I Scored AGAIN!!!! Free Hammond!!

[blown240]

Right place at the right time.  I drove by a house where a lady was getting rid of old "junk" and this organ was part of the junk!  She said I could have it, if I hauled it off.  So I loaded it up into my Prius (Shocked it fit).

I got it home and it WORKS!!!!!!!!   Oh yeah and its a Hammond!!

Its got a vibrato hum, but everything seems to work.

Now I need to see what its worth, because I may clean it up and sell it.  Or if I can convince the wife that its awesome, it will end up in the living room.

Here are pics:

[RicharD]

I have a friend who loves old Hammond Chord organs.  You're gonna discover that only the A, B, C 3's have any collector's value.  Well there's a few others but everybody wants a B3.  I restored a M-103 and I can't give the damn thing away.  That is a cool one, very unique.  Nice find.

[blown240]

I think this one is an S.   but I will have to verify that.

[DummyLoad]

it is a "S" model - take a closer look at the photo you posted.

--DL

[bigsbybender]

That's an S6 Chord organ. IT was designed for the "make music quickly in your home" market.  Those buttons make various chords then you can play a melody on the keys, and the foot pedal plays the Root and fifth notes of the chord you have selected. Play along with Lawrence Welk!   

They're neat however not of much value to the "Hammond" crowd as it's an oscillator (all tube though) model and not a Tonewheel model.

Great find though.  I'd like to have one sometime.

j

[blown240]

Thanks for the info.  If I can get a couple hundred for it I would be stoked.  For what I paid, even $150 would be rad.

[RicharD]

Good luck selling it.  I googled a bit and saw a few that didn't sell for $50.00  I hate to see a cool old thang like that gutted but it's worth a lot more as parts.... I mean tubes.

[Tom_Hull]

hi ..

ya,,,,,, great find ...

now get that clean and working..

you should hsve some fun with that ..
 i ended up picking a few types of organs,,, free .
.and just change over the the next great deal to another better organ ,,

one thing though.. the hammond pheonix sure is fun to play around with,,and no tubes .when i look at those capacitors in there,, nice small value  ones...
the pheonix i picked up never worked right from the manufaturer.. I found that wire ,,ha,,,,,but it has no value as an organ ..

I have zero money so price is important..free with a mouse nest... sometime i have to love mice ..


cover any holes so a mouse cannot get into it ..


tom

[kagliostro]

Try to convince your wife

It's really a nice looking piece of decor that in addition is a tube device


Kagliostro

[blown240]

I really want to keep it, but its would need to be sanded down and re stained.  ITs got some big scratches.  My 3 year old really wants it too.  I would need to put a grounded cord on it and figure out how to get rid of the tremelo hum though.   Its a constant hum.

If I could stain it a honey color, and get rid of the hum, she MIGHT let me keep it.

[DummyLoad]

I really want to keep it, but its would need to be sanded down and re stained.  ITs got some big scratches.  My 3 year old really wants it too.  I would need to put a grounded cord on it and figure out how to get rid of the tremelo hum though.   Its a constant hum.

If I could stain it a honey color, and get rid of the hum, she MIGHT let me keep it.

organ needs a cap job from the looks of it. replace all electrolytic caps that aren't an oil filled.

--DL

[DummyLoad]

That's an S6 Chord organ.

me thinks it's just a plain S model as the badge in the photo shows.

it seems that s-6 used 9pin (12AU7/12BH7/12AX7)tubes. this one has all octal tubes. - likely 6SN7/6SL7, etc..

 http://users.rcn.com/clonk/ChordOrgan/Schematics/Figure6.gif

[Platefire]

Nice score for free! I had a Hammond PR-40 Tone Cab in my storage shed for years I got for free but because of the need for space, I gutted it and got the amp out and hauled the nice cab off. Planning on e-baying the amp in the future. Platefire

[bigsbybender]

Nice score for free! I had a Hammond PR-40 Tone Cab in my storage shed for years I got for free but because of the need for space, I gutted it and got the amp out and hauled the nice cab off. Planning on e-baying the amp in the future. Platefire

I wish I would have known that the PR-40 works great in tandem with a Leslie. It has Excellent reverb and would mate well to one of my Hammond consoles.... unfortunately the shipping price would horrendous!

[blown240]

That's an S6 Chord organ.

me thinks it's just a plain S model as the badge in the photo shows.

it seems that s-6 used 9pin (12AU7/12BH7/12AX7)tubes. this one has all octal tubes. - likely 6SN7/6SL7, etc..

 http://users.rcn.com/clonk/ChordOrgan/Schematics/Figure6.gif

I am sure this one is a plain S model.  It has 6SN7 and 6SL7 preamp tubes with a pair of 6V6 output tubes.  I dont know what the rectifier is yet, but its got a cool shape and is pretty big.

