See also CapacitorIdentification
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TopicRepair
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-It all depends on your ear. I have a 1963 Hammond M-102 that sounds so good with its original paper and wax capacitors on the tone generator and vibrato box that I wouldn't dream of changing them. Have they gained in capacitance over the years? Yes, I'm sure, but there is alot of definition in the sound the drawbars and all vibrato and chorus settings. So, I will leave it alone for now
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-However, I purchased a 1957 Hammond C-3 a couple of years ago and it sounded absolutely terrible. Very little drawbar definition and the vibrato and chorus settings were so bad that you couldn't tell the differences between them. It of course, had the original paper and wax capacitors and had degraded the true sound something fierce. ( I can see why some people don't like the sound of these particular organs that do not have the later red mylar caps (polystyrene). I first replaced the capacitors in both line box and generator with the ceramics from Goff professional. This improved the definition greatly but they did sound very harsh, especially higher up on the keyboard.
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-After reading the article on capacitor linearity, I decided to purchase vintage new old stock paper and oil capacitors from Nebraska surplus sales. I replaced the line box with polystyrene because I couldn't find the correct value in paper and oil. I used Gudeman paper and oil for the tone generator and the sound is so much better than ceramics or even the polypropylene capacitors they produce today. I also replaced the paper and wax capacitors in the AO-28 with Sprague vitamin q's with the same value and voltages.
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-**Note** Newly manufactured paper and wax and paper and oil made for high end stereo such as Ampohm, Jensen, Jupiter, etc. should not be used in the organ. I tried them in the AO-28 before finally using the vitamin q's and I could hear generator noise because these types of caps are very detailed and are not designed for filter circuits. The manufacturer's actually tell you this in their spec sheets but I ignored their warning and wasted $100 bucks on four capacitors.
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-You will never be able to rebuild a Hammond that have paper and wax capacitors to sound like it did factory new. But, I believe you will be closest to its original creamy tone that you hear on old jimmy smith albums using vintage paper and oil.
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-My Leslie 122A also received paper and oil caps replacing the polypropylene it came with (I did wait till the warranty expired) and this also improved the sound of the Leslie.
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-So, what I am saying is paper and oil can not be beat for vintage type sound whether in your Hammond or Leslie.
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--- Jason St. James
