in my messages on my blog.

Greetings from a thrilled Roger.

25. Eric's new video

2008-07-11T16:34:00.004+02:00

Eric posted a video on YouTube (I requested it, alotta thanks Eric!), where he focusus deeper on the challenges the L-143 gives him.

L143 help

24. Vid! My second video on my L-122, this time no stills but a real movie!

2008-07-10T23:38:00.003+02:00

A '65 Hammond tone wheel organ: L-122, pt. 2

23. Pipe organ and B3 playing Bach

2008-07-06T04:51:00.000+02:00

Bach Duet - Pipe Organ & Hammond B3 with Georg Ziethe & Barbara Dennerlein
http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/H2PpWnngQyV0Fl8pa

22.Vid tomorrow

2008-07-04T18:00:00.002+02:00

Monday I intent to upload a video, introducing my L-122, in the state it is now.
R.

21. The L-143's TWG

2008-07-01T17:44:00.003+02:00

After putting a lot of effort in restoring Eric's L-143, the TWG died. Maybe it has to be, maybe not. Maybe it did it to make some more space for the future M-3. Or maybe for their twins who are on their way. (Congrats!) For now he will stick with it for a while, maybe there's another TWG somewhere waiting for Eric.

Whatever happens, Eric already boosted my confidence in going on with my reanimation project. I thank you for that! There are Hammond-lovers, they are out there, of course. And, there are L-100 series lovers! Great to hear the sound of an actual L-100 series in a YouTube video...

All the best,

R.

http://hammondl143.blogspot.com/

20. D'Angelo ~ Brown Sugar

2008-06-27T12:16:00.001+02:00

Listen to the organ...sweet!!!

19. Hammond L143 Video Journal

2008-06-25T11:47:00.006+02:00

Hey,

Eric has his first video of his L-143 on YouTube. Check his message from monday june the 23rd for the link to the vid: http://hammondl143.blogspot.com/ .

His organ sounds much better then mine when I started mine up for the first time. The volume of my organ was so soft, scary soft. Nothing worked to crank it up.

I assume the cleaning of especially the drawbar housing is a world of difference already. And, of course (thnx E.) the drawbars themself. I hope the soft-volume-problem is to be fixed with soldering broken wires back on the drawbar housing, some tab switches and the oiling the generator and the motor with Hammond oil. And I do not hope the problem is in one of the tube amps. Working with amps is out of my league. But, I guess it is a good time to learn, then.

Cheers,

Rogier

18. Linking to L-100 series sites

2008-06-23T10:38:00.016+02:00

Thanks to Eric I decided to publish another link section among the already many link sections in the right hand column on this blog. This link section will incorporate only links to websites dedicated to the Hammond L-100 series. Later on I will search for other websites alike and I will post them. (Hope there are more than a handful).

Model: L-100;
Production years: 1961 to 1972;
Synopsis: Spinet Model with mechanical tonewheel generator and non-scanner vibrato;
Cabinet size: 43.5 x 23 x 44.5 (WDH, inches);
Finish: L-101: Traditional, Mahogany | L-102: Contemporary, Walnut | L-103: French Provincial, Cherry | L-111: Traditional, Mahogany | L-112: Contemporary, Mahogany | L-122: Contemporary, Walnut | L-133: French Provincial, Cherry | L-143: French Provincial, Pecan | L16?: had folding lid | L-100P: portable version | L-200: style had built in Leslie;
Manuals: Two 44-note offset manuals with a 13 note pedalboard. 9 drawbars upper manual, 7 for lower;
Amp/output: Built in amp and speakers;
Features: Two levels of vibrato and chorus, small selection of preset tabs, reverb with bright/soft settings. Percussion and chorus adjustable inside the cabinet.

Source: The Hammond FAQ > Hammond and Leslie models

17. Our man in Oklahoma, his L-143 and his blog

2008-06-22T10:29:00.023+02:00

Great news! Eric from Broken Arrow (Oklahoma, USA) bought himself an L-143, he writes me. The L-143 model cabinet is made of French Provincial pecan wood, as is the M-143.

