• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Hammond organ

EVBoy

EVBoy

Super Member
Somebody down the street has an old medium sized Hammond organ for sale cheap. She says it works. If you take the back off there are two small tube amps on the top and one large one on the bottom. Are the amps any good for anything? Then, of course, I would have to break up the organ to get rid of it. Any opinions?
 
Register to hide this ad
Nope, good for nothing. Do her a favor and put those amps into your local post office to me, then get rid of the Hammond remains for your neighbor.

Win-win situation :D

I'll PM my address.
 
Hammond organ? The instrument itself could be well worth keeping in one piece, amps and all.
 
I went back and grabbed it. The price was right ($1). It has a large amp at the bottom and what I thought were two small amps are actually vibrato units. It is beat up with broken keys and foot pedals so it is no big deal to demolish it.
 
EV,

If that happens to be a B3, you'd be awful sorry to demolish it and then find out what it could fetch if you were to restore it; even in bad condition, it's worth a good penny !! YMMV
 
I find it really sad how all these organs are being broken up to scavenge the tube amps from them, instead of being restored. Sort of reminds me of people tearing illustrations out of good rare books because framed illustrations sell for more than ones still in books, or ripping the guts out of old TVs to install fishtanks in them...:nono: :tears:

If it was REALLY beat-up, beyond reasonable restoration, then fine- salvage what can be salvaged, including usable keys, etc... that could restore other Hammonds. Otherwise, pass the organ on to someone who will put it right and appreciate it, if you don't want to restore it yourself. At least, that's what I would like to see done. Others may (and do) disagree.
 
I would be happy to give it to some one to restore it. It is obviously a high quality unit and must have cost a lot of money new. But, I go to a lot of estate sales and yard sales and see these old organs all the time. Sometimes two or three a weekend. Nobody wants them. Almost all of them end up at the dump.
 
EV - I recommend you check the model name/number before you tear it apart. If it is an A-100, B-3 or C-3, then it's valuable in almost any condition, but very valuable if it's clean and can be made operable.
 
Agreed! While I worked at Guitar Center (4 years), our store alone sold three vintage '50s Hammonds (a B-2 and two B-3s, the latter without a Leslie but Hammond's own tube-powered tone cabinet). All three were in good mechanical and playable condition for their 50+ years, but aesthetically their cherry consoles needed major restoration. All three sold between $3500 to $6500...that's no chump change for organs in their original, unrestored condition!

I'd seriously reconsider gutting the tube amps and scrapping the rest. Arkay's correct that there are Hammond buffs out there looking for parts; if this particular Hammond is an A-100, B-2, B-3, C-3 et al, it would do you good to research your find and possibly have it repaired to be later sold. People do want them (the models above)...most likely the models you've seen at estate sales are solid-state affairs, or lesser quality tube organs from other manufacturers (and many of them probably do get pitched).

Just my two cents worth...good luck!
 
I had no idea Hammonds are worth what they are... WOW...

I found a C-3 with a PR40 cab, for sale.. blonde, in good condition, everything works, and they want $1000

SO.. I get to looking at resale values, anywhere from $5000 to over $10 (mostly Ebony's for 10)... I see the PR40's seem to go for $500 to 600....

See what ya'll did? Now I'm starting to think about flipping an organ... I wonder how hard they are to unload? I just hate thinking about loading it up first..
 
The model is an L-122. It doesn't look like anything special. The tubes are all Hammond.
I'm going to give it to my nephew, a recently graduated EE. He likes old tube stuff.
I don't see it as destroying an old organ, but as saving an old tube amp from the dump.
 
Last edited:
I am glad you feel it that way.

I am amazed at the number of people here preaching restoration of old electric organs, and old consoles for that matter. I guess many of them never own one, let alone restoring one, and have no idea the kind of labor involved in properly restoring an old organ. Curently, there is no market value for organs, except for very few models such as B3/C3, and it makes no sense to put money and time into it, because you can simply buy a working one for not much money.
 
I have to agree with ultralc. There are a few organs with a large value, like the Hammonds described above. But even for these units, if they are in less than perfect shape they are hard to move, and if they are no longer functional they are impossible to move at a decent price. In my area, two long time organ repair specialists retired in the last few years. As a result, skilled service is impossible to find.

If you have ever opened up the back of some of the older (i.e. tube) units, you would be astonished at how demanding a refurb might be. I recently had a supposedly valuable unit that died. Inside, in addition to almost 100 good tubes (over half were RCA 12AX7s and 12AU7s), and two beautiful Jensen speakers, were over 200 electrolytic caps, over 100 resistors, and many hundred wire connections (many were early vinyl-coated wires that were literally melting away).

I had a choice of salvaging parts, or replacing most of the capacitors, resistors, and a great deal of wiring. The salvagable parts were worth over $600. If I completely refurbed the organ, it would be worth $600 to $800. The organ was a classic, but the case wasn't close to mint, and it wasn't half as good (in functionality) to a newer model that would cost much less. With the dearth of local expertise the answer was simple, if for no other reason than the dozens of hours that the refurb would have taken.
 
snapshotjc said:
EV,

If that happens to be a B3, you'd be awful sorry to demolish it and then find out what it could fetch if you were to restore it; even in bad condition, it's worth a good penny !! YMMV
Click to expand...
M3s were the next best thing if you couldn't find a B3 to chop (for ease of transport.)
 
Sleddog, I have an M3 in St. Louis that I want to get gone. It was working last fall when I moved it to the garage, and now I'm moving the garage stuff to the trash.

It is a heavy mfr, so if anyone wants it, give me a shout and bring some large friends to help!
 
sheltie dave said:
Sleddog, I have an M3 in St. Louis that I want to get gone. It was working last fall when I moved it to the garage, and now I'm moving the garage stuff to the trash.

It is a heavy mfr, so if anyone wants it, give me a shout and bring some large friends to help!
Click to expand...
Cool! STL isn't that far away down I-55, so let me ask around. Thanx! :thmbsp:
 
Sleddog, it will be in our "empty out the garage" sale on Saturday. I would gladly do the beer swap and hold it for a week or two - but it will cost a couple extra sets of Bobek sausage packs for storage.

If you find someone, give me a ring. I sent you my ph # in the email.
 
sheltie dave said:
Sleddog, it will be in our "empty out the garage" sale on Saturday. I would gladly do the beer swap and hold it for a week or two - but it will cost a couple extra sets of Bobek sausage packs for storage.

If you find someone, give me a ring. I sent you my ph # in the email.
Click to expand...
I'm still asking around. Unfortunately, no takers at the moment, but I haven't talked to everyone yet. I'll drop you a line by the end of the week, as I would really hate to see an M3 get trashed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom