Hammond Model G (1941-1944) sightings?

[David Anderson]

Among the Hammond console models I've never seen is the Model G, made for the US government for military use during WWII. According to the service manual, Hammond produced a little over 3,200 of them.

As far as I can tell, there are just two photos of the Model G online. Here's one of them in a picture that shows the handles they had:

http://www.jackhollow.com/hammond/mo...nd-c3g-1-a.jpg

Along with the Model G, I've never seen a BA (the player model) or an RT. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an original Model C (1939-1942) or not. With regard to the RT, there were only 200 made before they became the RT-2.

[muckelroy]

I saw one listed for sale in San Antonio in May 2014.

Here are the photos that the seller sent me. Unfortunately the original photo got "eaten" by the ad when it expired. Never thought to save them. You can just make out the carrying handles on the side of the cab, and the gaping hole where the chorus gen used to be.

[geoelectro]

I've serviced a Model G at a local recruiting center. It had the handles and the addditional military serial number plate.

I know of 1 BA model here in Houston in a large medical center. I never saw it personally but know a tech that did some years ago. I'm not sure I've ever seen an RT come to think of it. Lots of RT-2's and 3's.

There are a few C2G's in the area. A good number of D's as well. The first organ I serviced as an independent tech was a Hammond model E. only seen a couple around.

I actually acquired a model G-100 back in the mid/late 70's. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the historical importance back then and it was disassembled. ��

Geo

[Wes]

Lordy, Lord. Who would remove a chorus generator and not upgrade the organ to vibrato??

[muckelroy]

Lordy, Lord. Who would remove a chorus generator and not upgrade the organ to vibrato??

Precisely why I didn't offer very much. He wouldn't take my offer and so I moved on. I have mixed feelings about it. Sometimes I think I should have nabbed it and sourced a chorus gen. But he simply wanted too much for it all.

[David Anderson]

I wonder if the production of the G models during the war explains why there are so many earlier CV cabinets with holes for chorus generators and chorus drawbars.

I ran a Google image search on BVs, and many of them also appear to have blanks where a chorus drawbar would be. Though there are still many CVs around, I rarely run across a BV. I haven't seen enough to know how long they had the cabinets made for chorus generators.

[handyczech]

I think the music desk is identical, so if there was a large stock of them at the cabinet plant, they just made up a cover plate. I have a late BV, no hole or cover plate.

[Wes]

Data point: Northern CVs that were made post-war have those plates also (and generator hangers, felt holes, etc). Northern almost certainly did not make Model Gs (or wartime organs)

Wes

[snacks]

Did all the model Gs have chorus generators, or were some rebadged CVs? My CV, and apparently many earlier ones, were built with spare D cases (mine even has the square keys). Did the one pictured above actually have a chorus drawbar and no chorus generator?

[David Anderson]

Did all the model Gs have chorus generators, or were some rebadged CVs? My CV, and apparently many earlier ones, were built with spare D cases (mine even has the square keys). Did the one pictured above actually have a chorus drawbar and no chorus generator?

As far as we know from the Hammond Service Manual, all Model G organs had chorus generators. As to whether they had them in actuality, it's hard to say, especially when wartime scarcity made materials hard to acquire.

The one muckleroy posted pictures of apparently had its chorus generator removed at some point for some reason, assuming it had one to begin with. We do the best we can with this history, but we're not omniscient. Documentation is not always 100% correct.

What we also have to keep straight here is what the organs were like from the factory vs. what has happened to them since then. After WWII, Hammond offered kits to retrofit scanner vibrato/chorus into pre-1945 organs. It required replacing many components, but organs so equipped will have both the chorus generator AND scanner vibrato. A BC could become a BCV. But you can't have scanner vibrato/chorus with the early two-tube preamp because the preamp has to drive the vibrato delay line and scanner, so the preamp was one of the components replaced with the kit.

The first time I worked on a Hammond BC, it was actually a BCV, and I had a moment of confusion when I opened the back and saw a CV era preamp in it.

[NittyRanks]

This along with the model RT, E and C organs are the most elusive. Tom Petro told me that after the war many were junked as some bases also closed. Some were located in NCO clubs as well. If any of you have been in the military you know they will throw out anything without thinking twice. Personally I have never seen one myself but it is significant.

[muckelroy]

Well unless some member of this forum comes forward, none of the active members seem to own one, or have easy access to one. Shame.

But really, aside from the novelty of the carrying handles on the side of the cabinet, it's just a model D with handles and no quatrefoils.

Notice the styrofoam cups sitting in the back of the model G I posted. Yeah. It totally used to have a chorus generator, as the oiling funnels are still in place. Why else would they put cups there? To catch the excess oil of the still-intact oiling tubes.

[muckelroy]

Along with the Model G, I've never seen a BA (the player model) or an RT. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an original Model C (1939-1942) or not. With regard to the RT, there were only 200 made before they became the RT-2.

Found an RT, lest my eyes deceive me, that sure looks like a vib/chorus switch in upper left corner. https://houston.craigslist.org/msg/6148689718.html

[300lbLoveAffair]

Along with the Model G, I've never seen a BA (the player model) or an RT. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an original Model C (1939-1942) or not. With regard to the RT, there were only 200 made before they became the RT-2.

David I know where a BA is for free in Washington DC. I didn't know anyone looking and I believe there are a couple flights of stairs. I bought an M3 and 145 from the man and a set of dollies. He collects brass instruments and was knowledgeable about what he had. A tech in Annapolis quoted him 11,000 to restore it. It has been sitting since.

McKenzie

Anyone interested PM me and I will contact the owner and see if I can pass on his contact.

[muckelroy]

Here's a model G in Houston, TX. http://vintageorgans.com/selected.asp?ID=1187