Is this Hammond CV worth it?

[Mattew96]

Hello forum, I haven't been here for a while.

I have the opportunity for a free Northern Hammond CV with bench and pedals and (not quite sure yet) maybe a Hammond tone cabinet (I already have a Leslie 145, so it's convenient if I can get the tone cabinet with power supply built in).
That would be dandy, but the costs for a Home Depot van rental for the day would come out to $180 or so, since it is many hundreds of km both ways. (Toronto to Windsor).
I know that it is ALWAYS recommended to go for a professional mover, but I don't have the dough for that.

Looks like it will be me and my Dad moving it, out of the second floor of a home in Windsor.

Is it worth the money? I mean, it seems like a steal, and I am a huge huge fan of Hammond organs.
I know the details of how the CV ranks compared to other Hammond models' features, but I do not actually know the market value of one.

So are they worth more than $200 or am I wasting my money on transportation?

Next question is about achieving the seemingly impossible. With lifting belts:
What can we do to make moving this two ton bull out of a second floor easier?
Is there a way to remove the tonewheels easily and efficiently to reduce weight?
Should I just kill myself now to avoid the crush injuries I shall sustain later?

Thank you all in advance.
Matthew

[jsaxe]

Relative monetary value has too many variables to say. last time i saw a CV for sale near me, it languished on craigslist for weeks at $300, Location, condition, local market, and how badly you want it determine value.

Check around tool rental places and see if you can find a set of Roll-or-Kari or Jet dollies. They are the industry standard for moving these things. Forget about partially disassembling - It won't help and it's a huge job you don't want to take on far from home.

Be sure to lock down the tone generator, and have some help. Two people can move with dollies (I've managed 70 feet of muddy steep front yard and five steep steps with just one helper, twice!) The dollies have handles that four people can comfortably manage. it's only 300 or so pounds, after all.

I'm supposed to deliver a Model D to a recording studio this weekend - same cabinet as your CV plus an extra tone generator. The location is on the second floor of a commercial building, and if anything new develops, I'll post it here.

John

[indianajo]

I paid $200 for an H182. Many would say that is too much, but it is mine now and they keep showing up for $5000 or free, depending on where you are. I'd say if you like classic hammond sound, and don't need percussion right away, go for it. the tubes in the tone cabinet are worth $80 on e-bay if working.
The nearest set of roller jacks might be Nashville, there are surely not any in KY or south of Indianapolis that aren't owned by $120 an hour mover teams. So I move my 340 lb H by myself, using $70 4 wheel carts and plastic sheet to skid it up the stairs. H100 rides on the bottom fine on a rubber pad dolly (mine is 1200 lb rated mcmaster.com dolly with 5" wheels , New haven moving equipment sells the prototype if you have a car to get to their store). A CV might not has as tough a pedal switch box as an H100, maybe moving it on one side as I did the A100 would be a better idea.
Once I have the 24"x36"x1/8" high impact UHMW sheet under the leading edge of the organ, I winch it up the stairs with a porta pull chained to a 1 1/2" pipe I stick through an interior doorway. I pad the walls from the pipe with phone books. One guy needs to operate the porta-pull, two normal guys or one stout one are needed to hold the top of the organ to keep it from falling over. He can also fiddle with the plastic sheet as necessary. I wrap a car strap around the organ middle, and tie a rope through that for the chain to hook to without scarring the wood.
4x4's and 2x4s about 24" long are also necessary to lift the organ on the cart for flat floors, and also to put under the plastic sheet at the stairs to ease the transition angle enterring and exiting the stairs.
My porta pull is 1000 lb rated, cost $28 and was made in USA in 1976. The imitation rachet pull the factory had 2000-2008 from WWGrainger, the controls were pieces of ****, it was practically unusable. Lawyers have been re-designing tools to make them "safe" that means, unusable. I have no recommendations of which piece of ****ese **** is actually usable these days. I'vew also seen Harbor Freight "steel" fracture under load, I wouldn't move a toaster with anything they sell. The HF 4-wheel dolly, the wheels wouldn't roll under a 300 lb console pianos on a U-haul ramp. Jet that makes the roll-a-kart I believe, the lathe they sold the factory emitted a cloud of smoke and stalled when we tried to turn the first piece of 4" dia plastic. The Jet metal brake the factory had, it was rated to bend 16 ga brass, which was fairly useless since brass costs $35 a 6x12 sheet, but at least they didn't lie about it.
On the truck, check Ryder and Penske, their diesel trucks get a lot better mileage. U-haul I got about 12 mpg, Ryder F350 diesel I got 22. Ryder's daily charge is bigger than U-haul or Home depot, but the mileage charge is probably lower - it was when I rented. Watch the check engine light, the Ryder diesel with the check engine light on, it got 12 mpg too.
Have fun.

[Wes]

Here's the deal. Either you go get it, or I just might drive down from Kingston to grab it.

Now, if that's a tone cabinet in the background, make sure you get it. The tone cabinet provides the power supply for the CV. That one has a serial number starting with N. I think that means it was made in the Montreal plant, but I'm not positive. FWIW I have one that was made in Belleville. The serial number starts with C.

Next. These are HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY. There is nothing practical you can do to make it lighter. You will be moving 300lbs down stairs, plus the weight of your dollies. Myself, I think I would just hire somebody to move it down the stairs. You have to consider both the cost of the move and the liability. If you put a hole in that dude's drywall, he is not going to be a happy camper.

BTW, you can do better than the Home Depot van price. Rent a panel van from Enterprise or Budget and get them to give you unlimited mileage. If you happen to own a Chevy Lumina or a Pontiac Montana SV6, you can go in through the side door if you remove the grab handle first (means disassembling the pillar trim and unbolting it from the frame).

Wes

[Mattew96]

Thank you all, but I have turned it down. I couldn't get the help I needed to move it and the distance was so great that the total moving cost would have made it just as economical for me to source one locally and check it out before I commit to buying it (in case this one needs service I'm not aware of).

I genuinely appreciate all your input, and Wes, she's all yours if you're next in line :)

[Guest]

Every CV's worth the money, especially that money.
Unluckily, I don't have CV anywhere, nearby, at that continent, hemisphere...

Boyan