If you like music, you might want to check out my second channel "Milan Recording Studios". Feel free to subscribe and hit the bell icon if you want to! kzread.info/dron/u1LrpmWwK1ztTvIayRar9w.html

The "capacitors" you were wondering about are actually transformers. And you're right that this isn't a tonewheel Hammond, the tone generation is entirely tube-based, like on the Hammond Solovox (another neat early Hammond). I have the S4 version of this (as well as a Solovox), and they're a lot of fun to play. Their sound is greatly improved with the addition of a reverb tank.

I have 3 and they all play pretty well and are original. Lots of them around, far from rare. Tubes, capacitors, and other old stuff. The S-100 was the last model and came out in later in the 60's. Other 2 are 1955, 1956. If you try fixing these they can even electrocute you if unplugged. I guess because they store charge. A lot I can say about these, they just sit now but easy to play and lots of music books on Ebay for them. It's 2 years after the last period of the previous sentence. We moved and now have more room for my organ collection. My wife asked me why I can't just collect something small like , lets say coins. LOL. I can and do, but also love old organs. I have quite a few of the old Italian and German chord organs as well. Funny thing is they all play especially these old Hammond chord organs. They last forever. I mean they are really workable, some almost 70 years old. When they break they are not hard to fix and parts are readily available. I think because many of the components in them are the same components that are in old radios. Lots of people collect those, but few collect the old organs, so parts are around. IE tubes, capacitors, oscillators etc. If you number the keys with little number stickers and buy from thousands of available MAGNUS or other chord organ books on Ebay, you can sit and play songs as complicated as Hey Jude and virtually every rock and hymn ever written within just minutes of opening the books. You play based on letters with your left hand and numbers with your right hand. So simply and you sound really good when you play even if you have no musical talent, experience, or knowledge. How cool is that!!!.

Hammond Chord Organs were fairly commonplace in the mid-1950's. My cousin had one and my brother and I used to play it about 1956. Thanks for demonstrating this instrument, James. Reminds me of my teen years! I was about your age.

I will be uploading two more organs with other instruments from the same estate on Sunday, and some are for sale.

Awesome! I own both an S and an S-6. That unit is in reality three vacuum tube synthesizers in one package with a frequency divider effect on the pedals for adding bass notes to chords. If restored, that organ becomes twice as fun to play and they have such a unique tonality that they layer with other instruments excellently. Think of it as a woodwind and flute synth because that's exactly what it is. Once you play a vacuum tube synth for a while you will always crave it for certain pieces because absolutely nothing on the planet can deliver the same warmth. So are you going to get it and restore it? That's a piece of history. The switches sound like they're in need of some work but Hammonds are fixable. There may also be a tube or two out but most likely it just has some failed electrolytic capacitors which is par for the course with old equipment, and they're easily replaced. At 6:18 those parts you're looking at are coils or "inductors" which are part of the chord oscillators. The note each one produces is stamped above the inductor and they get combined with paper-wax capacitors that you can see just behind the chord key switches if you remove the top cover. They form what's called an "LC oscillator" and by using two different capacitors, each inductor can be used to generate two potential notes. Typically these caps drift with age and any single key that goes way out of tune will need it's cap replaced but the inductors last forever and allow for some tuning by mechanical adjustment if both capacitors have drifted equally. The other bank of those inductors on the lower chassis are for the key oscillators, again with the paper-wax caps under the top cover behind the keyswitches. As mentioned above, ALL the electrolytic capacitors should be replaced in old organs and amps and anybody who services tube amps will be able to do it but it's also an easy skill to learn for the electronically inclined. The S-6 only has a few electrolytics. The fine folks at the Organ Forum www.organforum.com/forums/ are usually of great assistance on such topics and there are lots of DIY resources on the web for "recapping amps". Captain Foldback has the Hammond S-100 manual here: captain-foldback.com/Hammond_sub/hammond_schematics.htm and while there isn't a S-6 manual, the S-6 and S-100 are very very similar. The S-6 manual is available in archives with some digging.

