These must be really rare. There were Hammonds with roller modifications years ago, also rare. When you think of activating even one Hammond key, there would have to be a pneumatic mechanism that pulls the key down, or makes the contact some other way, and retrofitting all the keys on 2 manuals would be a huge task. Easier for the pedals on the A/B/C models, I would think. But pulling drawbars would be insanity.
One challenge, though, if you can find an organ to match the attachment, is the availability of rolls. Who would keep them, other than museums?
Interesting questions! Someone in the forum may well have answers to them.
Dave
Attached Files
1955 B3, Leslie 21H and 147. Hammond A100 with weird Leslie 205. 1976 Rhodes. Wurlitzer 200A. Yamaha DX7/TX7. Korg M1. Yamaha C3 grand, 67 Tele blond neck, Les Paul Standard, PRS 24, Gibson classical electric, Breedlove acoustic electric, Strat, P Bass, Rogers drum kit, Roland TD 12 digital drums, Apollo quad, older blackfaced Fender Twin, other amps, mics and bits and pieces cluttering up the "studio."
I know slightly more than nothing about player Hammonds. I do know some about early player pianos and aeolian player organs. Aeolian is the maker that privded the player mechanism for the Hammond. The rolls were somewhat standard and have surprisingly good availability.
Yes, the adoption of the mechanism might be difficult or it might not be, but I would not shy away from it solely because of roll availability.
I have restored a few player piano pneumatic mechanisms, and I would not shy away from the conversion because of a pneumatic restoration. It is time consuming but very simple to accomplish with common leather goods.
1974 C3 with foam removed
22H with two speed conversion
PR40
Great find! I have rebuilt three of these over the years and they sound good when done. The pneumatic player stack will be a standard rebuild with replacing the leather pouches and recovering the striker pneumatics. Due to a shortage on good quality of rubber cloth, most of us have gone to using the nylon material that D C Ramey Piano Co. is selling. It really works great. The tubing chart is available on the web. Also, look on You Tube at the player Hammonds that have been posted. Best of luck and I will be willing to help if needed.
Are we sure the OP is talking about the original BA Hammond unit or one of the newer ones that could be retro-fit to any organ? I have a Hammond 9812H (Dolphin) with an Automatic Music Corp. player attachment that is shown in one of my albums. It dates from the 1970s and plays regular 88-note piano rolls. It reads the roll with vacuum but everything after that is electrical - there are no pneumatics to mechanically operate the keys and of course the registration is done manually.
Larry is my name; Allen is an organ brand. Allen RMWTHEA.3 with RMI Electra-Piano; Allen 423-C+Gyro; Britson Opus OEM38; Steinway AR Duo-Art 7' grand piano, Mills Violano Virtuoso with MIDI; Hammond 9812H with roll player; Roland E-200; Mason&Hamlin AR Ampico grand piano, Allen ADC-5300-D with MIDI, Allen MADC-2110.
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