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I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process

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  • I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process



    Hi folks</P>


    I have just finished months of work on my tired wax capped RT3.</P>


    There came atime a few months back where I had recapped the preamp, replaced the power resistors and rebuilt the Leslie amp and I still wasn't getting "the sound" and I decided to go ahead with the recapping of the generator under the supervision of Kon Zissis. Once the recapping was finished I recalibrated the generator output figures to match a set of readings that Kon took from a 1965 A100 with the mylar caps. This has given the organ the familiar sound heard on 60s and 70s rock and pop records. The organ is not over bright or shrill as some people complain and I still have the tone control open to full band width. I also recapped the vibrato line box</P>


    I decided at the same time that it would be easier to remove the generator to do this work (although you can recap the generator easily in the organ) and gut the organ so that I could refinish it from bare wood to remove all the dinks and scratches from its years in a church. I should point out that the finish was beyond the capability of a "Restore a finish" type treatment and differentparts of the cabinet had faded unequally. The only part that was the original reddy walnut was the music rack base.</P>


    Once the organ was apart I decided that I would rather have a C3 type cabinet in my living room and as I don't use the pedals I decided to reduce the cabinet to C3 specs which also meant making a replica pedal shelf and adding the tubes for the wiring loom.</P>


    I have even managed to extend the wiring loom from the Leslie connector kit down to the original outlet box at the bottom so that the Leslie plug is in theplace of the old 5 pin PR40 plug.</P>


    I added trekII cheekblocks as the RT3 didn't have the right hand ones and added their 3 position switch which runs an EIS relay in the Leslie.</P>


    All in all I am very pleased with the finish.The only give away is that it doesn't have a 25 note pedal switch panel yet, but I can get one of those in the future.</P>


    Ihave uploaded some of the many pictures I took onto the gallery.</P>


    Cheers</P>


    Dave</P>
    <P mce_keep="true"></P>
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  • #2
    Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process

    Pictures?

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    • #3
      Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process



      Wow, Dave, nice work! From the pics I would never be able to tell that wasn't a stock C3 (except for the TrekII unit at the lower left.) Must have been a huge job!</P>


      I wonder if you could pick up an E100 and salvage the pedal contact panel, and pedals? (or an H100) I seem to remember reading that all the (25-pedal) console Hammonds from the tonewheel era had interchangeable pedal boards... I would assume the switch panel would be the same? Although I see you're in UK: E100s and H100s can often be had completely free over here, but I would imagine they're rather more rare across the pond and therefore a little more pricey.</P>


      One question: did you notice a big difference after re-capping the vibrato line box? Everyone always seems to be quick to suspect the scanner first, but after reading StefanV's excellent write-up about the line box in his M100 (and hearing the striking results), I'm wondering if recapping it might not be recommended maintenance with these 40+ year-old Hammonds.</P>


      Anyway congrats again on a fine job.</P>


      td</P>
      Nobody loves me but my mother,
      And she could be jivin' too...

      --BB King

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process



        [quote user="dwetmaster"]Pictures?[/quote]</P>


        The pictures are in my gallery. (Click on photos at the top and I am the second one down at the moment).</P>


        I will add more as I get the time.</P>


        Cheers</P>


        Dave</P>
        <P mce_keep="true"></P>
        <P mce_keep="true"></P>

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process

          [quote user="toasterDude"]


          Wow, Dave, nice work! From the pics I would never be able to tell that wasn't a stock C3 (except for the TrekII unit at the lower left.) Must have been a huge job!</P>


          I wonder if you could pick up an E100 and salvage the pedal contact panel, and pedals? (or an H100) I seem to remember reading that all the (25-pedal) console Hammonds from the tonewheel era had interchangeable pedal boards... I would assume the switch panel would be the same? Although I see you're in UK: E100s and H100s can often be had completely free over here, but I would imagine they're rather more rare across the pond and therefore a little more pricey.</P>


          One question: did you notice a big difference after re-capping the vibrato line box? Everyone always seems to be quick to suspect the scanner first, but after reading StefanV's excellent write-up about the line box in his M100 (and hearing the striking results), I'm wondering if recapping it might not be recommended maintenance with these 40+ year-old Hammonds.</P>


          Anyway congrats again on a fine job.</P>


          td</P>


          [/quote]</P>


          Thanks for the kind words TD!</P>


          Yes all Hammonds over here are pricey. I paid £1000 GBP for the RT3 delivered, but would be looking at £2500+ for a decent C3 that might still need going over. I don't really play pedals as I'm into rock music rather than jazz so I will happily watch ebay until the remains of a console chop come up. </P>


          Regarding the vibrato line box, everything I have done to the organ in stages has made a hell of a difference. Recapping the amp, rebuilding the Leslie amp etc, each timea stage is recapped theoutput of the rig goes up. I started running theLeslie on 5 or 6 and now it is below1 (because I have a semi detached house). The vibrato was always pretty nice especially C3 there were no obvious choppy problemsbut I think that the big difference now is what goes through the line box. I had a pretty muddy sound before but the vibrato chorus still sounded a bit brighter. If you want to PM me an email address I can send you the before and after graphs of the generator ouput levels for the 91 tones.</P>


          Cheers</P>


          Dave</P>
          <P mce_keep="true"></P>
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          Comment


          • #6
            Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process

            impressive! Looks like you put a lot of time into this piece, glad you came out on top! I take it that you had no serious road blocks?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process



              Well, there has been one road block... Dave has a slack friend who was going to build the new C3 an overdrive unit that fits into one of the new cheek blocks, but still hasen't come up with the goods. </p>

              That friend is going to the shop today to get smaller pots, 16mm or maybe even 9mm so the whole shebang will fit. Hope that friend gets a wriggle on!!</p>

              -Brendoon</p>
              -1958 Hofner 550 archtop guitar -1959 C3 and PR40- -1964 Busillachio Harmonium- -1964 M101-
              -1967ish Leslie 122- -1975 T500 (modded..chopped, and reassembled!)-
              -DIY 760 FrankenLeslie/rat hideout-
              -1980 Electrokey Electric Piano- -Yamaha electric Harmonium (early 80's?)-
              -1990 Jansen GMF150 amp- -1992 Korg 01W/fd- -1992 G&L S-500 geetar.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: I have completely rebuilt my RT3 electronically and physically and turned it into a C3 in the process



                [quote user="johnny b3"]impressive! Looks like you put a lot of time into this piece, glad you came out on top! I take it that you had no serious road blocks?
                [/quote]</P>


                No road blocks! I have been very fortunate in that I have beenunemployed for a few months so I have been able to focus on this project and I have had very good advice on this forum and on Hammondzone to help me along the way especially thanks to Geoelectro and H101.</P>


                The real clincher was when Kon Zissis built me an analogue mVpp meter for reading the generator tone outputswhich made the recalibration a cinch. Iwill put a picture of it on my gallery when I get a minute because it is a real work of art. The guy is a genius!</P>


                Cheers</P>


                Dave</P>
                <P mce_keep="true"></P>

                Comment

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