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"Helping You Sound Your Best" |
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Keyboards I have had an interest in organs and organ music since I was a kid. At the age of 11, I began a savings plan so that I could buy an organ. When I was 13, my folks bought the family a used Hammond model M. I was the only one to use it, so when I went away to college we sold the organ. It was in rough shape, but at least I had an organ. About 15 years ago, my aunt Edna and uncle Virgil were moving from their home of over 40 years to a condo in town. They sold me their Hammond M for $350.00. That was probably a bit high, but they had owned the instrument since it was one year old and had maintained it with the greatest care. Hammond M Spinet (1949) After moving the organ to Missouri, the run motor failed. A local tech wanted $400.00 to replace it. So I let the instrument set for a couple of years. (I knew I could find a different instrument for 100 bucks.) I located a parts shop that sold me a salvage motor for $65.00 and I repaired the instrument myself (yippy for the internet). I then learned that my uncle had been meticulous in adding oil to the tone generator every six months. This is what was once the factory recommendation. It later was learned that this was too often. This it most likely what caused the motor to fail, the oil saturated the insulation on the wiring in the motor housing. I now oil it once a year. It works great. I have used it a few time on recording projects. Leslie 147 Speaker in Motion The 147 Leslie speaker came from a church near Kokomo, Indiana. I've replaced all the tubes, cleaned and oiled the whole thing and have wired it to my Hammond M. One of the nice things about the M is that is has a line level input to the amplifier. This allows me to easily route any signal through either the Hammond vibrato scanner or the Leslie spinning horns. A great effect for stale sounding acoustic guitar tracks. The Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano 88 This is my Rhodes. It is in excellent shape, even though it was built in 1979. It spent more time in storage than performance. Soon I will have a 100 watt Frazier Tube amplifier working with the mark II and a custom built speaker arrangement that will make it simple to record. I plan to experiment routing it though the Allen Gyrophonic Projector, (should be cool.) The Wurlitzer 145 Electric Piano This relic is dated 1959. Yes, it too has tubes. It is a project piece that is getting close to being completed. My piano technician (David Vanderhoofen) has recently regulated the keyboard. There is still have one note that needs serious tuning (not an easy task on these Wurlys). It's an F that is 20 cents sharp. It sounds glorious and plays without any sloppy feel. When I bought the 145, it's power supply for the amplifier needed a new transformer, but thanks to the internet that only cost $40.00. This will soon be a viable studio instrument too.
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