I have an opportunity to buy a M-100 for $100.00. I haven't seen it yet, just spoke to the owner. He tells me everything works fine and is cosmetically in good shape. It has a internal Leslie too.</P>
My questions are, what should I look for when I go see it in person? Any guidance is much appreciated.</P>
Whats the average cost for this series?</P>
If used alot, what kind of life expectancy do the tubes have?</P>
A good M100 for $100 sounds pretty OK to me. You need to check out that EVERYTHING works. That means every note on every drawbar (remember that you'll lose high pitches at the top end of the keyboard as there's no foldback), percussions, presets, vibratos, reverb, pedals, the lot.</P>
Also make sure it's turned OFF when you start the tests. If not, then turn it off, leave it halfa minute or so and re-start it. Usual procedure - Hold the Start switch till she comes up to speed, then add the Run switch as well, hold for a few seconds and release the Start switch. That will reveal any start-up problems. Listen for any odd rattles and squeals - low level mechanical noise from the generator is OK, but nothing else. Ask when it was last oiled and if the owner has a tube of oil. If they don't, then they may not have kept it oiled. A tube lasts a good while!</P>
Now, a stock M100 does NOT have an internal leslie speaker. The only tonewheel spinet that has one is the T series from the T200 upwards to the T500. A T series organ has only one On/Off switch and will have voiced percussions like Marimba and Chimes instead of second and third harmonics. It also has squared off tabs rather than the 'tombstone' shaped ones. Depending on where you are, $100 might be OK for a T200, but remember it's not as desirable as an M100. It's still good (I have a T402) but not the classic tube sound as it's all solid-state.</P>
As for life expectancy of the tubes, depends on its history and on how old they already are.</P>
Let us know what you find, and post a pic if you want the ID confirmed.</P>
Ok I got an email with a picture of the organ. But I dont think its a M-100 series.. M3 maybe? Is the M3 a good hammond and for $100.00?</P>
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That is definately an M3, and it looks good from what I see. M3's are the destroyers of the Hammonds, if the B3 is the battleship. My advice is to go for it. There are a lot of M3's around, but this one looks good cosmetically. If something doesn't work, there will always be a fix for it.
M3 indeed. Now what made they guy originally tell you it had and internal leslie. It's not been 'modified', hast it? Also, $100 for am M3? Seen them go for rather less than that.</P>
Andy</P>
PS. The above post was edited but somehow it didn't 'stick'. I added the point, now also in johnnyb3's post, that if there's an external leslie cabinet, of any type, 'play dumb' and gratefully accept it as part of the $100 deal! Then tell us all what you got - if it's something like a 122 we'll all be green with envy and you'll have got the steal of the year!</P>
It's not what you play. It's not how you play. It's the fact that you're playing that counts.
Yes, M3's have been sold for less then $100, however, by the same
token they have also been re-sold by retailers for over $500.</p>
100
dollars should be considered a steal, pending that the insides haven't
been tampered with beyond reasonable repair, and that the functionality
of the organ is still reasonable (see andyg's first post).</p>
M3's
are considered to be the "baby B3", if that is the sound you are after.
(M-100 is nothing to sneer at. Though, IMHO, the waterfall keys could
make the M3 more desirable)</p>
Both L-100 Series organs i've found (1962 and 1970's-ish...yet not as old as that M3)
have had almost 100% original Hammond tubes intact and operational. It
is not uncommon to see such long tube life, though if the means and
funds are accessible, full replacement is the way to go. A presumed
dead tube may be flawed by dirty pins and sockets, so check them before
assuming a tube is dead.
