Early Model M

[snacks]

Well, I've gone and done it again... I picked up a free organ today, listed as an M2. I looked in the back, and it's an M. No independent vibrato for each manual; it's all or nothing. Were there other differences between the M and M2? I have one of each and at a glance, that's the only difference. One less rocker switch on this M. It's also got a metal TWG cover. It has the Leslie kit - but only the internal/external half of it. No half moon for rotary control. And looking in the back, it's got a 1/4" jack - probably that instead of a 6H or other interface. I plugged it in and everything seemed to be working - just when you select pedal "normal" attack, the attack is slow - and on "slow," the pedals are very quiet. I may find more as I dig into it, for now it's just sitting on the roll-or-karis in my garage.
Two oddities - what looks like a cover latch on the center of the front, below the great manual. And a key hole that goes to nothing on the side.

[David Anderson]

Question: Does it have smooth or ratchet drawbars? The story I've heard is that smooth drawbars appeared first on the spinets and were later added to the console models.

[Sweet Pete]

I had one and IIRC the external input also goes through the vibrato scanner. Made my RMI Electra Piano have a kind of Wurli200 tremelo which was cool in 1973.
Lack of extras just means the sound of the M is about as cool as a spinet gets with no bells and whistles. Mine sounded great through a 145 at the time.
Mine was a Northern Hammond,1949 made in Canada and had smooth drawbars. Just like Chevrolet,Canada had this product first,we were the test market.
RCAF Penhold Senior NCO's canteen organ. The lower cheekblocks had beer glass stains. Best overdrive of any spinet,wish I still had it!

Your M has a different amp. Mine had the round cover for external input like a V preamp.

[muckelroy]

And here I thought I was lucky to have smooth drawbars on my 1953 M2. Smoothies in 1949 huh?

[snacks]

Yep, just checked and they're smooth alright. I will get a better picture of the preamp later, right now it's got the roll-or-kari strap right in front of it, and the heat in my garage is sweltering.

[David Anderson]

And here I thought I was lucky to have smooth drawbars on my 1953 M2. Smoothies in 1949 huh?

There has been some discussion of why this was the case. Some have speculated that Hammond was experimenting with the smooth drawbars on spinets to see how well they worked before putting them in the consoles. But whatever the reasoning, yes, smooth drawbars were first seen on the spinets.

[Sweet Pete]

After four years or so of use in 'the field' consoles finally got smoothies. This B2 has them. 1953. By then the service reports would have given the changeover a go ahead.
Most likely held off while re-engineering the TWG non sequential terminal strip and manual wiring......IIRC this was Sal's theory.

[snacks]

It also has a push-button switch for the start motor. Kind of thing that could easily have been added later, though.

[wannab3]

I had my eye on that M for a while. When it first popped up a month or so ago it was advertised as an M3 and IIRC the asking price was a cool $350!

[snacks]

I had my eye on that M for a while. When it first popped up a month or so ago it was advertised as an M3 and IIRC the asking price was a cool $350!

Really? I must have missed it then, or skimmed over it... there are a few M3s for like $100... I hope to sell mine for more than that, but I bundle it with organ lessons :P

[Pappy Grimm]

Hi, all!
I also have an original "M", serial 3082, most likely a '49. It was bought new by my grandfather (Pappy Grimm), and I have had it since '76. I'm now in the process of bringing it back to life after forty years of disuse. It's been stored indoors for that time, and I've managed to get it freed up and running again. Bass pedals C, E, G-flat, and G are not operating, but all others are. The pedals have been removed as a unit and are lying on the floor where I can look them over, still connected to the organ. I've cleaned everything with air and checked the wires between TG and pedal connectors for continuity, and even jumped that gap with a known good wire with no change. The frequency numbers test good on the keys they also serve. Any advice is welcome and I realize that this is a sketchy description of the problem. I can provide more info if someone is up for the chase. If anyone has questions about their own "M", I can provide pix or descriptions of an all original specimen for your reference. Thanks, everybody!

[David Anderson]

Spinet bass is a bit different from console bass. The 12 pedal tonewheels are not connected to the manuals at all. The lowest manual tone is 18. Tonewheels 13-17 are absent from a spinet generator.

You need to check to make sure that you are getting output from tones 1, 5, 7, and 8 directly at the generator. However, there are also manual tones on those generator shafts, so you would also be missing manual tones like 49, 53, etc... if those generator shafts were stuck.

Just an idea since you said that the generator had to be "freed up."

[Pappy Grimm]

Thanks, David!
By "freeing up" I meant patiently oiling over several weeks to renew proper rotation to the shafts. I will probably next jump a wire from a non-working pedal to a known good pedal, even if I must disconnect the original lead to that good one. Just a test to see if the trouble is in the mechanical portion of the pedal itself. If I get a tone from the test pedal on each of the notes in question, then I will try to determine what is wrong with the bad pedals' mechanisms. Thanks, again!

[muckelroy]

Operate each pedal with the organ off. You should hear a distinct "click". This is the sound of the pedal pusher making contact with the switches. If the non-working notes don't make a soft "click" when pressed but others do, you may have broken pedal pushers. If that's the cause of the problem, you'll need new pedal pushers. They are small, thin phenolic pieces that drop in place, and are best sourced from donors, or if you are skilled with fabrication, could craft one from an appropriate substitute material. But so many donor pedalboards are floating around out there, it's easy to source donor pushers.

They look like this:




And as an add-on to what David said above, if the problem actually lies with stuck tonewheels, you will have more dead notes than only the pedals. Be sure to test each drawbar, of each note individually. If you find any dead tones, post it here and we can confirm whether or not those dead tones are "partnered" with pedal tonewheels.

[snacks]

Getting back to a first page post:

Your M has a different amp. Mine had the round cover for external input like a V preamp.

Here's a better photo of the back. Did someone install a newer preamp?