"(...) I just recently bought a L143. I'm afraid I have the same problem as you, in that I will need to take A LOT of time to restore this organ. I bought it from a man who had it in storage for 5 years.......and the mice droppings to prove it. It was horrible. Several of the drawbar contact rods have been oxidized so badly, they've broken.

My question is, would you mind posting a picture of where your Leslie plugs in,.... I have looked and looked, and I believe mine does not have a slot for the Leslie."

And, readers: please do visit Eric's recently launched blog on his L-143 (with tasty eye-candy too!!!), on where he keeps the world updated on his 'reanimation' project alike:
http://hammondl143.blogspot.com

and his MySpace place:
http://www.myspace.com/ericflowers .

I'm really thrilled with Eric buying a geniune L-143, restoring it and publish a blog on it. This is one of the goals of my blog: to inform others in simular situations, and...to learn from others as well! Now Eric and I can share advice, tips, pictures, videos, compliments... :-)

16. Behold!: Cleaning a drawbar of a Hammond L-122 | Part 1 of 2

2008-06-21T21:25:00.006+02:00

It is now 10:50 hrs UTC/GMT +1 hours, June 22. I am shooting a new video. It will be on-line tomorrow.
Regards,
R.

15. Video

2008-06-20T12:23:00.003+02:00

I'm trying to make a video with a mobile phone of me cleaning a drawbar. Let's see how it turns out. More to come..!

14. YouTube video of my Hammond L-122

2008-06-16T07:01:00.010+02:00

I just uploaded a YouTube video which I made out of lots of pictures. 06:30 Minutes of Hammond-lover eye candy...can you handle it?! Here's episode one:

A '65 Hammond tonewheel organ: L-122, pt 1 (long version)

13. Cleaning test the 2nd: one drawbar

2008-06-14T22:35:00.014+02:00

I just cleaned one drawbar with alcohol. It is indeed clean and sound! Just see the difference. 'Tis so sweet. I also cleaned three quarters of the metal tubes inside the drawbar house. More on this and the other drawbars tomorrow...

12. Mr. Lassche and mr. Kok from Hammond Suzuki Europe

2008-06-11T00:00:00.080+02:00

I hit a major milestone yesterday: I bought my bottle of Hammond oil! I consider this a necessity, because without this particular oil, I wouldn't dare to start the motor again, for it has not seen any oil in quite some years.

I bought it at Hammond Suzuki Europe in Vianen, The Netherlands. I was welcomed by Siemens Lassche (President; behind the 'New B-3 'Ultimo'') and Jan Kok (Director; leaning on the Leslie).

While having tea we talked about the new 'XK-3c', the 'New B-3 Portable', the 'New B-3 'Ultimo'', the 'M-44 'Ultimo'' and more. They told me about their business trip -they just returned from- to the factory in Japan, and the astonishing amount of research that goes into the Digital Tone Wheel™ Sound Engine, among others. They even remebered the price for a new L-122, back in the day between '62 and '72: being 4.589,- Dutch guilders

Also, they find the growing involvement of younger generations in vintage instruments and their modern versions a very interesting trend. (This brings to mind an article on this topic, in Dutch.) That's also why they were so curious in how I became so interested in Hammond organs. I shared them my earliest experiences with a Hammond organ, when being a young teen. I listened to evergreens on the radio like Procul Harum's A whiter shade of pale, Santana's Samba pa' ti, Deep Purple's Smoke on the water, Booker T. and the MG's Green Onions.

But I vividly remember one song...by Ray Charles singing, accompanied by flute and a Hammond organ. It was Georgia on my mind. I have never heard such deepness and emotions of such magnitude radiating from a rendition of this song ever since. It got me to tears every time I listened to it. And I played it a lot!