[DummyLoad]

I dont know what the rectifier is yet, but its got a cool shape

from the pics - looks like a 5U4G - maybe even a 82 or 83. (83 is predecessor to 5U4 w/ diff. base) 82 is an 83 w/ 2.5V heater.

pull it - if the base is octal, then it's likely a 5u4G, based on the number of tubes it's powering.

--DL

[blown240]

So I am slowly working on my wife to let me keep this thing.

If I am successful I will need to update the power cord and ground it.  I got a nice little shock off of one of the screws on the playing surface.  I didnt mind, but if the wife or a kid gets shocked, its over.

So I grounded cord is first, plus I want to add a fuse.  Is a 3amp fuse big enough?  And should I run a ground wire from all the internal chassis, ir will grounding the main PT chassis be enough?

And should this thread be in another section?

[RicharD]

Absolutely fuse it.  A 3A fast should be fine.  Absolutely put a grounded cord on the thang.  Simply tie the cord's ground wire to the chassis.  If it's humming, replace the electrolytics.  Those thangs built to last which is why there still so many Hammond organs floating around.  Oh yeah, contact cleaner..... probably a lot.

Here's an excellent link for servicing Hammond organs.  Much of it is dedicated to the mechanical tone wheel which doesn't apply to the Model S but it's a good read regardless.

http://www.dairiki.org/HammondWiki/HammondOrgans

[billcreller]

The problem with all this old tube stuff, is a place to keep it if we don't sell it etc.  I have two Philco console radios that I should give away, but one was my grand mother's. And another console that was giveev to me, that's in my office. It's used to stack CDs on right now.  It needs to go also !

[blown240]

Well the wife told me that if I can make it safe and nice looking that she has a spot for it i our office.  I am pretty happy about that.

So here is the plan.

1.  Make It Safe:

Grounded power cord
Ground all the inner chassis together
Cover the back in some expanded metal to keep small fingers out of it.

2.  Make It Pretty

Sand it all down and re-stain it.  Probably a Blond Honey color to match out Heywood Wakefield stuff

3.  Make It Sing!

New Electrolytics
Tune it

Can anyone point me to a schematic for it?  I have seen schematics for an S-6 and S-100, but not for a plain S.  Its either a 1950 or 1951 by the serial number.

[Tom_Hull]

  you can pencil wax the finish,, fill it in and its restored .

hi just my opinion and advice,,, but who am i to say anything ...i know i talk like the old man ..excuse me ...

i think you should slow down on your project ..

you might be able to get a working organ very close to that one ..and use this one for parts.



the reason why i mentioning this is there is a working organ  for sale here like yours  .. must be cheap..canada .

around here you can fill a room full of working discarded organs ..


just one minute ,,thats what i have a whole room full of organs to take care of .only 5 organs.

i playing around with a hammond T412.tonewheel with transistors and four other old organs

i guess i am just to poor to buy a hammond M100 for $250 for sale here..

in time you may end up many organs ..

have a great time.


  


tom


 



 my  working orgasonic cost $000 plus gas.$15 ....one key note needs work,,,
found from a yahoo search..
 http://www.archive.org/stream/HammondChordOrganServiceManualModelsSS-1S-4/HammondChordOrganServiceManual-ModelsSS1S4_djvu.txt

[blown240]

Tom, thanks for your input.

This organ has several key advantages to others:

1.  Its already here
2.  Its fairly small
3.  Cord organs are great for people who cant play piano at all (me)
4.  Wont take much to fix it
5.  If I bring home another my wife may leave me.  

Plus if my kids scratch this one, it doesnt really matter.

Still need a schematic if anyone has one...

[Tom_Hull]

http://www.archive.org/stream/HammondChordOrganServiceManualModelsSS-1S-4/HammondChordOrganServiceManual-ModelsSS1S4#page/n17/mode/2up

just a help first maybe
some organs connectors are poor ,,tin foil making the contact or whatever it is and is gone,,,  ,,,..newer hammonds 30, 40 years old  ..work perfect but the connections cases a big scratchy buzz.,,, t model connections on mine are a joke. falling off
most common problems are often ,,,spilt drink... brokken wires and shorts from dust and sometimes a moved bare wire contacting something it shouldnot and maybe it will be fixed
working better
but
.then there is whats actually not working ..

i found a problem with this baldwin organ ...it was a capacitor bare wire pushed against a rivet ..now i''ll check farther

[blown240]

VERY VERY COOL!  Thanks Tom!!

[Tom_Hull]

your welcome ,

check it out .. it reads it for you ..upper right corner ,,ha

this worlds crazy lazy ... fun though ..my new song  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no not

[blown240]

Yesterday I put a new grounded cord and a fuse on this thing.  I found out why it kept shocking me too.  At some point one of the wires in the power cord broke.  Instead of fixing it, or wire nutting it, somebody just took the 2 broken ends and shoved them between the chassis and the cabinet.  Since the cord wasnt polarized, depending on how you plugged it in, you either energized the whole chassis, or made the chassis neutral.  I am surprised that nothing was blown out doing this!