Talk:Hammond organ

Merger completed

After ages and ages of silence, I have merged this page and the B3 page, however, this article still needs some work to reduce redundancies. — Preceding unsigned comment added by FozzyMaple (talk • contribs) 19:54, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Technical notes

Tonewheel generator

In a tonewheel Hammond organ, an AC synchronous motor drives all tonewheels. Earlier organ motors did not start by themselves when power was switched on; they needed an auxiliary starting motor to bring them up to speed. Power for the latter motor passed through a spring-loaded, normally off power switch next to the main switch. When switched on, the organist held the starting switch on for a few seconds to start the main motor, then released it. Later motors were self-starting synchronous types.

The whole tonewheel generator assembly extends across the width of the organ, and is roughly 35 cm from front to back; it is roughly 8 cm high. The main drive shaft (directly driven by the motor) runs through the middle, and is not continuous; it has several springs to isolate sections of the shaft (probably mechanical low-pass filtering, to reduce high-frequency torque fluctuations).

The generator assembly comprises a number of compartments which isolate neighboring tonewheels and their coils, as well as enhancing the rigidity of the structure while maintaining reasonable weight. Extending from both the front edge and the back edge are the magnets, with clamping collars and screws. These are factory adjustments, critical, to set the correct distance between the "inside" tip of the magnet and the tonewheel. They should not be readjusted without good reason and significant knowledge.

Between any given tonewheel and the main drive shaft are gears with ratios that enhance the frequency accuracy of the tones being generated. The consequence of this is that the intonation is technically just, but some frequency ratios are numerically large (such as three-digit numbers).

A few tonewheels apparently have too much harmonic content from the coil, so they have low-pass filters placed on top of the chassis.

At least some, if not all tonewheel generator chassis are normally covered by a thick felt blanket, perhaps to absorb mechanical noise, and to help keep dust from getting inside.

Some tonewheel generators have a thick non-metallic opaque coating applied to the tonewheel edges, so the teeth are not visible.

Spring reverberation unit (stub)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Nikevich (talk • contribs) 19:14, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Performance techniques (split from main article due to being unsourced or poorly sourced)

Manuals, drawbars, and effects

Pianists and synthesizer players who begin playing the Hammond soon realize that authentic performance practice involves a lot more than playing the notes on the keyboard. Hammond players vary the timbre of both manuals in real time through a combination of changing drawbar settings, engaging or disengaging the vibrato and chorus effects or percussion settings, and changing the rotating Leslie speaker system's speed setting. As well, performers obtain other effects by setting the Leslie's amplifier to maximum output (and controlling the effective volume using only the organ's volume pedal) to add overdriven distortion or growl for certain passages, or by briefly switching off the organ's synchronous run motor, which produces a wobbly pitch-bend effect.

There are playing styles that are idiomatic to the Hammond organ, such as palm glissandos, rapid repetition of a single note, tremolo between two notes a third apart (typically the 5th and 7th scale degree of the current chord), percussive drumming of the keyboard, and playing a chord on the upper manual, then sliding the hand down to duplicate the chord on the lower manual. Artistic use of the foot-controlled volume pedal is an important facet of performing on the Hammond.

Bass pedalboard

Tom Vickers notes that after Jimmy Smith popularized the Hammond organ in jazz, many jazz pianists "...who thought that getting organ-ized would be a snap ...realized that the ...B-3 required not only a strong left hand, but killer coordination on those bass pedals to really get the bass groove percolating." In the 1950s, the organist Wild Bill Davis told aspiring organist Smith that it could take over a decade just to learn the bass pedals. Jazz organists such as Jimmy Smith developed the ability to perform fluent walking-bass lines on the bass pedals, mostly on ballad tempo tunes. He played up-tempo bass lines with his left hand, augmented by occasional taps on the bass pedalboard. Some organists like Barbara Dennerlein or Leon Kuijpers perform basslines on the bass pedalboard.

The organist may operate the bass pedals while either wearing standard shoes; using specially designed organ shoes; or performing barefoot. Rhoda Scott is said to have originated the barefoot playing method, which is popular with some players. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ritchie333 (talk • contribs) 13:17, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

References

manuals definition

Please define the two manuals in terms of the relevant difference between them, e.g. the pitch range of each manual. Thanks. Rtdrury (talk) 19:26, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Frequency transformers

@Ritchie333: Regarding this: "Third party companies manufacture transformers that can allow a Hammond organ designed for one region to run in the other". A transformer does not change the frequency. You would need something like an inverter to run a 60 Hz organ on 50 Hz. Does the source actually say "transformer"? GA-RT-22 (talk) 13:19, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

The source says "All you need is a step-down transformer to reduce the local voltage to about 100-120 volts and a frequency converter to provide a precise 60Hz frequency .... Trek II, mentioned above, sells a product that will take a line with a frequency of 25 Hz to 100Hz and convert it into a steady 60Hz source." Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 13:24, 30 November 2023 (UTC)