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Hammond-Leslie FAQ
Edition 1.31
April 1997
Copyright 1997 Bradley P. Baker Permission is granted for this material to be freely used and distributed, provided the source is acknowledged. No warranty of any kind is provided. You use this material at your own risk.
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The sound of the Hammond organ has been somewhat absent in popular recordings of the previous decade or so. There was a time though when its presence on stage was de rigueur for any self-respecting band - you simply weren't a real band without one. The sound of the Hammond organ is being heard once again in contemporary recordings. It has been carried to the surface recently by a "retro" movement in popular music. The Hammond/Leslie combination can be seen on stage at concert venues around the country and on late-night talk shows, usually being played by someone in a contemporary pop group. But occasionally a veteran can be seen holding court at the console, grabbing a handful of drawbars while the Leslie spools up. The Hammond - starting to rumble - a full-hand slowly ascending glissando - the expression pedal floored - feet pumping furiously - now the Hammond is a full-throated roar - the Leslie a screaming dervish - eyes closed - arms extended - clinching a two-handed altered dominant chord on both manuals...
...but I digress. What is it about the Hammond/Leslie combination that evokes zealous devotion in its advocates? Why do many of us consider the Hammond to be an instrument and other boxes with keys affixed to be merely poseurs?
Well, of course, there's the sound... Some say the Hammond organ is an acquired taste. Perhaps this is true and no attempt will be made here to describe its bare-murmur-to- primal-wail-absolutely-righteous sound. But a serious listen to the best of the listed recordings in the accompanying discography should be sufficient to addict most of the uninitiated to that sound. These selections demonstrate the Hammond organ's ability as an instrument to evoke in the listener the emotion projected by the organist. That ability is the essence of the fanaticism some have toward the instrument. The Hammond/Leslie combination is an acoustic instrument, while more modern keyboards, controllers, and workstations lack this (ahem) organic quality.
And then, there's the technology... The first thing you notice when you remove the back of a tone wheel Hammond and poke your curious head into its innards is... the smell of oil and wood. Behind the pre-amp lies the tone generator, the heart of the Hammond's sound. Comprising cogs, shafts, bearings, and wire, the tone generator is a classic example of American over-engineering circa 1940. The rest of the instrument is hand constructed of the same high quality. And you can still get parts. Try getting parts for your Rolakorgamaha BS-1 in the year 2030. But then, why would you want to? Working on Hammond organs can be a pleasure.
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There has been a lot of discussion on the Hammond Mailing List about drawbar registrations. There has been general agreement that everything that has been published about the registrations used by famous Hammond players or in famous recordings is not to be taken too seriously (up to now of course). Want a quote? Here's part of Sal Azz's posting to the list on the subject...
" I get the biggest charge out of the Hammond notated sheet music that was available back then. I actually have 'Sounds of JimmySmith at the Hammond Organ' published by Edmy Music in 1965. I bought it mail order in 1966 from a review in the 'Hammond Times'. Even as a 14 year old, I knew I'd been had the second I opened the book. Of course, it is not transcribed 'as played' by JimmySmith. It's notated on 3 staffs. Dig the registrations for 'The Sermon':
Upper: 468364876 Lower: 006545456 Pedal: 82 Vibrato: OFF
SURE, play it like that and even your dog will die laughing while he dodges the broken stemware and pictures rattling off the walls from that pedal setting. Where the hell did they get this from?? Hey, at least they got the key signature right. "
Of couse, Sal and others have had a few more things to say about some more current publications, but for those quotes you'll have to check the list archives. As it turns out, most players use the same few drawbar settings. Here then, presented for (what ought to be) the first time in print anywhere, are the preset setup and drawbar registrations that most players use. These will make your organ sound like 90% of the recorded jazz material extant.(1)
(1) Posted by to the Hammond Mailing List by Sal Azz
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Hammond organ starting procedure ... excerpted to HowToStartAHammond
Bob Schleicher's Used Organ Rating Scale ... excerpted to BobSchleichersUsedOrganRatingScale
The following methods and procedures are for those individuals that want do technical repairs on their organ. They vary in complexity from the relatively benign drawbar cleaning procedure, to the potentially damaging busbar lubing procedure, a procedure probably best left to those with previous experience.
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Leslies usually need an accessory kit to adapt the balanced or un-balanced Leslie input with the organ, and to provide the switching voltages used to switch Leslie speeds. There are a large variety of kits available. Any competent organ technician should be able to provide you with the correct kit.
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This FAQ was compiled from correspondence that occurred on the Hammond Mailing List and from sources listed in the Hammond-Leslie FAQ Site Bibliography. Many contributions were made. At least the following people made significant contributions. Anyone that feels they have been wrongly omitted from, (or wrongly accused in), the following list please speak up:
71370.3023@compuserve.com (Tom Tuson)
ap748@freenet.carleton.ca (Mike Sues)
bevis@apg.ph.ucl.ac.uk (Bevis Peters)
blaumills@healey.com.au (Steve Blau)
bobs@hopf.dnai.com (Bob Schleicher)
buzzfret@aol.com (Joe Rut)
bwahler@tiac.net (Bruce Wahler)
cspence@nelson.env.gov.bc.ca (Colin Spence)
dave.amels@sfnet.com (Dave Amels)
davemcnaly@aol.com (Dave ?McNally)
gacki@sax.sax.de (Malte Rogacki)
genpla@flashnet.it (Marco Montaruli)
goffprof@aol.com (Al Goff)
groove@tiac.net (Gilles Bacon)
jjp@mink.mt.att.com (John)
jmee@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jeffery Mee)
longo@zk3.dec.com (Mark Longo)
pomanti@inforamp.net (Louis Pomanti)
potomactom@aol.com (Tom Dercola)
random@well.com (Ben "Jacobs")
russ@seismo.demon.co.uk (Russ Evans)
salazz@aol.com (Sal Azz)
slimtwo@aol.com (Chuck Cordier)
tthompsn@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us (Ted Thompson)
u31385@uic.edu (Allen Sears)
wfrb@miworld1.miworld.net (Robert May)
John.Fisher@m.cc.utah.edu (John Fisher)
The content of this page is Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Geoffrey T. Dairiki and
the other authors of the content, whoever they may be.
This is free information and you are welcome redistribute it
under certain conditions; see
http://www.dairiki.org/HammondWiki/opl.html for details.
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