Before I went on my way, we exchanged contact data to keep in touch. On my way out, I found out I forgot their business card on the table. I went back, and guess what mr. Lassche was playing while demonstrating the XK-3c to a client (who by the way drove over 600 miles to get there)? Georgia on my mind!

It was a pleasure to meet these gents.

Hammond Suzuki Europe B.V.

http://www.hammondsuzuki.com/

11. Passion

2008-06-10T02:26:00.015+02:00

b3nuT's text on his website just radiates with passion: "The Hammond organ. That inimitable purr, growl, roar, and scream. That sublime pad behind an acoustic guitar. That full-afterburner smear up the keyboard with all the drawbars pulled out and the Leslies spooling up. That funky, soulful percussive bark that just oozes with chicken grease and brings to mind a trio of hot cats cookin' in a small jazz club. The plaintive wail of gospel playing that gets you on your knees." (Source: http://theatreorgans.com/b3nuT/

NPR Music, live stream: 'Tony Cox talks with organ master Dr. Lonnie Smith'. (News & Notes, January 27, 2005).

10. Cleaning test: cleaning the drawbar housing with alcohol

2008-06-10T00:34:00.010+02:00

I tested cleaning the hardened grease and filth on the metal tubes inside de drawbar housing. Boiling water does nearly nothing. Alcohol (96%; ketonatus) and a q-tip work miracles!

A quick 'n dirty www-search learns me that 'ketonatus' means that 'acteton' is added, which totally evaporates. So nothing less then maybe some water will stay behind. So, no worries.

Invaluable tip from mr. Van Oosterhout at MusiFix (http://www.musifix.nl/). It works magic, thanks!

09. Guess what I had for breakfast this mornin'...

2008-06-09T14:35:00.007+02:00

And a YouTube video by 'theivorywizard'. :-)

08. Eye candy

2008-06-08T13:17:00.005+02:00

Though I would like to trow all of my photo's on this blog, I collected some of them on a more convenient location: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27436446@N05/). I will adjust their resolution to a more workable size soon, also I will ad titles and descriptions. Or, for a slideshow of them, feel free to look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27436446@N05/show/.

07. On lubing your organ

2008-06-08T12:55:00.012+02:00

For the bits and piece of your tone generator to perform without any embarassement, you need a special lube. Hammond developed a special lubricant, just right for the job. Other types of oil just will not do. With 'Hammond Oil', you are garanteed of long, lasting, happy and above all, satisfying playing. Your partner will definitely notice the difference, making life at home more comfortable than you ever dreamed of.

Talk to your doctor today!

Please read the prescription before use: http://www.retrokeys.co.uk/maintenance.html .

No, seriously. Hammond oil is designed for only tonewheel generators, it is actually a wax free highly refined turbine oil. When administering oil, the oil travels via complicated system of cotton threads to every corner of your tonewheel generator universe. Capillary action does the trick. For a neglected generator to be fully lubricated, it could take a day or 5. Don't take 5, take 7 just to be sure.

06. Drawbars and drawbar housing

2008-06-08T01:57:00.002+02:00

The grease in the drawbar housing is dried out, it won't even come off with boiling hot water. I don't have alcohol, I do have spiritus - which is close to it. But I will not take the risk, I'll get some alcohol monday. Tomorrow I'll concentrate on getting these clean:

Samorkate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/korkeesdad/

See picture above: if you know what these letters on the end of these drawbar pieces mean. By all means, let me know!

05. Sour free Vaseline | Hammond oil

2008-06-07T16:30:00.013+02:00

A few weeks ago I attended a concert by jazz pianist Bert van den Brink, a Dutch very brilliant and very charming pianist with a good heart. He played a Hammond B3, with a Leslie 122 and a 147. The best concert I experienced in two years!!! The gifted guy pulled out every sound and soul that resides in the B3, magnificent. The B3 and the Leslies were supplied by mr. Van Oosterhout from MusiFix (www.musifix.nl/). We had a chat after the concert and I told him about buying an L-122.

