RIP Bob Schleicher

[OB Dave]

I've got some really sad news to report. Legendary Oakland Hammond tech Bob Schleicher has passed away.

 

I never met him in person but talked to him on the phone many times. I suck at tube amp repair, so he'd walk me through some simple things to check for before boxing up a Leslie amp and sending it in. I eventually did have him rebuild three 147 amps for me and I still have a couple of his first-generation solid state Leslie relays and they still work some ~30+ years later. People in the bay area have stories about him coming out to a gig, no matter when or where to do a repair on the spot. He truly was one of a kind. Rest in peace, Bob, you were the best.

[mate stubb]

Oh no. I knew Bob was semi retired and not in the greatest of health. His Oakland Chop design is the most beautiful of all the Hammond chops. I shamelessly copied the shape for my own organ controller.

 

RIP Bob.

 

[kenheeter]

Bob was a true gentleman and always helpful. This is a great loss to the community.

[elif]

Oh - so sad to hear that.

 

I met Bob through the ZK3 Hammond mailing list in the mid 90s. I was the first FAQ author. Bob gave freely of his expert knowledge and advice, which could be trusted to be accurate. One day he emailed me and asked me to review a design he had done for a solid-state Leslie relay. He was selling one he had already designed, but this one had something different, a stop feature with a brake. It worked, of course. Remarkably, it was implemented with CMOS logic devices. I replied with something like "These days, it would probably be done with a uP." This resulted in some phone conversations leading to me designing and building his EIS SSR. For several years he would drop ship a batch of 12C671 uPs to me which I would program and ship to him.

 

IME, he was the nicest and most honest fellow I've had the pleasure of dealing with.

 

BTW, the handle "ChoppedHam" actually came from one of Bob's email addresses.

[zxcvbnm098]

I never met him but of course knew of him from the books and websites for all things Hammond. Sadly, like many of our music heroes from that era, many of those Hammond gurus are now leaving us. RIP...I too had heard he was a wonderful guy....

[bill bosco]

he invented the EIS leslie relay that trek2 has been selling , it's a beautiful thing that we've had all these people all these years so dedicated

to this instrument , amazing

[bill bosco]

hello matestubb , been trying to reach you through your youtube channel , had some questions about your hammond controller

[Outkaster]

Sal, John S, and now Bob. Man this is really too bad,

[DJkeys]

Wow, I am very sorry to hear this. I worked at a music store in 1986 to 1993 and Bob was the tech for the store. He worked on the Yamaha Electones they sold there. He used to come to our Christmas parties and I remember drinking port with him at the restaurant in Walnut Creek CA every year. Sometimes the store owner would cut us off, as we could drink port and talk for a long time. Great sense of humor, very direct guy, being from back East I really appreciated him.

 

RIP, Bob-

[Barryjam]

Bob built one of his chops for me in 2001 and installed solid state relays in two Leslies. Unlike Bill Beer"s, Bob"s chops are easily serviced by merely human repair guys. He provided schematics for anything altered and used Trek II devices pretty much.

 

When it came time for my last service in 2019 prior to selling the chop, I noticed that he had lost a step or three, but he was magnanimous in suggesting a service tech closer to me.

 

The Hammond and Leslie universe has lost a tremendous figure and friend.

[mate stubb]

hello matestubb , been trying to reach you through your youtube channel , had some questions about your hammond controller

 

Just saw this. Check your private messages on this forum.

[WheelHead]

Sal, John S, and now Bob. Man this is really too bad,

 

and don't forget Harvey Olsen in 2016 . . . Hammond Master Tech

 

WH

[nursers]

Guys like this are such a precious resource, always sad to lose someone like this On the last podcast Dave Mathews spoke of Bob and the great work he's done. RIP Bob.

[LX88]

The best Hammond sound I ever heard was at a party at Bob's house...about 8 years ago.

 

Several people played but at the end of the day it was Chester Thompson. The organ and Leslie just sounded fabulous! The leslie was a 31h cabinet but I suspected that something was different.

 

After thanking Chester I asked Bob about the Leslie. He led me to the back of it and the amp was a Sony solid state receiver! It looked like a million other things I have seen in thrift stores....

 

He was also a big fan of Atlas treble drivers. He said Jensens had given him a lot of problems over the years.

 

I loved his business motto...."When good enough....isnt".