B-3 Question

[Outkaster]

This auction says blonde finish but it looks like like oak? Were there a lot of blonde B-3s? I had head they existed but never saw one:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/1957-Hammond-B-3-organ-cabinets-RARE-BLONDE-FINISH_W0QQitemZ280256568391QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280256568391&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A3%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&timeout=1218810001929

 

[Musicale]

Blonde is the finish, not the wood. This is a blond finish B3. it's also got the little mini-keyboard with it. I remember this add-on but forget exactly how it relates to the big board. Check the year via serial No. Pre 1962 is highly desirable, as they started cutting corners 1962-1963. This may be a later vintage.

[Outkaster]

Ok I know they had Lime Oak on a lot of consoles also.

[B3Nut]

The add-on is not a solovox, but some other accessory solo instrument. The Leslie adaptation with the preamp pedal shoved in the rear is quite a kludge. The tone cabinet is most likely an HR-40 from the looks of the front.

 

And corner-cutting at Hammond did not start in 1963. The earliest that accusation could be leveled is late 1964 when they started using foam as a manual dust seal, and the switch to round gold busbars which proved to be a service hassle. In the case of the foam, climate has a lot to do with whether or not it deteriorates badly. In the case of the busbars, a good clean/polish and treatment with busbar lube keeps them working fine. Upshot of the gold bars is they're much easier to remove and install, they're a piece of cake.

[Byrdman]

Did you look at the invoice. Apparently this cost over $2000 new. That was a heck of a lot of money back then. That's about 14000 dollars in current money (see http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/Documents/dollar/index.htm for approx dollar values over time) So back then it would have cost roughly as much as a new car.

 

Nice instrument. For myself I would rather have a beat up one - would not want to gig this one, its too nice.

 

[B3Nut]

Ah, I can see from that invoice it's an ER-20 tone cabinet, and the little keyboard is for a chimes unit. Those can be fun at Christmastime, old carols with organ and chimes...it can be really pretty or mega-cheesy depending on how it's pulled off.

[Outkaster]

Ok so have there been Lime Oak B-3's because I have never seen them other on C, RT, or D series.

[eric]

I saw a lime oak or blonde finished C3 at NAMM this year. I have photos at home and will post. It was a gospel organ guy playing in the NAMM foyer. I think all the Hammonds came in this light color, but not quite as common.

[HammondDave]

The first B3 I owned was ALMOST a blonde 1955 B3 that I could have had for $1200. It was a little beat up and I chose a mint 1963 instead.

 

The blonde finish was much warmer (more yellow) than the one pictured here.

[mate stubb]

That is limed oak finish, different from Blonde. Both are fairly rare in a B-3, but blonde was usually done on cherry wood, not oak.

 

Here is a blonde finished organ from the Hammond catalog - much more golden than the limed oak, although some limed oak finishes can turn more golden when they age.

 

http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/HAMCAT13.GIF

 

Here is my limed oak C-3:

 

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/images/hammond/mansionstudio2.jpg

 

 

[B3Nut]

That early 60's catalog pic looks more like their standard cherry finish, which was the alternative to walnut. It's a goldish-reddish finish. My '63 is this cherry color (cherry and the darker walnut were the choices at that time, unless you ordered a custom finish.) There was an even lighter reddish-gold color available as well as blonde in the 50's, I've often heard it referred to as "fruitwood."

 

Then there was getting a Leslie to match the organ you were buying...

[Outkaster]

Ok but that does not look blonde in that ad??

[B3Nut]

Blonde looked lighter in Hammond lit of that time (and printing colors weren't totally accurate then either, but it's closer to my cherry '63 than what limed oak and blonde finishes look like in person.) The blonde B-3 in the eBay auction is much lighter than that, and given the white streaks I'm inclined to believe it's actaully limed oak (whitish streaks in the grain are characteristic of that finish.)

 

Ah, I found it: the skinny on limed oak from Sal Azzarelli:

 

"Limed oak organs have rift-sawn oak veneers which are filled with white paint

(called "liming" or "pickling") and sanded smooth, and a natural colored

lacquer is the top coat which gives the instrument a pale yellow-white cast.

A limed oak C-3 is readily identifiable by the white filled woodgrain. Oak

C-3's that are exposed to sun over time can turn a darker dirty

brownish-yellow which is not very attractive. Hammond JR/HR/PR tone cabinets

were finished to match. I only know of a few that were used residentially.

While not rare, walnut organs are much more common. Oak C-3's that are

exposed to sun over time can turn a darker dirty brownish-yellow which is not

very attractive. Many oak organs resold today have been refinished to black

or white."

[Jim Alfredson]

The ebay auction probably just has bad pictures. My guess is that the organ is oak. I have an oak M3 and my organ tech has an oak C3 with matching PR40 cabinet. They are pretty.

