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That's an interesting story about the trial, but there was no lawsuit filed. Instead, there was an FTC complaint filed that Hammond's advertising was deceptive. There was an assembly of listeners, who compared the sounds. There was also mathematical analysis of the harmonics produced. There was also a visit to churches where both types of organs were played. In the end, it was a split decision. Hammond was no longer allowed to claim that a Hammond was the same thing as a pipe organ, and it's not. But they were also not forced to stop calling them "organs" and were allowed to keep selling them, mostly to buyers who would otherwise not be in the market for a pipe organ anyway. One African-American church organist testified, but he was not considered important enough by the commission to have his words recorded, or even his name recorded. But the fact that he appeared was noted. This, by itself, was indicative of why the Hammond organ was so badly needed: because a huge number of churches had been completely left out of the opportunity to have an organ at all, until Hammond came along.
Thank you John for adding clarity to this history of the Hammond organ story we were telling. We greatly appreciate your commenting and you have helped us better understand what really happened. This correction is duly noted.
If the manuals (keyboards) are removed from a Hammond console, one should automatically service the tone generator, whether it needs it or not. When the manuals are out of the cabinet, the generator can be carefully rolled over without de-soldering the pedal harness.
I knew Mr Hammond was a clock maker, but hadn’t heard the church guy noticed his clocks were making a tone and gave them the idea to make an organ. Funny how accidents or coincidences can birth an amazing outcome!
Wonder how Mr. Hammond the clock maker learned about electronics ? Clocks are mostly mechanical with gears rotating. The organ on the other hand, has gears and motors and “electronics” !! Capacitors, vacuum tube amplifiers, electro magnetic pick ups. Where did he learn those technologies ? Wondering if he had electronics engineers working for him when he invented the organs.
We have read that the book keeper for Mr Hammond was a church organist however do not know the best reply to your questions. Perhaps others can add to this discussion so we can all be better informed. Meanwhile, I will be looking for additional input from my various resources and old company brochures etc.
The clocks he made were electromechanical just like the organ. They used the 60hz AC current frequency to stay on time. The same way the organ stays in tune by using the 60hz AC current.
My vintage 1963 Hammond L-103 Organ has Green Tonewheels! I've seen a Hammond M3 online with Blue Tonewheels! Did Hammond manufacture any more colored Tonewheels?
Interesting question and to be honest I do not know. We are used to seeing orange protective coating on most of the tone wheels but now that you have asked a question which I cannot answer, I will pay more attention, and perhaps others can comment to increase our mutual understanding. Recently we had a tone wheel with too much orange coating and it actually had a very small wad of this material that was causing a distorted sound. Once the excess material was removed the organ was perfect. This was the very fist time we had seen this issue and I was really proud of Grant, the technician who noticed and resolved this issue. There is a more technical explanation for the orange color coating which I will add later if no one does it for us as an additional comment. ( Hint.....I have heard that "zinc" may be involved". Can someone else provide additional details? THIS IS A TEST!!!!! But only intended for the fun of it!
