looking to purchase a cheap hammond!!!!

[Guest]

Hi im looking to purchase a Hammond organ but don't have a lot of funds is there any other sites other than ebay and craigslist that sell cheap organ consoles all help will b appreciated thanks....

[indianajo]

I found a Hammond A100 at Salvation Army for $138 with a broken key, missing veneer on one corner, and 2 missing power tubes. So ride the bus around and check on the charity resale shops that do offer electronics for sale. (some charity resale shops ship all electronics directly to the recycler wihout letting you bid on them). Have cash in your account and a helpers phone number in your pocket so you can rent a truck and go back the same day if you find something like I did. Estate sales are nice too, but it takes a lot of gas money to get to them and you have to have a cash and a trailer there in case you win the auction, so I don't do that. Actual antique dealers that can fix up and resell a broad category of goods do better at estate sales. Walking the streets at 5 am on garbage day is also a useful practice if you are not working. The ritzier the neighborhood, the better. Some people pay their car expense by picking up metal like barbeque pits when they do that, but I find metal recycling centers tear up your tires, so I don't recommend driving around. Just have a car and helpr plan ready if you find a Hammond.
The electronic internet sites are too easily scanned by dealers, so you have to be lightning fast to use one of those. Scanning for misspells helps. Also using searchtempest.com which scans furniture, antiques, musical instruments, yard sales, all the categories organs might show up, at once. I search for organs and a picture, then look at the picture. A lot or people have no idea what model or make they have and could care less to pull it out from the wall and read the label on the back.
M, L, and T organs don't have a lot of keys but have a nice sound. And H100's are often free, have all the keys you need, but the sound is kind of puny until you replace at least 5 capacitors, and improves a lot when you replace 71 of them for $150.

[Lewis R]

Yup, thrift stores. I hit them frequently, got my hammond m3 & leslie 21h for about $35 ea and have seen more since (and before) for about the same. Hopefully you're in a locality with more than a coupla places. The "bargain bins" or as-is stores are great and cheaper too (that's where I got those 2 pieces).

I see cheap or free hammonds on Craig's list pretty frequently, had to resist driving to Sacto for a $200 cv & tone cab. I see m3s go for $100-200 all the time. Depends on where you are, though. Or check outside your area. I drove 700 miles round trip to pick up my b3 & leslie 147.

Of course it all depends on how much you want to spend.

The tube/Tonewheel models are the ones you want, but you should be prepared to do some electronic work on it. No big deal, lots of help here.

Good luck!

Lewis

[Juan]

You never know what you might find on Ebay. I bought my M-101 on Ebay for $1.49 (or it might have been $1.69. I can't quite remember now). I made the only bid. I called the seller to make sure he really wanted to sell it for $1.49. He was just glad that it was going to someone who wanted it.
The instrument was about as mint. It was so nice that I gave the seller $50.00 cash to ease my conscience. I also had to rent a trailer and drive 3 hours each way to get it. Altogether, I think I had less than $130.00 invested.

Indianajo is right. People list the instruments all kind of crazy ways. Sometimes they spell the name wrong. I recently ran across an A-100 that was described as an H-100 (the picture showed it to be an A-100) and was listed as a HAMOND. If you are doing a craig's list search search for Hammond, this one would not have come up. I have now made a habit of trying different spellings.

[Polkahero]

Someone was selling an A-100 on my local CL last week for $200 or best offer. Looked to be in pretty good shape. Saw a free M3 on there last month, mint condition. The deals are definitely out there!

[spiles]

Man ! I need to move here in Cincy people think they are pure gold even the spinets - even the J models are priced very high at times . I have msg some of these people and told them what they would be worth realisticly some thank me some tell me i dont know what i am talking about that usualy brings a smile . I have noticed that in the OR , Seattle washington area they go a lot cheaper then any where i have found so far. Jersy or NY they go for a decent price . just my thoughts

[tdintbl]

@OP: I have messaged you. Depending on your location and budget, I have several consoles and spinets to choose from.

[picothinker]

Craigslist is always good, in that it provides local leads with less driving involved. Searchtempest is a good CL aggregator. Typohound is a good way to find miz-spelingz on Evilbay.