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Moving Leslie and Hammonds, assessing condition


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Todd (B3 nut) was a lot of help as was Wes Garland. The Leslie is a 60's model 147 which is a great find. There were no stamps on the shelves under the altec speaker but by the looks of it it's pre-1970. The organ has the pedals, bench but no Leslie cable. Generator is locked down still as it was moved and left for 25 years sitting. As Sam said for something this age there is work to be done. The Tone generator is not frozen as near as I can see. The wiring harness and amp will need work along with stuff, maybe a large overhaul. We contemplated taking it down the stairs ourselves but what you don't see is it's not only 11 steps down and then a sharp right into the living room out of the house. We could see how they got it in there but going down is a different story in an old house with a narrow staircase. Then it's up a step and down two outside out front. Dollies might not make any sense until we get it on the ground floor. and it really needs to be done a few guys, it was just the two of us. We decided to wait for more help.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Nice, Jason! And Sam, it's already starting to clean up nicely. :thu:

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Yeah I am thinking the overhaul of the tone generator will be where a lot of the work is Joe. The Leslie will come back a lot easier I am sure. Sam is on top of it.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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VICTORY. After struggling to find a mover who was willing to handle it, three pals and I got the Leslie and the A100 down to the ground floor today, which was satisfying, but scary, and required some improvisation. The Leslie was a cinch, but the organ was the real puzzle, as expected. The dollies made lifting it a lot easier, but the one on the top-facing side wound up catching on the stairs a couple of times since the angle was so steep, and even though it was strapped on tight near the manuals, the bottom of the dolly started pulling away from the organ (gulp). Then, to get it around the corner at the bottom of the stairs, we had to set the whole thing on its side, rotate it, and ease it down to its normal position, all while avoiding resting it on some copper pipe conveniently situated directly opposite the stairwell at the entry to the next room. Hopefully we didn't rattle the innards around too much, but it seemed okay, and I guess that's why we're taking it straight to the tech, yeah? My drummer was the real hero of the day; he used to be a mover and he really took charge of the situation. We love to joke about 'em, but they're invaluable, eh? :wink: :rimshot:

 

Now I've just got to get the trailer there (looking like early next week), load everything up (just one step down from the front porch, definitely manageable with two people on the dollies), and get it to my guy! I'll keep everyone posted.

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Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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VICTORY.

Then, to get it around the corner at the bottom of the stairs, we had to set the whole thing on its side, rotate it, and ease it down to its normal position, all while avoiding resting it on some copper pipe conveniently situated directly opposite the stairwell at the entry to the next room.

 

Cool beans. The set the whole thing on its side reminded me of part of the First Gravy video. Jackie Ivory, Gene Ludwig and Dr. Lonnie Smith talk about moving a B-3 into The Hurricane, Pittsburgh, PA. The B-3 was put on its end and hoisted up onto the bar to get to the bandstand which was, I guess, behind and level with the bar?

 

The clip is about 1 minute long.

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Jackie Ivory, Gene Ludwig and Dr. Lonnie Smith talk about moving a B-3 into The Hurricane, Pittsburgh, PA. The B-3 was put on its end and hoisted up onto the bar to get to the bandstand which was, I guess, behind and level with the bar?

 

It was actually a little taller than the bar, and very small. How'd you like to play that stage?

 

The Hurricane Club in Pittsburgh

 

Hurricane%20Jimmy%20Smith%201956.JPG

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I'm exhausted just reading about it. Please don't ask us to do this again. :complain:

:roll:

What"s this forum for if not to take you all on the journey with me?

 

My wife assented to doing the move 'myself' when I told her the helpers I had picked out, specifically the drummer, but she made quite clear she did not want to be there to watch it happen, or hear about how it went down after. :roll:

I once had to move my organ up and down an outside metal fire escape to the 2nd floor club. It was precariously "bolted" into brick siding and wobbly. Oh yeah, it was winter and the treads were ice covered. :o
That reminds me a little bit of what it was like moving our piano into our old apartment. The ice on the stairs in particular was what made me think 'we will pay professionals for this service from now on.'

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Haven"t had an update for awhile because I was out of commission with a nasty stomach bug for the first two weeks of August, so it set back my plans for the A100. But tonight we got the organ and Leslie loaded up into the trailer and dropped off with the tech! 'The bigger it is, the faster it moves out of here,' he said, 'and this is pretty big.' He looked like a kid at Christmas.

