Hammond, Leslie and winter

[jeremygs]

I have a M3 and a couple of Leslies in my jam room, which happens to be the back half of a 3x2 car garage. The garage is insulated and heated and I plan to store and use them there this winter. Typically I keep the space at 48 degrees when not making music or working on other things, about 68 degrees when playing with a several hour warm up period.</P>


Sadly, winter is apporaching. Should I be concerned about the relatively low temperature when not is use? Will lubrication suffer or tolerances change dramatically? I will still use the warm up period but am thinkinig I may want to prolong it. The low humidity also concerns my a bit. I store and use a lot of other gear in the space without issue, PA, tube guitar amps (but the guitars live inside the house), etc.but they do not rely on lubrication and so many electro-mechanical components.</P>


It is not practical to move the Hammond and Leslie in and out of the house for jams so I am looking to the best compromise without enormous gas bills.</P>


Thanks in advance for any advice.</P>


Jeremy</P>

[CEB]

Re: Hammond, Leslie and winter



It depends on how anal your are regarding your organ I guess.</P>


I used to keep a Hammond and Leslieoutdoors in a un insulated machine shed, in the back of a uninsulatedcargo trailer. It only came inside for gigs. </P>


The generator wouldlock up on it if it got too cold. That is why you carry ahair dryer. When it warmed up it would run.</P>


But 48 degrees is nothing. I think the organ will handle the temperturebetter than I do these days. Older I get more my extremidies can not handle the cold.</P>


Mice moving indoors for the winter are probablybigger threat to your rig.</P>
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[johnny b3]

Re: Hammond, Leslie and winter

I agree. Mice are one thing to be careful about. At that temp you might get some generator squealing but maybe not. As for humidity issues, winter is ok because its dry. My rig suffers from this as my Leslie baffles are particle board and when they dry out, the top shelf sags making the center panel tough to remove. I'm currently in the process of sealing the shelves with clear coat to avoid that problem this winter. Normally though, you don't see problems with hammonds/leslies with bad humidity control in the winter. Guitars are an example of instrument that it will matter though. In the summertime I suppose if your organs have black foam in the key bins, high humidity is bad as it supposedly speeds the breakdown of the foam which in-turn eats through the resistance wires. That's summer though, not winter.