PS. As a corollary to Hammond tuning being locked to mains
frequency, it is not possible to tune a Hammond to anything other
than A = 440 without messing about with variable frequency power
supplies.
On 08/11/2022 19:16, Chris Clifton via
groups.io wrote:
A Hammond never needs tuning as such. The relative pitch of the
individual tone wheels is set by the internal gearing of the
tone wheel generator, and the overall pitch is set by the
frequency of the AC mains supply. There is no easy way for a
user or organ technician to change either of these. If a Hammond
organ is out of tune, the most likely cause is that oiling has
been neglected, and the friction of the unoiled bearings is
causing some tone wheels to turn more slowly than they should.
The tone wheels are grouped in pairs, with a spring loaded
clutch preventing jammed or partially seized tone wheels from
stopping the the whole generator. Very often, oiling a neglected
Hammond and waiting some time (could be weeks!) for the oil to
reach the bearings will free up any sticking tone wheels.
On 08/11/2022 19:00, Gesine wrote:
Hi hammond peeps,
An acquaintance says his friend says he needs to tune his
Hammond, and they wondered if they could do it using a tuning
app of some sort.
(we're very used to tuning harpsichords, using PitchLab,
tuning forks, and years ago by getting up at 4 am when it was
quiet and counting beats)(we prefer a=415, quarter comma
meantone).?
I played B3 a lot for 13 years, intermittently after that,
but it never occurred to me that a B3 could go out of tune,
without having something be broken/needing adjustment.
We had occasional problems that a Hammond tech needed to
address, one time during a gig the whole organ's tone suddenly
ran down (and I immediately turned off the B3!).?
Anyhow -- my impression has been that normally one does NOT
mess with tuning on a Hammond.? Appreciate any thoughts/info
on this, thanks.? Gesine?
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