 

Woof, learned you gotta strap those ROKs tight on the bottom though. Had a close call getting it out of the trailer and onto the sidewalk outside the tech"s house. Don"t want to jinx myself, but I think somebody up there wants me to have this organ... let"s hope loading it back in and out after it"s ready to go is uneventful!

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Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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For interested parties, my tech has been e-mailing me as he starts to work... here's some of what he's saying:

Boy,she is a dirty girtieâ¦â¦.starting to get into this. Could be a few bucksâ¦..I`ll give you the figure after I can get it to run,and go through the leslieâ¦â¦..

Looked through the leslie.I can get that running with a preamp I haveâ¦..basically ok.Motors need adjusting,and a massive cleanout.The low end has a buzz in it I`m not too impressed by.Not sure if it`s speaker or improper mounting.Output tubes need changing.really old and burnt.That alone looks like 250,unless the low end speaker has a problem.Someone changed it out with an altec(not a bad choice) but I see they didn`t space it away from the baffle.Could be causing the noise I`m hearing.Fingers crossed.Still haven`t got the organ to run yet.Frame is somewhat set up.Once that runs I can see about the restâ¦â¦â¦

So, no surprise, it's a good thing I took it to a tech instead of bringing it home and finding out it didn't work. Everything he's said so far has been reasonable, so as long as nothing turns out to be catastrophically bad and expensive to fix, I'm hoping this will still be a lucky find when all is said and done.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Funny thing about more expensive and tighter suspension woofers like the Altec and JBL speakers - they don't work in a leslie as well as the cheaper OEM.

 

I"ve found that to be the case quite often in Leslies and guitar amps. I was just posting about a pair of 65 watt combo amps I traveled with in the 80s. I put EVM12L speakers in them and they sucked. They were too clear, too pristine, too hi-fi. I put the stick Scorpions back in and they were way better.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Two things here that I must respond to.

 

Firstly, I owe you an apology for not posting a warning as regards the Roll or Kari's and A100's. Yes they have to be extra tight at the bottom or they will slip out at the worst moment. It happened to me once and almost ended in disaster.

 

And, yeah I have a pair of Gauss 15's that were intended for "most beef" on two Leslies but they got fried at a sound gig where the power was bad and poof! No more Gausses. Everything happens for a reason I guess.

 

Congrats!!

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And, yeah I have a pair of Gauss 15's that were intended for "most beef" on two Leslies but they got fried at a sound gig where the power was bad and poof! No more Gausses. !

 

I had a high powered leslie I built with TWO Gauss 15's and two rotors. They were also blown up. By Jan Hammer!

Moe

---

 

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...but I see they didn`t space it away from the baffle.Could be causing the noise I`m hearing.Fingers crossed.

 

What does that mean? Doesn"t the Altec just sit directly on the lower shelf? Is the speaker frame such that the cone extends into the baffle?

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...What does that mean? Doesn"t the Altec just sit directly on the lower shelf? Is the speaker frame such that the cone extends into the baffle?[../quote]

 

My MS LowPro exhibited a similar issue with the Eden 12". If seemed like the speaker, when flexing when the bass pedals were played, was rubbing against the opening. I removed the speaker and added a circular spacer between the speaker and the cabinet. The noise disappeared. It sounds like the issue that Sam is describing but I could be misinterpreting what was written.

57 Hammond B3; 69 Hammond L100P; 68 Leslie 122; Kurzweil Forte7 & PC3; M-Audio Code 61; Voce V5+; Neo Vent; EV ELX112P; GSI Gemini & Burn

Delaware Dave

Exit93band

 

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...but I see they didn`t space it away from the baffle.Could be causing the noise I`m hearing.Fingers crossed.

 

What does that mean? Doesn"t the Altec just sit directly on the lower shelf? Is the speaker frame such that the cone extends into the baffle?

The hole for the 15" speaker in the Leslie is smaller than 15", more like 12" (IIRC). The extra material is needed to mount the cross frame holding the upper bearing for the drum. If a high-excursion driver is put in there driven with power, there will be a buzz on bass notes that varies with volume as the cone/surround strikes the the bearing mount and/or baffle. Usually a spacer of some sort is put in to provide clearance. I've never heard of it with a stock 40W amp.

 

Edit: and stock speaker ;)

 

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Interesting. I"ve never come across one of those spacers, even just perusing parts distributors like Tonewheel General and similar. Then again I may have just quickly passed it by. Thanks for sharing.
I've never seen one for sale either. I made this one. I did see spacers in the Leslies used by a southern rock band touring in the '70s (JBLs and Macintosh). There's not much call for such a thing these days. We have real FOH systems now.
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