As a previous comment was already made and to elaborate a bit more, this Hammond Chord organ model was used exclusively by Paul Tesluk, the organist from the early instrumental rock band “Johnny And The Hurricanes”. Kind of amazing that such a simple, low-end Hammond organ was the pick of Paul back then and made it into the many popular tunes for The Hurricanes sound in early instrumental history.The band was from Toledo, OH and were very popular not only in America but In Europe in the late 50’s and the early 60’s. They would take traditional well known music/ melodies and turn them into cleaver instrumentals with a rockin’ beat. Check out on KZread the many recordings of Johnny & The Hurricanes and in some of the postings are album photos showing Paul with this same type of chord organ by Hammond. An interesting little tidbit of early rock n roll history that is unknown to most. Thank you for posting and the demonstration.

The Hammond Chord organ heritage is not from the B3 line, but from the Hammond Novachord -- look that up and be amazed. The Solo voice on the Chord organ is actually very close to a top note priority single oscillator synthesizer -- that can be blended in with a full organ sound.

My grandma had one like that! Thanks for the memories!

Keep these videos coming, James, I love watching you play, and the instruments are always interesting.

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

I am so glad that others enjoy what I like to do as well. Thank you for your support!

I'm guessing another reason for the palm button for chords is to allow separation between bass notes and chords i.e. to be able to play whatever bass note you want with your feet without necessarily having to be sounding the full chord voicing simultaneously. This instrument actually looks like a lot of fun! Way more than I expected

I love your description of,' electrical components and they do stuff,' . Awesome.

I learned to play the organ on a 1955 Hammond Chord Organ. It was the blonde model (that was the color.) My parents traded it in on a Hammond Spinet in 1962, which I still have (along with a Tyros 5.) However, I remember it sounding better than the one you featured. It was a long time ago so I may have better memories than what was reality at the time. With what Hammond called the "Pointer System," a young 12 year old boy (me) learned to play multiple songs in ONE DAY! It was a genius system where you pointed at the main key of the chord and your pinky and thumb fell into place to form the chord. It's amazing that I will be playing a new song today and that system is so vivid to me as I play. I remember using the chord bar in conjunction with the 2 pedals for rhythm. I don't remember the chords not playing without the chord bar. Can any one with a better memory comment? There may be something wrong with the chord bar on the organ featured. Thanks for the memories!

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing! I really think that someone should starting building something using the same theory as this model, as it teaches the basic principles that are almost always lost until much later in the learning of music. I think it would be wonderful to learn this way from the very start like you did.

@miltoncallan1471

5 жыл бұрын

It really was a wonderful experience. The organ arrived in the morning and by the time my Dad got home from work, I played 3 different songs for him. It caused me to become really interested in learning more due to the quick accomplishments of the first songs. It turned into a lifelong hobby. I had friends that found playing the piano difficult and as soon as they could stop, they did.

@ambulance_boy3834

5 жыл бұрын

There are different settings one of which turns off chords when you let go of the chord bar. The other setting has it so that every time you press down on the chord bar, the chord sound becomes louder. this is used to make a tempo such as a waltz. hope that helps!

Really interesting. Love the sound almost Jon. Great filming of the speakers and workings. The sound is really nostalgic.

Presumably if you didn't hit the palm bar, you could use the chord button array with the pedals to be able to play a solo bass line using the pedals.

James, I just got mine this morning ! Cosmetically perfect. Power Amp will need attention to function again. So honored to be part of the Hammond family now. Can send u a pic if u like. Have a good weekend .

You are an amazing musician, I am so impressed with all of your videos. Keep up the great work, Brad

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

My aunt and uncle had one of those. Every time I went to visit them, my uncle would ask me to play "Fascination".

