Hammond L-102 Going Flat

[Guest]

Hello! I recently received a Hammond L-102 from a friend's family. It was left in a garage for a long long time. I don't know how long. I cleaned it up and tested it and all features appeared to work.

After a short period of testing I noticed it was flat by a lot. It may have been like this the whole time but I believe it was in tune when I first played it.

I tried oil and a few other things first but replacing the motor run capacitor brought it back in tune.

Now, after about 2 months or so it's flat again, by about a whole step.

If its the motor run capacitor again, is there something that could cause such a quick repeated failure?

Other than the capacitor, or the tone wheel assembly just being too gunked up (I have been oiling it since I got it), are there other issues that can cause it to go out of tune? I can't really find many other ideas in my research in this forum or online.


THANKS!!!

[enor]

Could be motor failure, unfortunately!

[tpappano]

Can you uncouple the motor from the TG and verify that you can spin the shaft without friction? If it spins freely, can you feel *any* radial play in the bearings as you try to move the shaft up and down, back and forth, etc? It's a long shot, but radial play with the assistance of gravity can allow the rotor go off center, which will reduce the torque available. If there is radial play, rotate the motor 180 degrees in its mount so that gravity will exert its force against the 'unworn' side of the bearing. I do not have enough Hammond experience to have seen this in an organ, but I have seen this happen with sleeve bearing HVAC motors.

[Papus]

Did you replace the motor run capacitor with a brand new unit, or another vintage unit?
You MUST use a new cap!
The vintage caps are filled with lethal carcinogenic PCB oil which is prone to exploding, sending toxic oil and smoke everywhere...

[Papus]

Did you replace the motor run capacitor with a brand new unit, or another vintage unit?
You MUST use a new cap!
The vintage caps are filled with lethal carcinogenic PCB oil which is prone to exploding, sending toxic oil and smoke everywhere...

Also, if your new capacitor is not the exact capacitance specified for the motor, it may cause the motor to struggle to keep rotating - hence the drop in pitch.