A Hammond B-2, after professional renovation and modification to full B-3 specifications by Bryan Davenport, is now ready for sale. For most of the organ’s life, it has been in the care of Jürgen Wolf, producer of The International Archives for the Jazz Organ. The instrument’s musical, technical and aesthetic standards place it in the field of interest for the specialist Hammond connoisseur, or for high quality recording-studio work, or in a stationary location for professional performance work, for example auditorium, gospel church, theatre or concert hall. Unusually for a tonewheel Hammond, fine tuning is provided to enable performance work with classical orchestras tuned to either A 440 Hz or A 442 Hz. The maximum and minimum settings of the tuning control allows transposing of ± one semitone. This is a useful tool in studio and accompaniment work.
The other general features of the organ are as follows:
- Serial number 40334.
- The cabinet is the traditional dark walnut, and is generally in fine condition, with only minor marks to show the organs ‘heritage’. The four elegant legs are firm and rigid at their joints within the upper casing. The folding console lid has a functioning lock and key. The organ is complete with its original walnut bench and bass pedalboard.
- The keycombs (the felted fingers which keep the keys in place sideways) are in good condition.
- The reverse-colored preset keys are precisely adjusted and lubricated to give quiet and reliable operation.
- The percussion unit provides the identical functions of the B-3, and is an original tube-driven unit from Hammond. The four percussion control switches are mounted in the upper manual’s left hand end block.
- The drawbars are of the more pleasant smooth-moving type, as opposed to the older ratcheting type.
- The bass pedals, complete with traditional whitewood heel-rest, are completely re-furbished to give smooth and clatter-free operation.
- An original half-moon Leslie tremolo control switch provides chorale, stop and tremolo functions to twin 9-pole outlets, each having completely independent switching contacts to facilitate simultaneous use of two dissimilar models of Leslie cabinet. Our engineers can install output connectors for any desired Leslie model. Additional audio output signals are provided at both high and low line-out levels by two ¼" jacks. This enables insertion of an effects unit between organ and Leslie.
- Due to modern requirements for electrical safety, a master power switch with illuminated indicator is fitted in place of the old B-3 lamp. This provides complete and reliable separation from the mains supply when switched off. The organ’s chassis is earthed, and mains power is delivered by means of a detachable Euro-cable.
- The tonewheel generator assembly, together with vibrato scanner, synchronous ‘run’ motor and start motor are all thoroughly serviced. The 43 filter capacitors have all been replaced after measuring the required individual value for each one, as during original manufacture procedure. Additional filters have been employed to remove unwanted undertones in the middle frequencies. Intonation (the individual adjustment of each magnetic rod) has been chosen to avoid the shrill top treble common in later B-3 production models, adopting a warmer tonal characteristic instead, to produce a more natural balance between bass, middle and treble. The set screws which fix each rod have been replaced, to aid future re-intonation work. All old oil and oil-residues have been flushed out, prior to final lubrication with the correct oil.
- The notoriously problematic black foam rubber strip, used to seal the manual contact assemblies in later models, is not present in this organ – B-2 manuals use strip made from felt.
The organ is now available for test-playing, in a showroom environment, where a variety of different Leslie cabinets can be connected. There is 7-days-of-the-week access to the organ, but preferably not later than 8pm due to noise considerations. Please use the contact information below.
Price. The asking price of the organ is €8.700. This includes the organ, the bass pedals, the bench, a key, circuit diagram, bottle of generator oil, and also modification for connection to any model of Leslie cabinet – 6 pin Leslie 122 or 147, 9 pin, or 11 pin. Delivery within 150km from Köln is free. Also included is the re-wiring of the 18 manual preset combinations according to the buyer’s preferences.
The following extra features can be added by our engineers, should any of them be requested by the buyer.
¤ Fully integrated reverb system (studio quality).
¤ Brilliance control, which provides variable tonal change in the key-click and overtones, required to switch from classical music to jazz and blues.
¤ Bass harmonic selector, providing alternative voicing in the bass pedals; deep - mellow - bright.
Contact info; phone +49 2203 932882, organ@iajo.org