The later version, the S101 has a traditional expression pedal. I like your channel and am always inspired by your people today that are interested in keyboard instruments...something that has been a passion of mine from childhood ('60s). Best wishes, Steven

Those "Other" Components (besides Tubes) are the Tuning Coils. They are Tapped Sideways with a Hammer and Screwdriver (be careful not to hit Tubes) to Adjust Pitch. The whole Instrument uses VCO technology and the "Organ" Division (Polyphonic) is still Monophonic as in Two or More (in the extreme ends) Keys share Oscillators.

I had one of those way back when I was in high school in the 50s. We'd have sing-alongs. I also had my favorites like Begin the Beguine.

Happy to see and hear this. It's a nice sounding beast. I had a Model M years ago, also cool sounding. Peace.

The way you played the organ it sounded like a sad song in a video game

Hy James! You are amazing boy! Briliant job friend! I got one Hammond S6 chord organ too. Its from 1958 and came to me with no sound. I am rebuilding the power suply using a manual that I found on web many years ago. In case you or someone need the manual, I can send by mail at no charge. God bless you boy!

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you for that kind offer, I am sure others could very likely use a copy of your manual.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

what a beautiful instrument

I saw one of these in a small music store and they were using to get the diode vacuum tubes to add to their guitar amplifires to be repaired.

The "wall" is the top of the chassis. The "transformers" are oscillators that create the tone like the tone wheels on your B3. My uncle had one of these in the '60's. It's the first home organ I ever saw.

I just got this organ for free and had no idea how it works really. Your tutorial was simple and gave me a better idea of how things work. Unfortunately I learned piano by ear so my understanding of chords is entirely theoretical rather than educated so I don't know how to use the buttons much but it's something to play with. And btw I love your jazzy style of playing. It reminds me of Pilotwings 64 lol

The knee-operated volume control is a bit like the knee swells on a pedal-pump reed organ. Those instruments had to use knee swells rather than volume petals because both feet would be needed to operate the vacuum bellows. Curious to see such a thing in an electronic organ, though.

@craigbrowning9448

4 жыл бұрын

For Hammond, the "Knee Swell" was a Cost Cutting measure, lest laborious than installing a Swell Pedal, though the later S-100s had Swell Pedals and Reverb.

Pretty cool. I just bought a 1969 Magnus Chord Organ today at Salvation Army for $14.99 So far, I've cleaned everything, replaced the power chord. Then cleaned it all up with high gloss Armor All. Looks and sounds great. My next step will be adding a Piezo on the left Chord side under the plastic case, and another Piezo in center of the keys under the plastic case; both used to an Audio Output port that will be mounted on the center left case side. To adapt capability to hook to PC with an Auxiliary cable, whether Auxillary used from an Cell phone or audio guitar cord. A portable spring reverb box can also amplify and resonate this sound for audio changes and custom mixes in music. Hope these ideas help you and others with ideas.

Very cool! I haven't one in many years. Seems like they are almost always missing the music desk, which looked a lot like the spinet M3 music desk. The expression control reminds me of the knee swells on a pump organ. You make it sound really good. This is the first time I've seen inside one of these. I love your videos!

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

If I have a large warehouse this would be in it, and I would spend too much time just hanging out.

Every time he said 'cool' I took a shot. The hangover lasted a week.

sound gorgeous, philicorda has pre-programmed chords too.

Thank You James! Thumbs up :)

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you as well. It was great to play this organ, and to think I had never seen one before.

We have one on display and one in back at the warehouse. I repaired one for the Nun's cloister in town. One went to the dump so I saved the chord box and would like to midi it maybe to include autoharp strum board or sensors. The reason for the harsh sound is stops are off when tilted up with the dot not showing, so all or most are on in your demo rather than a sweeter sound with one or two.

Those transformers are quite definitely "electronical." Cool video!!

