1968 Hammond H182 organ

   In 2006, I was making my rounds of the thrift and collectibles shops. I entered a branch of the Salvation Army thrift store chain and spied an old organ near the entrance. I knew immediately, I wanted the organ. I had watched desirable potential purchases disappear overnight because I hesitated. This time, I bargained to purchase the organ and pick it up within a week.
   I built a platform for transporting the organ from one inch thick plywood, four three inch casters, two with locks, and some tie down, rachet controlled, straps. I found later the organ with bench and pedals weighs over 425 pounds.

   After I managed to get the thing home, I replaced a cracking power cord with a new one. I opened the back and found a long tube of the manufacturer's original lubricating oil in a position on the inside side wall. I got on the web and spent some time googling for data. Eventually, I found a handful of invaluable sites that left me with a full set of schematics and block diagrams.
   There were a couple of other problems. One of the keys sat about a few millimeters higher than the others. I let that go for a more serious problem. On the left side of the lower manual are a set of keys of reverse color, black is white and white is black. These keys manipulated the sound of the music from that manual. A manual is what is thought of as a keyboard. The Hammond has two, an upper and lower manual. Both have the reverse color keys on the left. The lower set would not stay pressed keeping me from using the lower manual.

   I studied the diagrams and schematics. I found a web site where a similar organ was partially dismantled and got an idea on how to go about the repair. I did not have complete information, but figured I could pick up what I needed along the way.
   Eventually, I got the keys unstuck. A simple bending of a piece of metal corrected the sticking action.
   I read how to oil the organ and used the discovered oil to finish that task.
   The organ has an extensive control set which can make testing the organ an exhausting and tedious experience.

   I worked with the organ and got to the point that I could use everything but the celeste function. The celeste, like the artificial Leslie built in, uses an electro-mechanical scanner. A rotating drum that contains a series of capacitors that effect the electrical parameters of the sound. I would have to remove and disassemble, repair and reassemble and re-insert the device. I decided to forgo that pleasure, at least for the time being. I weighed the value of the celeste effect against the cost in time and labor and decided to pass over that repair.
   I got the spring reverb to work by 'jiggling' a couple of electron tubes in that circuit.
   I spent, by far, the most time in learning how to use the organ. As I said, there is an extensive control set. Switches, knobs, pedals and buttons to go with the keys.
   The Hammond H series has been referred to some as Hammond's effort to build a super B3.
The built-in electro-mechanical Leslie effect, the built in power amplifier and speakers(3), and the electro-mechanical vibrato, along with other features make the H series a competitive model.
   The disadvantage is the weight due to the extra hardware and the omission of some controls considered less than important. The famous B3 'waterfall' keys were replaced by a 'diving board' set of keys.
   One thing I eventually discovered is that I could attain that well known, growling distortion by overdriving the built in amplifier.
   I sat for days discovering the different controls and what effect they had on the sound.
   I experimented with miking the organ for a different sound. I used a cheap battery powered, stereo microphone that I plugged into my computer. I used ordinary stereo sound recording software to record session. Really beats lugging around a thirty pound reel to reel tape recorder.
   The number represents the model and cabinet style. The 182 is Italian Provincial Walnut. Mine was made in 1968. At that time, electronics were moving from electron tubes to transistors. The Hammond H182 was a hybrid containing both.
   What follows is a description taken from the site www.theatreorgans.com:

"

Model H-100 Series

Production Years:	1965 through 1974
Cabinet Size:	50 1/2" wide, 26 1/2" deep, 50" high with music rack, 445 lbs with pedals and bench.
Finish:	H-111 Traditional styling in Mahogany H-112 Traditional styling in Walnut H-133 French Provincial in Cherry H-143 Early American in Cherry H-182 Italian Provincial in Walnut H-195 Mediterrean in Oak H-262 Institutional Model with locking roll top...Walnut, some preset and other differences. H-324 Comtempory in Pecan with built-in Auto-Rhythm H-382 Italian Provincial in Walnut with built-in Auto-Rhythm H-395 Mediterranean in Oak with built-in Auto-Rhythm - HX100 like H100 in X66 cabinet
Manuals:	Two 61 note manuals with overhanging keys. 25 note detachable pedalboard.
Controls:	One expression pedal effecting both manuals and pedals...tone compensated photo-cell type. Kick switch mounted to pedal cancels vibrato "immediately". 9 presets and 2 adjust keys for each manual. 2 sets of 11 drawbars for upper manual, 2 sets of 10 drawbars for lower manual. 4 pedal drawbars. 28 tabs for percussion, vibrato, sustain, reverb, etc.
Amp/Output:	Stereo amplification plus a bass channel. Two 8" speakers and one 15" speaker. Mixture of solid-state and tube circuitry.
Features:	96 tonewheel generator with self-starting synchronous motor. Tones go up to a high B (around 8,000Hz), then foldback. Foldback note: 16' goes all the way down, the higher harmonic in the mixture drawbars does not foldback. Reiteration, percussion touch control, harp sustain, string bass, lots of vibrato/chorus controls, reverb controls."

   I had some free time and spent a lot of it exploring composition on the organ. I would write an album of instrumental music dedicate to and name after a memorable young woman named Erin. The album title is 'Erin Song.'