Any help with a D152 pedalboard would be greatly appreciated

[Victor_Teixeirra]

I've run into a situation that has me completely stumped. I removed the pedalboard so I could move the organ about a foot laterally. Upon re-inserting the pedals the first 16 all ring the same note (F). Without the pedalboard I can reach under the organ and ring the full scale on all 32 notes. With the pedalboard installed crooked by about 3mm (on either end), the lower 16 pedals will ring true, but not all the upper 16 will connect obviously. Also the 31st pedal will not sound even though I can hear the switch click with the organ off, that switch works just fine without the pedalboard.

So everything is electronically sound without the pedalboard, I've checked the felt on the switches. I've measured the switch pusher's heights and they are all within 1/8" tolerance. I've used some electronics cleaning spray to make sure no switch was stuck.

But I am surely stuck. I have the original owners manual, but its not much help other than telling be that these pedalboards are common with the both the RT and D series Hammonds. So if anyone has had a similar problem, or can just point me in the right direction, that would be amazing. I do fortunately have a local repairman who only works on Hammond organs and he is surprisingly overworked so I would hate to call him out if all I needed to do was tighten a few bolts.

Thanks,
vic

[tpappano]

If all the notes sound properly without the pedals inserted by manually pressing the switches, it seems likely that is is an alignment issue between the pedalboard and pedal switch. Can you go behind the organ and visually inspect where all the pushers are in relation to switch buttons? I have both a D152 and a RT3 and the switch buttons operate with a very short stroke. If anything is touching them at all when the pedals are supposed to all be 'up', you would probably experience trouble, especially from the "solo" system. The pedal switch assembly is mounted to the case with several large bolts and brackets, you might check that they are all secure and that nothing shifted. Is it on a solid floor or carpet? If the rear of the pedalboard is not level with the organ case that can sure be a problem too.

[David Anderson]

If all 16 pedals sound the same note, that's a red flag that it's an issue with the Pedal Solo Unit keying. There are contacts in the D-100 and RT-3 pedal switch assembly that control both the keying and the pitch of the Pedal Solo Unit tones.

Like tpappano indicates, if your floor is not level, you may have changed the alignment of the pedal clavier to the switches. Or you might not have gotten pedal clavier properly re-seated on the organ. There are adjustments of height on the pedal pushers.

It should be electronically impossible for 16 pedals to produce the same pitch using the pedal drawbars. Only the Pedal Solo Unit should be affected this way. It's due to how the PSU pitch is determined -- by putting inductors in series.