I gigged with one of these (model S) years ago, when I couldn't afford a tonewheel model, spinet or console. The six coils on the upper chassis are for the six oscillators associated with the 'chord' section. The twelve coils on the lower chassis are associated with the 'organ' section. As that section uses twelve oscillators to cover its 31 notes, it isn't possible to play any minor (and some major) second intervals on it. The 'solo' voice section shares the same keyboard and is not polyphonic, but has a number of nice filtering options available (like the Solovox on a Hammond RT3). The wrist bar on the 'chord' section can be set to sound all the time, where pressing it makes the chord volume increase as a rhythmic accent. One of these might be a good candidate for a MIDI conversion. YMMV

Legit playing dude! Reminds me of some stuff that Opeth or BTBAM have put jammed.

They aren't really that rare.... but as a musician that plays Hammonds for a living, I applaud and encourage this purchase!! These things are really cool to play. I plan to grab one some day just to have it and enjoy it.

You make it sing dude!

Yes Please! this is way nicer than my few chord organs

That’s sweet for some reason and I play all types of chords. It’s just something cool about it like triggering nice samples. Just through a Leslie or rotary efx on it. Does it have a line out ? Weird little thing but for $100 bucks it’s cool...unless you are a nomad like me.

I own a S1. 1954. I love it. Did you take lessons James? You play good.

my teacher told us that you can still purchase Hammond organs. also some other company . still makes them. we saw a video on you tube. with the organist. that plays the hamond b 3 with hennery mancannis orchestra.

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

Richard, although you can still purchase Hammond organ they are in name only as they do do not use the tonewheel any more and they are not as good as other companies that make copies of the B3. What made the B3 sound was the tonewheel, others are nice, but not the same.

Nice, they don't sound anything like the fixed reed Magnus types. I don't know a lot about organs but I suspect it's a different type.

the knee lever is inspired from certain reed-organs where knee-levers are used to open up the babinet, kind of like on a pipe-organ.

The Small Transformers ("Capacitors" as you call them) are Tuning Slugs that are tapped sideways to set pitch.

I have a Hammond F-100 that is Electrically Similar, but has LH Keys & 12 Bass Pedals and the "Sewing Machine" Expression Lever.

I have a Hammond Exteavoice (F-100) that is Electrically similar to the Hammond "S" Chord Organs, but has LH Keys and 12 Bass Pedals.

Found this very interesting. I love to play the chord organ.I have a magnus chord organ and a bontempi chord organ. I have never had a Hammond Chord Organ and have seen a couple for sell recently. Is there a Hammond Chord Organ model that has instruments or chimes that can be added to the keyboard playing? To get an Hammond Chord Organ I need one that I can play church music on it.

The bar is an accent bar if you have the chord sustain on. Like oom pa pa exct.

Those were all filter transformers for the tone generating circuit of the organ.

I have one of these in my garage that no longer plays. It was the first instrument I played on as a child before my parents got a piano. I’ve debated whether to toss it in the landfill or try and get it fixed.

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

I think they are really fun to play.

These organs were made to play SONGS!!! Does "anyone" out there remember SONGS?

@johanseinen8245

4 жыл бұрын

I think you are confusing this with an Optigan, which is very similar but that needed an optical record to produce sounds which also had drum patterns on that.

you use the volume bar with your right leg for expression

Hammond sold thousands of these. Chord organ clubs sprang up all over the USA.

Jhonny and the Hurricanes used such hammond organ back in 1959,listen for "Revel Rock" and others.

Funny I found one of these S 6 for $50 dollars I works but needs repair really bad the body is in near perfect condition though. I live in LA and called a few reputable repair shops they said I'd be better trashing it. So with that said I'm contemplating gutting the unit and fitting it with one of my synths and possibly using the power and speakers to work with the install. Have you ever seen anything like this I hate to just throw the instrument to the curb.

@ThePianoforever

2 жыл бұрын

These are wonderful instruments and are worth repairing, but might not be cheap. If you had it repaired you could have many afternoons of fun playing for hours at a time.

I have one just like this one an S6 I think built in 1956. My Dad bought it new and I used to play it when I was a kid. Unfortunately it no longer works. I do wonder what it would take to repair it.