I called him on the telephone just now to get his advice on cleaning drawbars and the drawbar housing. His advice: get the grease off with alcohol. After cleaning, put contact spray on areas where metal contacts metal. Administer sour free Vaseline for lubrication on where the drawbars touch the housing for a nice smooth ride. (If the package does not mention 'sour free', than it is not sour free. Don't look for it on the average vaseline shelf, but on the shelf with medicinal vaseline.)

And, his tip on where to buy Hammond oil in the province of Utrecht. In Vianen resides Hammond Suzuki Europe. They are much closer to me than I asumed they were! They should have a stash of Hammond oil.

I'm off to the shop to get some alcohol for cleaning the drawbars and its housing with. (96%, With ketonatus. Groceries have it.)

Rog

04. The greasepit

2008-06-07T00:12:00.001+02:00

I cleaned the whole organ. Except for the tone generator and the switches behind the tabs: I don't want to wreck things. I saved the drawbars and it's case for tomorrow.

While putting the bits and pieces together again I experienced that it is clever to have some way to remember where all the different screws belong, for example by grouping them and a quick scetch to visualise things ~ well, I didn't. This sure did put me trough a challenge here and there.

I saved the drawbars and it's housing for last. First thing tomorrow is to clean the grease and dust out of it. Then reasemble and solder a broken wire back to it.

Three of the wires running from the drawbar housing to the tab switches have broken away from where it was soldered to. I discouvered this while playing the organ for the first time. This is a something for tomorrow. I've been working the organ for 6 hours today, I fancy a pint now! I'm off to the jazz club: http://www.sjujazz.nl/.

Cheers,

Roger

03. I'm insane!!!

2008-06-06T03:32:00.002+02:00

Today, well yesterday, I stared working on my organ at appr. 14:30 hrs. I quit at 3 at night.

It was worth it, because...I traveled to the very heart of the organ: the tonewheels in the tone generator.

How sweet!!!

02. A few photo's

2008-06-05T12:20:00.004+02:00

01. The Hammond L-122: So it begins

2008-06-05T11:51:00.003+02:00

Hi there, thanks for visiting.

My first memory of a Hammond organ is from decades ago, when I rented a cd with a song called 'Georgia on my mind'. Ray Charles singing, a flute and a Hammond organ. This song really got to me, deep. Still the best rendition of the song I've ever heard. Lots and lots of years later, I'm the very proud owner of a Hammond organ, a L-122. I bought it a week ago for € 50, and I still can't believe I've got one.

This blog is dedicated to my L-122 and to it's revival 'project'. It is in bad shape, and needs to be reanimated. The goal of this blog is to report on the progress of the project and things I encounter. I hope it could be of use for other people who are in simular situations. And, of course, I would like to learn as much as possible from others, as this is my first endeavour into the bowels of the Hammond organ. So, feel free to post comments!

The organ is in bad shape though: a bruised casing (front, right), most screws missing from the back panel, an elaborate collection of dust/hairs/grease/spiders/webs/space debree and a mot, a horrible mixture of filth and grease in the drawbars and it's casing, rusty axels sticking outside of the tone generator, broken off wires from drawbars and tab switches... The previous owner never cleaned the thing and sure as hell never oiled it too. He said he was afraid to go touch things because he was afraid of the tube amb delevering an electric shock. Who's afraid of a tube amp? Who's afraid of a tube amp, really!!!

Since four years now I work at a jazz club in Utrecht, the SJU Jazzpodium. I am a voluntary concert coordinator. (http://www.sjujazz.nl/) Many years ago they bought it from the local music school. 6 Years ago they sold it. And, the funny thing is, I stumbled upon it searching for organs to buy on the www. I never knew the SJU even had an organ, I discouvered it reading the text in the advertisement. Now, the organ is back again in it's hometown.

I will upload a few photo's and then I'm off to get busy with me organ. ;-) Yesterday I spent 10,5 hours taking it apart and cleaning it. Time just flew away!

Again, feel free to post comments or e-mail me!

Alright, take care.

Rogier