How to Fix Hammond Organs

Repairing a Hammond organ is very challenging, and is a task which should not be performed by amateurs without experience with electronics. The most common repair needed by Hammond B3 and C3 organs is cleaning the drawbar contacts. If the drawbars are not clean, they can be difficult to work

Things You'll Need

• Spray contact cleaner
• Soldering iron
• Solder

Instructions

1. Turn off the Hammond organ. Pull the drawbars out all the way. Each drawbar should be in position "8".

2. Stand at the rear of the organ. Spray contact cleaner onto the backs of all the drawbars. Pull the drawbars in and out repeatedly to ensure that the cleaner is worked into the drawbars.

3. Coat the backs of the drawbars with petroleum jelly, as recommended by Al Goff in a Keyboard Magazine interview. Be careful to use a conservative amount, as if you use too much, you will clog the drawbar mechanism.

4. Move the drawbars in and out again to work the petroleum jelly into the drawbars. Stop when the drawbars are moving smoothly in and out.

5. Turn on the Hammond organ. Pull each drawbar out individually in order to test the harmonics. If you still have problems pulling the drawbars out, repeat the above process.

Tips & Warnings

• Some music stores have a special contact cleaner for Hammond organs. Use this if possible.

• Make sure that the organ is turned off before you work on it.

References

• Theatre Organs: Hammond-Leslie FAQ

Resources

• Hammond Zone