</p>
I hope the seller's so called "leslie" is a real mechanical
speaker cabinet. If he would mistake the model number of the organ he
may also be overlooking the importance in mentioning an<span style="font-style: italic;"> external </span>leslie cabinet. </p>
M3 indeed. Now what made the guy originally tell you it had and internal leslie? [/quote]</P>
I see this all the time, and not only on Hammonds. In fact, it seems about 1 out of every 10 ads for a spinet (or self-contained console) will claim that the organ has "Leslie speakers" - Conn, Lowrey, Thomas, doesn't seem to matter. Of course, some few of these will have the little built-in OEM Leslie modules, but most of the time they're clearly just stock, stationary speakers. I suppose it's a testament to Don Leslie's success, that his rotating speakers have become so closely associated with electric organs -- to the point that the average person simply assumes any speaker having to do with an organ is a Leslie! ...Then of course there was the E100 a couple years back on Ebay with a "Leslie bench" (makes me a bit dizzy just to contemplate that notion!)</P>
--In any case, sure, M3s can often be had for free if you're willing to be patient. Many times they've sat unused for so long they won't start for lack of oil, so the owner will offer them free "for parts". But then on the other hand, $100 isn't outrageous for one that's working. So if you can't wait for a freebie to show up, go check this one out -- if anything's not up to snuff on it, you can use that to bring the seller down on price.Then post back here and maybe we can help you get itgoing 100%. Good luck! -TD</P>
Nobody loves me but my mother,
And she could be jivin' too...
--BB King
Ok I got it. Thing was well oiled! Fired right up, no hickups. No modifications all original. I think the guy thought it was a M-100 because thats what the user manual was for. I just love the smell of those tubes. Been a while since Ive been around a tube amp.</P>
Couple questions if you dont mind.</P>
How can I tell the date it was built?</P>
Also the drawbars are noisey and lose sound at certain spots. Can these be cleaned with contact cleaner?</P>
I seriously appreciate all the info guys. You've been a TREMENDOUS help. I can say now that I do have the Hammond bug in me.</P>
The Hammond M3 was made from 1955 to 1964. You can't always get an exact date of manufacture with Hammonds, but there's little details to tell. Let's start with the model number. Using the website here: http://www.tonewheelgeneral.com/agelist/agelist.php, find where the M3 list is, and try to fit your model number somewhere in the list, and you should have an aproximate year.</P>
Contact cleaner would be fine. Deoxit is a favorite around here. </P>
Ok it was built in 1955. Thanks for the link Hammondlover!</P>
Something I've noticed now that I have it home and in my room. The percussion doesn't work. No difference at all when I switch it on. The only difference I hear is when I set the first percussion volume switch (the left one) to normal, the volume of the organ drops considerably. Switch it back to soft, and volume returns. The second percussion volume switch (the right one) makes no audible changes. Only the first one.</P>
I've looked at the tubes and they all seem to be on and glowing. I'm not educated enough in the technology of tubes to know if that means they're working 100%. I've read somewhere here that the tube sockets should be cleaned once a year? Could the fix be that easy. Pull the tubes out and clean the connections? If so, whats the proper procedure in this task? Also do these tubes just pull straight up and out?</P>
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Thanks again for all the help/info guys!</P>
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Tubes can still be glowing and not work properly. However, you should definately clean the sockets with the contact cleaner/deoxit. They do pull straight out, but they go in specific pins. There'll be a notch in a center plastic pin in larger tubes, and in small tubes a pin will be missing as will a corrosponding whole in the socket. If the percussion still doesn't work after the cleaning. Switch tubes of the same type around (like the 12AU7/12AX7 types) and see of that works. If it does, you probably have a bad tube.
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Whats going on fellas,
I cleaned the drawbars and the tube sockets with deoxit d5. The draw bars are quiet now, seems to have worked great for that. I've noticed that if I test each drawbar (by itself) and run through all the keys, there always seems to be a dead key/note. Now I understand with the lack of foldback on the M-3 that will happen on the higher drawbars/notes, but all of them have missing notes/dead keys? Some will have 1 or 2 dead.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any Idea what could be the cause?
I'm not comfortable switching tubes around. So I didn't try that. I'm afraid of creating a larger problem. I don't see any markings on the tubes displaying the part number. Is there a different way to identify them?
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