The Hammond B3. This was and still is the most well-known and also desirable of all of the instruments that The Hammond Organ Company ever produced. Original Hammond B3s are today still used in many different musical venues, from traditional pops music, jazz, rock, gospel, and while today the new Hammond Organ company makes a digital version of this classic instrument, there remains a huge interest and market for original B3s that were made by the original Hammond Organ Company from 1954 through 1974, and during that time, very few changes were made, and these classic B3s are much sought-after, and very desirable collectors' items that are very good and practical musical instruments.

A very important characteristic about traditional Hammond Organs is their quality. Laurens Hammond was an absolute perfectionist and also very adamant about precision. The quality of manufacturing that is evident inside a Hammond organ represents some of the finest workmanship that you will find in any made-in-USA product. Many parts that in modern manufacture can be made of plastic are made of accurately machined metal in a Hammond organ. Likewise, many items that Hammond could have sourced from outside vendors, Hammond manufactured themselves. A case in point are the electrical contacts that you find in traditional Hammond keyboards. Some electronic organ builders used conductive rubber tubing over brass wires, whereas Hammond used steel busbars with palladium contact wire welded onto the steel. Steel gave the contact busbars structural rigidity, and palladium, like platinum is a an extremely good and reliable electrical conductor which means that dead notes as a result of contact failure in a Hammond organ are not a concern. But just to be super sure, Hammond also provided a mechanical positioning adjustment to move the key contact busbars lengthwise for short distance so that if it was ever necessary, you could do this and essentially get a brand new contact surface.

Likewise, one of the most important features of a traditional Hammond organ is its tone generating system. It is dependent on the frequency of the power that runs it (60 cycles/second in the USA.) Utility-supplied power frequency is a very accurately controlled standard in the USA and also in Europe. It is universally used as a standard in industry and, as such, any musical instrument that derives its tuning from standard AC power will remain constantly in tune and all of the the various physical influences, such as temperature changes, barometric pressure variations, humidity fluctuations, and changing mechanical forces have no effect on the accurate tuning of a Hammond organ. Thus, not only will a traditional Hammond be accurately in tune, you can use it as a tuning standard for accurately tuning other musical instruments, and also, all Hammond organs will be absolutely accurately in tune with each other.

All of these fine Hammond qualities are available in the traditional Hammond organs that we sell. At Main Street Music, we have original Hammond B3s in excellent condition, available for immediate purchase while the supply lasts. We invite you to call us and visit our showroom to see, hear and play one of our fine traditional Hammond instruments for yourself.

MAIN STREET MUSIC, LLC
719 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451
(781) 893 6644, or find us on line at:

www.mainstreetmusicboston.com