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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.
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!
The idea that somehow the gear of a clock generated a tone that was observed and expanded into the development of a musical instrument is flawed in many aspects. For starters, the gears on the clocks serve a very different purpose than creating a tone, their construction, material and even speed of rotation are completely different than the ones used in a TWG. Secondly, The ones in the TWG themselves do not generate any sound per se, the "teeth" passing through the magnetic field of the pickup coil located very near the tone wheel is disturbed and induces the creation of a sine wave, which is the tone base for the organ sound. After this sine wave is generated, it is initially filtered, impedance-corrected and amplified before it even leaves the generator, then it goes to the various circuits to be processed until it becomes the sound we hear and love. You can actually connect an amplifier to each of the terminals for each tone wheel and hear this sine wave, it will not sound like a Hammond because of the beforementioned circuitry, but that is the basis. I found a video of a guy discussing this and he said that the engineer noticed the electrical hum produced by the clock motor could be changed according to the motor's RPM and so it could be tuned to a specific frequency, and that gave them the idea. As soon as I find the video again (for some reason it doesn't show on my UA-cam history), I'll post the link here.
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.
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!
Thank you so much for giving insight to your workshop and the explanations on the tonewheel generator. Very interesting!
Glad you enjoyed it! AND thanks for commenting! Please be sure to subscribe because we have lots more content that we plan to release every Friday afternoon for the foreseeable future
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.
Nothing else like it in this world!
Literally like rebuilding an engine, a transmission, or a carburetor. Those TWG’s are incredibly complex.
Looks like an abacus with partitions! Lol
You UNDERSTAND! Thanks for commenting!
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!
Totally interesting! I agree!
The idea that somehow the gear of a clock generated a tone that was observed and expanded into the development of a musical instrument is flawed in many aspects. For starters, the gears on the clocks serve a very different purpose than creating a tone, their construction, material and even speed of rotation are completely different than the ones used in a TWG. Secondly, The ones in the TWG themselves do not generate any sound per se, the "teeth" passing through the magnetic field of the pickup coil located very near the tone wheel is disturbed and induces the creation of a sine wave, which is the tone base for the organ sound. After this sine wave is generated, it is initially filtered, impedance-corrected and amplified before it even leaves the generator, then it goes to the various circuits to be processed until it becomes the sound we hear and love. You can actually connect an amplifier to each of the terminals for each tone wheel and hear this sine wave, it will not sound like a Hammond because of the beforementioned circuitry, but that is the basis. I found a video of a guy discussing this and he said that the engineer noticed the electrical hum produced by the clock motor could be changed according to the motor's RPM and so it could be tuned to a specific frequency, and that gave them the idea. As soon as I find the video again (for some reason it doesn't show on my UA-cam history), I'll post the link here.
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.
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.
Interesting!
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!
Nothing like it. Thank you.
Glad you like it!
Not for the faint of heart to take apart😳
Quite True but when necessary it can be done and it is worth the effort in the long run. Please....Help us save the B3's!