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Greetings and Salutations!</p>
This is my first post. I have a Hammond T-312 which I have been gigging with in my rock n' roll band for almost a year. I love everything about it. I bought it after locating it on Craigslist some months ago. Everything worked perfectly when I bought it, with the exception of the G bass pedal (non-functional). </p>
I need some help, and perhaps some veterans of this site can be of assistance to my plight. I have a gig upcoming this Sunday and need to fix a problem before then, which arose last night. I was at practice last night and as we finished a song, with a quick stop, the organ kept sounding, which is bizarre, because I was not pressing any keys or pedals. After some investigation, everything is normal except for the 16' drawbar for the upper manual. All other functions are normal. When all drawbars are in, and I slowly pull out the 16', the organ sounds out a continuous middle G tone, not pressing any keys. All other upper manual drawbars (and lower ones) function fine, and reflect normal range of operation. The 16' drawbar acts as a volume control for the continous "G", which sounds as long as the 16' is pulled out. With the 16' out to any extent, all other notes, including the G are fully playable, and there is no difference in normal operation, except the continuous "G". </p>
Before this occurred, as the rest of the band was setting up, I was cleaning the black "shelf" beneath the drawbar area with a damp paper towel and a dry paper towel. I got tired of getting up for a new fresh damp paper towel from the sink in the other room, and used a little beer (like a fool) to dampen the paper towel. I was extremely careful to make sure the drawbar area was completely dry before moving them at all, however, a slight amount of tiny water droplets may have gotten into there, darnit. In my effort to keep the hammond shiny and clean, perhaps I have damaged something. Here's the thing in this regard: we played about 5 songs over the course of 20 minutes, perhaps a half hour or so before the end of the song when the "G" began ringing. What my guess is, is that I hit the mid G key too hard on the upper manual, and it may have jarred a contact, so that continous contact was engaged. Or beer caused a corrosion inside.
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I can play the gig with the 16' all the way in, but this would be annoying because I usually do my solos on the upper manual, without the percussion tabs on (standard drawbars + small vibrato for natural overdrive through the amplification.) The 16' is an essential part of the sound, and adds the volume (a lot) necessary for me to cut through the mix when I play my lead parts (relative to the lower manual [bass/rhythm] mix which is a softer drawbar arrangement). </p>
I do not have the service manual for the T-312. I plan to open up the organ a few hours before the show in order to adjust whatever the problem is. Does anyone have any advice as to what specific landmarks I should look for in fixing the drawbar/contact issue, and also what I should do as far as light disassembly? I have looked in the back of the organ many times, and know the names/locations of the parts. What I am looking for is probably a specific tiny area associated with the upper manual, correct? If anyone has any advice, please post something in response. The idea is to fix this before the show on Sunday, but I have long term preservation in mind for the organ in general. In addition, does anyone know what I should look for, or try in the silent G bass pedal region? Any recommendations on a PDF file for the 300 series service manual would be great too. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day!
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