Hammond M111 Tube Church Organ to Guitar Amp Conversion Restomod, Part 1: Intro

[@IanScottJohnston]

Nice to see old Hammonds getting refurbed. 20yrs ago the band I was in used to gig a B3 and sometimes a C3, the C3 being flight cased. We ran a couple of different Leslie's, a 760 and a 147 depending on whether we used the C3 or B3. Memories of the Hammonds not starting up sometimes and having to give the tone wheel a helping hand after first power up, especially if it was a cold hall!

[@mesasavage]

I would never hack up one of THOSE Hammonds! But AO-29s? They grow on trees. And my M3 parts will feed more M3s that stick around in stock form. I see it as a win/win.

[@skullheadwater9839]

What about the Vibrato, have you ever seen that guy who takes Hammond Vibrato Generators and builds an outboard guitar vibrato unit. Also I do radio repair so if I find particle board with nice veneer I moisten and strip off the veneer and save it for repairs. Some of that stuff is too nice to throw in the dump.

[@mesasavage]

Great idea. I was thinking about how to take these things apart the best way to preserve the wood. Moisture and steam might work well. It will be a fun experiment either way!

[@Flea-Flicker]

I have an L-103 and it still plays. I so want to chop it up to make a guitar amp using the two 12" speakers, the tube amp and the spring reverb. It has the original caps and that is the issue, sooner or later it will not work on one, then two keys, then it may go to the donor farm.

[@mesasavage]

You got to ditch those old caps. I think of electrolytic caps as like tires on a car. Even perfect, 50 year old tires are ready to fail at any moment! You want to drive your amp around with 50 year old tires? Well don't be surprised when it wrecks!

[@Flea-Flicker]

I know right? I said it plays, however not daily and in the 15 years I owned it, I bet not played for even three hours. It is in storage, I moved, could not sell it for $200 and thought one day it might make an interesting guitar amp. Just selling the motor out of it seems would pay the $100 I gave for it in 2010.

[@Flea-Flicker]

@@mesasavage Ahhhh, I see the error of my writing "and it still plays." I owned it for 15 years, in that time, I worked on it and it works but played less than 8 hours for that whole time. You shoulda seen the power cord on that one when I got it. Only fixes have been the motor capacitor for tuning, oiled as best as I could until that pad was soaked, put in a new pad, soaked it again. Like the car analogy, I put in 5 quarts, drove it 50 miles, drained it and filled er up again. It is in storage with a number of other instruments. Love the amp idea. Those little spinet organ amps are loud.

[@skullheadwater9839]

I have an 59' M3 with a speaker that seems to have a voice coil rub issue, Maybe I might be interested in that speaker. I went to take a look at it for a friend and ended up buying it. Once I got home I fiddled with it until it worked then decided against pulling out the amp because I think one day people are going to wish some are still around and working. I stripped the hell out of a Conn and a Lowery though. The Lowery was a huge parts score.

[@mesasavage]

I took apart an early solid state Conn and got a rotating speaker mechanism and two 12" AlNiCos. I didn't even want it at first. I was picking up an M3 Hammond and an 1800s Air Organ at the same time and the guy said I had to take all three of them if I wanted any! I'm glad I did, the speakers are wonderful! Lots of nice wood, too.

[@mesasavage]

If you can use the speaker, I think I have two of those field coils, maybe three! Just let me know, I'll give you a spectacular deal on it.

[@spidermancereal]

What state are you in? If your close I would drive over to buy some parts if possible. Thx

[@mesasavage]

I'm in Forest City, NC 28043

[@IanScottJohnston]

Is Rosie a Cairn Terrier?........we have two.

[@mesasavage]

I have no idea! She showed up and adopted me one day! SO I have no idea as to her lineage. I've been told all kinds of breeds by all kinds of folks. I'll have to look that one up!

[@obsequious_obsolescence]

Really cool concepts! Would it be possible to do a full range amp in this way? Something like a bass amp or a synth amp that puts out higher and lower tones? When my father died he left a ton of old hammonds and other amps/parts around. I havent thought about going through it all until now

[@mesasavage]

The frequency range is mostly limited by the speakers you use and how you voice it. These old, original speakers are all mid range. Great for a mellow church organ or a gnarly guitar! I imagine the output transformer can pass 80hz to 12khz decently and most instruments would fall in that range. I'll find out soon enough. This first project is guitar focused, but the next one will be a bass head! And for that one I will run a modern cabinet. I have an early, all octal version of the A0-29 that will run 7591s with a custom output transformer in a Ampeg inspired circuit. I have 5 of these organs and another pair of Hammond amps. So I imagine, if you stick around long enough, you'll see all the permutations possible!

[@obsequious_obsolescence]

​@@mesasavage awesome, I will be checking back for sure!

[@mesasavage]

@@obsequious_obsolescence It will probably take a year or more to finish all these Hammonds, but I will eventually. I sure do love working on them!

[@FlipDahlenburg]

I used to have one, the M111 is the best-looking of the M100 series. Looks kinda like a B3! Mine bit the dust, but I have a 1961 M103 now.

[@FlipDahlenburg]

I kept the bench!

[@markgigiel2722]

Breathing heavy. May have mold in that basement.

[@mesasavage]

Nah, I'm just super fat and winded. I'll do better on the next one.

[@markgigiel2722]

@@mesasavage OK. It didn't bother me. It was just concern.

[@mesasavage]

Its cool, sorry if that sounded prickly. I'm actually down 185 pounds in the last two years, so I'm not nearly as big as I used to be. But I still got a long ways to go and who knows if I'll ever not sound like that. I only really hear myself when I edit. The uhhhs and the uhhmmms and other trash in my speech is bad enough, but having to edit out the heavy breathing can be so tedious. I hadn't edited a video in a while so I just kind of slapped this one together real fast. If you watch the later ones in the series, I'm still breathing just as poorly, but I edit out the more annoying bits so you don't notice. I need to train myself to speak better, though, regardless.