Noise in my Hammond Organ

[Ed Hesner]

I have a Hammond M3 that I took lessons on for two years back in the mid 60's. I've oiled it 2 or 3 times. It's in really nice condition. Still runs. Still sounds good, but it has an occasional slight staticky sound in it. I'm not an organ repairman, but I would suspect maybe it has a vacuum tube in the amplifier or somewhere that needs to be replaced, and who in the world has a vacuum tube tester anymore? I doubt that I will ever practice on the thing again. I'd like to sell it and gain a little space in my house, but I figure I'd be lucky to sell it even if it's working perfectly, and I don't have a bunch of money to take it to an organ place (of which there aren't many anymore) and get it repaired, knowing they would charge me way more than it's worth. Can anyone give me any suggestions on how I might go about trying to repair it? Or, honestly, am I better off to just disassemble it and take it piece by piece to the dump?

[Jaim]

With the organ unplugged - remove and re-seat the tubes one at a time. You might need to clean the sockets and pins but start with re-seating.

BTW - The power cords in these tend to crumble over time - check that as well.

Jim