m3 hammond organ

[Horn Head]

Congratulations on getting a real tonewheel Hammond.

The spinets can be made to sound very similar to the consoles (B3, C3, A-100). I just completed full foldback and tapering among other mods on my M-100 and holy smokes, it's now a screamer. Just takes a lot of patience and soldering - pluse a donor organ.

Just posted a note about what I did to my M and then saw this post. Good luck with yours if you decide to start the mod process.

 

[gdmoore28]

A church gave me an M3 many years ago. I don't even play keyboards but I've always been obsessed with the Hammond sound. I adapted the M3 to run a small Leslie and used to sit in my home office and just dabble with it, turning the Leslie on and off, on and off, on and off . . . . I could listen to that sound forever!

GeeDeeEmm

 

[Ed Knelsen]

Congratulations on getting a real tonewheel Hammond.

The spinets can be made to sound very similar to the consoles (B3, C3, A-100). I just completed full foldback and tapering among other mods on my M-100 and holy smokes, it's now a screamer. Just takes a lot of patience and soldering - pluse a donor organ.

Just posted a note about what I did to my M and then saw this post. Good luck with yours if you decide to start the mod process.

What is taper? I have an M3 and just picked up an L111. I've read up on doing the fold back- haven't heard of needing the donor organ. Could you help me? Very interested in making mine scream.

 

[Binkman]

Welcome to the asylum ED!
I'm sure there are parts still avail. and from various suppliers. With age you're probably looking at some pcb repairs like caps and power supply attention etc. Maybe posters can assist with good advice sources.
bink

 

[seacliffe301]

Nice find on the M3. I owned one once, picked up a Leslie 145 to mate with it. That really brings them to life. As was mentioned, it's that classic tone wheel sound. Emerson used both a C3 and L100 on stage, Wakeman, Rod Argent, & Jon Lord all used C3's. Booker T and Boston used L100's. The list goes on & on. Unfortunately, there is very little value with the smaller Hammonds. I sold mine to an old friend who once owned one back in the 70's for $200. He still loves having one back in his stable.
A question for the Hammond experts, the difference between any Hammond "2" vs. "3" is the addition of the percussion circuitry (M2/M3, B2/B3, C2/C3). Doesn't a model that is a "3" automatically include foldback as described? I do recall that a CV vs. C3 did not have foldback.

 

[AdamAnt316]

Nice find on the M3. I owned one once, picked up a Leslie 145 to mate with it. That really brings them to life. As was mentioned, it's that classic tone wheel sound. Emerson used both a C3 and L100 on stage, Wakeman, Rod Argent, & Jon Lord all used C3's. Booker T and Boston used L100's. The list goes on & on. Unfortunately, there is very little value with the smaller Hammonds. I sold mine to an old friend who once owned one back in the 70's for $200. He still loves having one back in his stable.
A question for the Hammond experts, the difference between any Hammond "2" vs. "3" is the addition of the percussion circuitry (M2/M3, B2/B3, C2/C3). Doesn't a model that is a "3" automatically include foldback as described? I do recall that a CV vs. C3 did not have foldback.

I own an original M spinet, referred to by some as the M-1, and it's an interesting instrument. The difference between the M-1, M-2 and M-3 is that the M-2 added separate vibrato switches for each manual to the M, and yes, the M-3 added percussion to the M-2. In spite of this, the M-3 (like the rest of the spinet models, AFAIK) still lacks foldback, so the contacts will have to be added as described here or here. Here's a picture of my M:

And a sample of it being played (before the amplifier crapped out on me ) can be heard here.
-Adam

 

[BillWojo]

I saw him do that in Charlotte, N.C. during the "August Jam" in 1974.

So did I! My older brother and I hitch hiked from NJ, I was 16 at the time and my Mom didn't want him hitch hiking alone. It was an experience I'll never forget.

There is a private Facebook group for all of us August Jam folks, check it out.

BillWojo

 

[Mystic]

The Hammond that Keith Emerson used as his weapon of choice was a C3 which is a scaled up B3.

Or, as we called the C3 in Chicago circa 1960s, The Church Organ. And this was in fact the case @ numerous South Side congregations b/c the "C" model, unlike the "open" base "B" model, rests within an "enclosed" base, thus shielding the organist's -- often a lady -- lower extremities from the view of the parishoners. In the Sixties those ladies didn't wear no trousers, etc., especially @ church on Sundays, if ever.

 

[John James]

So did I! My older brother and I hitch hiked from NJ, I was 16 at the time and my Mom didn't want him hitch hiking alone. It was an experience I'll never forget.

There is a private Facebook group for all of us August Jam folks, check it out.

BillWojo

Yep, I'm there from time to time.

 

[seacliffe301]

Or, as we called the C3 in Chicago circa 1960s, The Church Organ. And this was in fact the case @ numerous South Side congregations b/c the "C" model, unlike the "open" base "B" model, rests within an "enclosed" base, thus shielding the organist's -- often a lady -- lower extremities from the view of the parishoners. In the Sixties those ladies didn't wear no trousers, etc., especially @ church on Sundays, if ever.

IIRC, the "C" in the model name was to designate "church". Funny thing is, all the English players gravitated to this model, (Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Jon Lord, Rod Argent).
In the states it was the B3, (Gregg Allman, Billy Preston, Jimmy Greenspoon, etc).
Not sure why. Same electronics inside, same functionality, same amazing sound.

 

[skbubba]

Does anyone remember Estes organs? Long ago in my youth a guy in our sock hop band had one. Looked a lot like a B3 and sounded like one, too. Probably helped that he had a genuine Leslie speaker.

Edit: from googling, it appears it may have been Estey, not Estes.

 

[pilotputz]

who throws out a hammond organ???

So, so many people!
There was a time when I couldn't go a week without finding an organ on the curb.
The later M3s had a ribbed cone Jensen P12q speaker which is a killer guitar amp speaker.
Seriously, what you've got there is a homebrew Fender Tweed Deluxe plus two hundred pounds of dump fees!

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

A few years ago a friend brought me a Hammond to repair that was thrown out into the trash because it had developed mechanical issues.
Electrically, it was fine...but the motor had started to seize up and make a god awful racket. Some lubrication and cleaning and it was good as new!

 

[seacliffe301]

A few years ago a friend brought me a Hammond to repair that was thrown out into the trash because it had developed mechanical issues.
Electrically, it was fine...but the motor had started to seize up and make a god awful racket. Some lubrication and cleaning and it was good as new!

Back in the 90’s a keyboardist friend of mine and I went to look at a 1967 C3, finished in cherry as opposed to walnut. Absolutely a beautiful, 1 owner, museum quality piece. IIRC, they were asking $350 for it and a PR40 tone cabinet. The only problem was it hadn’t been started or lubed in years, and was totally seized. We were both heartbroken that we had to walk away from this beautiful Hammond. We probably could have got it much cheaper given it was non functional. Little did we know that this was not a fatal condition, that the tonewheel generator can be repaired. It made it even worse when just a handful of years later we learned that a guitar player friend of ours actually refurbished Hammonds, including the dismantling and rebuilding of tone wheel generators. Most unfortunate.

 

[markd51]

Here's a B3, rockin the house, Lee Michaels.