The Hammond Organ

The traditional Hammond Organ is in a class by itself
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  The traditional Hammond organ occupies a very special place in the world of music. Technically, it is not really an organ. As regards musical instruments, an organ is an instrument that uses various tuned pipes similar in design and principle to whistles or flutes, and others that are similar to woodwinds and some brass instruments or horns powered by low pressure compressed air and controlled via standard music instrument keyboards and also, in typical examples, by a pedal keyboard as well. In a Hammond organ, tones are produced in an electro-mechanical tone generator that generates various alternating current signals whose frequencies correspond to a correctly tuned twelve note equally tempered scale which is the standard for typical keyboard instruments used in American and European music.
  As regards playing features and playing technique, it is essentially the same as an organ, although its means of tone production is very different. Therefore, Laurens Hammond, the instrument's inventor, chose to refer to it as an organ, and his original intent in developing it was that it should be a less expensive replacement for a traditional organ, by eliminating, among other things, machinery for producing the compressed air, and the elimination of various tuned pipes, some of which, if placed vertically, could be several stories high.
  Anyhow, what finally resulted was an essentially new musical instrument that had a number of advantages. First of all, the design of its tone producer was such that it would never go out of tune. It was very reliable, and produced a huge number of different tonal effects, just about all of which sounded very nice. it was also somewhat lighter and therefore easier to move than a typical piano, and perhaps most important, most prominent musicians liked it very much and many famous people purchased the early Hammond instruments as soon as they became available. George Gershwin was one of Hammond's first customers, as was Henry Ford, Sigmund Romberg, and many others.
  Today, modern electronics have lead to the production of many various copies of original Hammond organs, and even the new Hammond Company has developed a digital version of the most famous model of all, the Hammond B3. However, original Hammond organs, with Hammond's electro-mechanical tone generation system and a number of other unique features are in great demand. We at Main Street Music are pleased to offer traditional Hammond organs from Hammond's best years of production including B3 and C3 instruments, A100s, H100s, and even some X66 models. Please call us today for more information about our excellent used traditional Hammond Organs.
  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. If you are interested in finding out more about how a Hammond organ works, check out this interesting look at what's inside a Hammond organ?

Listen to some old standards played on traditional Hammond Organs

Check out two of our B3 and C3 instruments

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