Tone Generator Recap Part 3 - Hammond Concert E (EV)

This organ is refreshed, totally. Not even a comparison to its former self.

For detail photos of this and other projects I've worked on or am in the process of: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.536520892376.2048954.170502199

1938 Concert model EV. Great/Pedal division to 31H and Swell to 31A Leslies.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hammond
• Organ
• Tone
• Generator
• Recap
• Replace
• Capacitor
• Capacitors
• Concert
• Model
• EV

[polara01]

Hello, first off thanks for all these wonderful vids with these rare and awesome hammonds! You are definitely the Bob Villa of Hammond Restoration! I really look forward to them. I was following your progress on the model E and was wondering if you also recapped the chorus generator? If you did it would be a real treat to hear the difference there as your previous video showed the "before" tone in detail. Hope you can do that it would be great! BTW great playing too!

[Organgrinder010]

@polara01 There are no caps on the chorus generator, but thanks!

[MetaraonShadow]

Great sound. I have a B3 probably a 57' and I want to get it recapped all around. Any advice. I'm out in LA and there aren't any standout organ shops that I can think of, on top of so many grinders from way back seemingly against it, I've heard now three recapped organs and my ear says go ahead. Is this something that anyone who says they can do, probably can or isn't something I could regret? I've read that there are basically two calibrations in use, both guessitmates. Thoughts?

[Organgrinder010]

@MetaraonShadow It's not a difficult procedure at all, once you understand what is happening electronically. This is why I always recommend scoping the output of each tonewheel and graphing it before and after the job. That way you have a physical, visual reference to know why the organ sounds different. In this case, the recapped tonewheels put out on average 2.5x more voltage than original. The result is a stronger, cleaner signal. Some prefer the old stock sound. I prefer to push drawbars in.

[Maxxarcade]

OMG what a sweet project! The first bit gave me goosebumps :-)

What method did you use to do the soldering/desoldering? It looks like it would be a lot of work to completely remove the old cap leads if they were wrapped around the terminals. Just looking at it makes my back hurt!

I can't wait to hear the whole organ working with both of those big Leslies. It will be amazing.

[Organgrinder010]

@Maxxarcade The originals were just lightly crimped hooks then soldered, pretty nice of them! They came off much easier than I thought.

[Peter0656]

Would like to see you recalibrate with adding or subtracting capacitance. I would agree that moving magnets is very risky, especially without the special factory tool they used. Are cap values a problem though?

[billynoful]

Where and how did you learn to rebuild and restore hammond organs?

[MetaraonShadow]

@southerner66 I've decided to re-everything mine. I understand what the purist are but a player's ear is going to dictate the settings regardless. So its better to have everything possible available vs. a greatly diminished shell of a beast which I think unacceptable.

[Zylstra555]

Did you happen to make a video of what it sounded like before? Our Hammond A-105 has really been loosing its brilliance over time, the external Leslie improved the sound a bit but ti still feels like it is missing something (that's why, as I mentioned on another video to you, we are considering replacement with an Allen, which would be more suitable for our church and the music we play).

[southerner66]

Nice job! A client of mine has a 1958 B-3 that we recapped, and it's one of the best sounding Hammonds I've ever heard. I agree with you that I'd rather push the drawbars in or turn the tone control on the preamp down as opposed to having the high end limited by wildly out-of-value parts. Real pipe organs can be very bright-sounding, so if Hammond set out to design a substitute for them, the substitute would have had to be able to produce comparable tones.

[Denvermorgan2000]

Its great to hear a hammond as it would have sounded when new thanks for this series wonderful job!

[Denvermorgan2000]

Wow the organ sounds amazing great job!

[whisk0r]

mmm I'd love to my M3 back up to par!