[HammondDave]

I have two fruitwood B3's ('59 and '61) and one dark walnut ('55). My tech told me that the Fruitwoods are more desireable due to their rarity and circular woodgrain. It seems to me that the oak is less encountered. The B3 that I mentioned in my earlier post was almost yellow and not very attractive. It must have been sun treated as mentioned above.

[Jon Doe]

That 3rd keyboard is a Vibrachime.

 

 

 

[B3Nut]

Doing further digging, I see from the gurus that fruitwood and cherry are in fact the same finish, and the walnut in the early 60's started getting lighter for awhile, then in the 70's turned into a plain brown, which presumably hid the declining finish quality. My '63 turns out is actually the lighter walnut with a reddish tinge...the cherry was even lighter than that comparing photos taken under identical lighting (Dennis Delzer's b3hammond.com site, great pics of beautifully-restored boxes!)...but still a very different hue than the limed oak and blonde finishes. www.b3hammond.com has a separate section for cherrywood B-3's...expensive, but well-restored boxes. Lots of pics to drool over!

 

The cherrywood/fruitwood B's on that site definitely command a premium. I actually like the early 60's walnut better, it looks like what one would think a cherry finish should be like...darker with a golden reddish tint but lighter than the earlier Hammond dark walnut (which almost looks like a mahogany color at times, except in the case of my B-2 which just looks like cracked mud...it had a hard life before I got it.)

[HammondDave]

Man are those expensive organs. Nice to know my two Fruitwood organs are worth over $16,000... yeah right...

 

Who pays that much for organs? really....

[mate stubb]

My mahogany B-3 isn't that dark at all when you shine a little light on it.

 

(cue gratuitous pic of Charlene, my Hammond):

 

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/images/hammond/charlene01.jpg

[HammondDave]

Beautiful B3, Moe

[B3Nut]

Oooo, she purty! '55? I noticed the curved fallboard...those disappeared after '56. Freaking gorgeous box!

[mate stubb]

OK I have to confess - she is a franken organ.

 

She's a very late '54 B-2 box and generator but the manuals and preamp are '62 A-100.

 

Please don't tell her she's not of pure B-3 blood!

[B3Nut]

Nothing wrong with a frankenhammond. Nice mix of vintages, actually. My '53 B-2 has manuals and smooth drawbars from a later '53 or '54 C-2 (ugly blonde with peeling finish)...I love that box. Plays like buttah. Funny thing, I think my B-2 was in the transition period of 1953 when they did a run of smooth drawbars, then went back to ratchets to use up stock before going all smoothies, as it's serial is pretty late but it had ratchets when I bought it. I was given a peeling blonde C-2 in '96, and I dropped the manual chassis/drawbar base assembly into the B-2. I put in a pot for variable chorus while I had it apart, too...I like that mod as I find stock -2 chorus to be too shallow for my taste.

 

I wouldn't tell her she's not of pure B-3 blood, because in reality she is, just not officially. But that matters not for a "player's" box. I bet she's got a really sweet tone, you've got great parts inside.

[mate stubb]

I bet she's got a really sweet tone, you've got great parts inside.

 

It does sound great. But the limed oak C-3 ('59) I posted pics of above - that is simply the best sounding Hammond I have ever owned or played. It is truly magical. I have been sorely tempted to swap the guts...

 

I have a concert recorded on that organ of Joey D, and it sounds great just from an audience mic in a big old echoey concert club.

[Outkaster]

Moe did you get that from a club or something? I am starting to hit the funeral homes. I have heard of getting Hammonds from them from other guys.

[mate stubb]

The oak C-3 came from a guy who ran a furniture reupholstery business back in Columbus OH in 1989. I answered an ad for it, and found it at the back of his store underneath a mattress.

 

I gave him $500 for it plus a matching PR-40. The organ has never been touched and doesn't need it either. The action is still tight, the tone is perfectly balanced, and the only drawback is the ugly cab finish.

 

Charlene my franken organ came more recently from my buddy Rick Prevallet, Kansas City Hammond tech extraordinaire (that's him sitting at the organ in the pic). I paid considerably more for that one, but not stupid money. The single most expensive part of a hammond these days has to be finding a B cabinet with the original finish in great shape.

[B3Nut]

I bet she's got a really sweet tone, you've got great parts inside.

 

It does sound great. But the limed oak C-3 ('59) I posted pics of above - that is simply the best sounding Hammond I have ever owned or played. It is truly magical. I have been sorely tempted to swap the guts...

 

I can believe that...a friend of mine in Nashville has a '58 C-3 that is one of the sweetest Hammonds I've ever played. It just sings, and has drawbar definition wax-cap organs aren't supposed to have. (If you've ever heard the "Now The News" record by Eli, you've heard this organ.) And I am very fond of my '63 B-3, that organ has a mix of sweetness and spit that I love. '58-'63 are my faves, though I've never played an early '64 with red caps but no RC networks...those "transition" boxes are supposed to be magic. But I've heard several '58-'59 boxes that had simply sublime tone...I love 'em.