@giannizeno2879

4 жыл бұрын

Steve Landry I don’t think it’s easy to find an organ tech who knows enough about them to make them playable. I played one a few times as a kid but, I’m not a DIY guy and wouldn’t tackle it. A bit of vintage Hammond history that’s becoming lost. By the way, if you can find it online, there’s a great recording by Hal Shutz of the Hammond chord organ. There’s also a recording by Jesse Crawford worth searching for. Nice to hear it played by real organists.

@James_Bowie

3 жыл бұрын

Pretty easy to work on. Service manual is available. But be very careful around the high voltages present.

No, it was introduced in 1952 and may had went onto early 1960s.

This organ wasn't made for the kind of music you're playing. It was designed for the slower ballad type music. Amazing how many people had them in their homes. 'They' were "big" in the 1950's. But then so was I.

@enielsenvideos

4 жыл бұрын

It is good to see a young man into these regardless of the music and I like his music. :)

Was that giants steps-ish? 👍

Are you sitting on a trumpet case? Or maybe an alto sax case? I guess it adds to the oddity of the instrument... :)

how is there wind indoors?

@ThePianoforever

4 жыл бұрын

Sitting under a large fan.

i just know one thing: it's TRULY SO SAD companies like the Hammond (in any industry) go out of business in an unjust manner! imo, governments and nations should pay to protect them even if it's going to be only a few models they'd make per year to be kept in museums only!

@organist660

5 жыл бұрын

you are so right. about htem going out of business. just like lowrey organ co. just did. but you can still buy one. as for me iam a student. in adult organ classes. also just got the legend organ.

George used this on blue jay way

@James_Bowie

3 жыл бұрын

He composed it on one.

Those are inductors for tone generating and the tube glowing down there is a rectifier for the power supply 5u4 is the most common.One weird thing about the organ is the big black metal block screwed between the speakers, I still cant figure out its purpose.Also you can press the chord buttons and press the pedals and you'll get a sound.

@sparky6086

4 жыл бұрын

My guess is; the big black box is a damper to keep the large speakers, which are mounted close together, from vibrating in such a way as to cause the cabinet to buzz, when certain notes/cords are played, especially when at higher volume.

Did he filmed this in the sellers house? :D

Is this the same model that Johnny and the Hurricanes used??

@James_Bowie

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, it is.

Had one just like it. Couldn't take it to the new house. Donated it to a church.

Are your shoes called "Greats"? I saw some similar on their website.

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

I don't know?

Is this the same organ model that George Harrison used for Blue Jay Way?

@bunnyhoover4261

3 жыл бұрын

George Harrison wrote Blue Jay Way on a Hammond chord organ similar to this, but the song was recorded using a different style organ

7:57 sicko mode

8:54 Is that your cat? 🐈

@ThePianoforever

5 жыл бұрын

It was not my home, but two very friendly cats.

How is it windy and you're indoors?

@ThePianoforever

4 жыл бұрын

Overhead fan.

Don Ho played one of these. Here he is performing "Tiny Bubbles" live using a Hammond chord organ: kzread.info/dash/bejne/n6l5qKaYn8fchco.html

, was the first Hammond i ever saw up close , it was sitting in a little musical instrument store somewhere in north babylon new york around '66 i think . didn't get to hear it , but i remember thinking it looked pretty serious

Playing a harmonica, a dog howls. Your cat. What does a cat do what you play a harmonica?

It puts the ham in hammond

That an S6. Worth about $50. Couldn't even give me one.

@jeannetteroy6856

3 жыл бұрын

i would take it for old times sake. find one that works for $50

Odd to see a knee swell on an electronic organ. I am into old pump organs, obviously they utilised them as you were pumping the bellows with your feet.

@BarnDoorProductions

5 жыл бұрын

The knee swell is there because this organ was a "transition" for many people from pump organs to an electronic one -- this is late 40s to 1960, remember.

It's an ... wait for it... .... Orgcordian!

Your feline costar was cute