i finally have my organ (m103)

[Fenrirlupus]

i have 2 tubes of hammond oil, unopened, so we put a little bit in, started the organ up, and everything worked...</p>

...at first</p>

</p>

the reverb stopped working after a little bit (instead of reverb it adds a loud humming noise) any idea what the problem is?</p>

I'll check the tubes tomorrow, it's getting late and i don't want to try moving a hammond in a sleeplike state...</p>

</p>

i think one or two keys don't work on some drawbars, but most keys work with every drawbar... what do i need to do fix that? if it's as simple as taking the keys out and cleaning them, good, because i was going to do that anyway (there's a bug in one of them, i don't want that to fall into something, now do i?)</p>

the vacuum tubes are still all HAMMOND ones (what? it's in all caps on the tube...) and the organ was barely ever used. cosmetically, everything is so good I'm trying to be really careful not to so much as touch the wood. there were a few scratches, but nothing too serious for orange glo to hide :) </p>

</p>

i suppose this is the best $0 purchase i could ever make! (shipping cost is a "you owe me" from my parents... meaning i still do chores as normal, but now it's because of the organ rather than because it needs to be done)</p>

</p>

is it ok if i store the bolts with T washers from under the tone generator in the bench? supposedly they could fall out, and i don't want that to happen with all of those vacuum tubes down there...
</p>

[Guest]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



M 103, wow!</p>

Cherry wood with a French Provincial styling(curved legs).</p>

I know a thing or two about the reverb, i had some problems with mine. The good news is, you have the same reverb as i do, as the m103 is the same guts as my m111, with a different cabinet.</p>

First inspect the entire organ, looking for a switch. These switches were popular ad ons, as jack outputs for headphones. If you find the switch, that is likely the problem. Unfortunately these switches were usually assembled and installed by 'hack' technicians.</p>

Inspect the reverb unit(springs), and the reverb amp. The reverb amp will be the smaller amp on the right side of the organ(viewed from the back). It should say AO-44 somewhere. Check the solder points. If everything appears to be fine, (tubes included), unscrew the amp from the case, and handle it carefully. Tip it foreward so you can see inside, making sure the tubes aren't footing the weight of the amp. Inside, you should see two tiny light bulbs. These are called #12 lamps. If there is a metallic glaze on the inside glass of the bulb, the bulbs are bad.(replace both not just one). Check the filaments in the bulb. If you can, remove the bulbs carefully, and check them with a meter. You can even connect a 1.5 volt battery to the bulb to see if you can get a glow out of it. If there is nothing wrong with the bulbs, you might have a bigger problem yet.</p>

Mortson</p>

[Fenrirlupus]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



i took the reverb springs off to get a better look at everything, the springs were fine, all of the wires were fine, so i just cleaned stuff up a little, took out the vacuum tubes to make sure nothing was wrong with them, put everything back together and it worked fine.</p>

</p>

it does go back out though, but only when the organ is vibrating (from the bass pedals)</p>

</p>

now to fix the drawbar problem...</p>

</p>

</p>

[Hammond101]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



Your reverb issue seems to be poor connections at the reverb tank. Those RCA jacks just don't stay tight and tend to corrode. Get yourself a can of Caig DeOxit D5 to clean the connectors with and give them a gentle squeeze to tighen them back up. The stuff works great on tube sockets and drawbars. You can take the top of the console off and clean all the tab switches with it also. </P>


Before you go nuts with potential draw bar issues, your M103 does not have harmonic foldback. In other words the upper drawbars on both manuals stop playing as you go up the keyboard. If this is your issue, all is well. Missing notes in the middle of the manual is a whole different thing. We can fix that too!</P>


H101</P>

[Fenrirlupus]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



i have a couple notes in the middle that stop playing.</p>

</p>

i diddn't notice the lack of harmonic foldback, actually.</p>

</p>

so what could be the problem if some random notes won't play?
</p>

[tonewheel1966]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



Hi</P>


It has been said if a Hammond has this sort of problem and has not been played for a long time it could be a couple of dirty contacts. My L122 belonged to a church for years and then went in to storage at a school. I bought it as a non runner but she actually fired up the first time after being transported home. Some of the keys were better than others but with playing this has improved</P>


Regards</P>


Dave</P>
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[back52887]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



You can store the bolts and top hat washers in the holes they came out of. just let them be loose enough to allow the TG to move. If you get a hum that you did not have before, loosen the bolts some more.[I]</P>


Lee</P>

[bremar]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



your missing notes could be stuck tonewheels. if only a few are stuck it wouldn't be enough to drag the whole thing to a standstill. if it is stuck tonewheels., they'll likely thank you for the drink of oil by waking up grumpy and loud--in a week or three when the oil has made its way to the bearings. i'm a fan of propping up the whole tonewheel generator a couple inches, turning on the organ and seeing if any wheels aren't turning. you can give the stuck ones a flick with your finger to get them started, and give them a dab of oil right on the brass bearing, while you're at it. then again, it may not be a stuck TW at all...
</p>

[Fenrirlupus]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)

actually the RCA jacks seem fine, not really corroded or loose.

[Guest]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



I also have an M-103, and I've had the same problem with the RCA jacks/plugs on my reverb tank, even though the connections look clean and feel tight. Try replacing the rca cables (if you're picky about maintaining original appearance, there are plenty of places to get gray rca cables) and try cleaning the jack with a brass wire brush . . . this fixed my problems with the reverb circuit entirely.</p>

As far as the missing tones, I've had two things cause this to happen to my 103:</p>

1) Bad solders on the tonewheel generator. It can be very hard to see when one of the black wires on the TWG has completey severed its connection. Find a frequency chart, and track down the missing tone on the TWG. Then, short the missing tone to any drawbar on the organ . . . the tone should sound out loudly, meaning you need to check the wiring. If it doesn't, it's time to make sure that the tonewheel is actually spinning.</p>

2) Dirty bussbars. So far, I've gotten by with just shifting the bussbars, but the problem keeps coming back every few weeks. I'm almost certain that I'm going to need to go to the trouble of giving them a cleaning (NOT looking forward to this, but it'll be a great learning experience, and I'll probably use it as an opportunity to add foldback to the organ while I've got the manuals pulled).</p>

The service manual for your organ is available from users on this forum. Check this thread here. It has been a HUGE help to me in tracking down and fixing problems in my organ.
</p>

</p>


</p>

[Fenrirlupus]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



if only i found your post... i stumbled upon this http://www.dairiki.org/hammond/wirin...amp;model=M100 on my own...</p>

located the problem (two wires that were broken inside the insulation, impossible to locate except that the insulation just came off way too easily... we [my dad and i] soldered one wire back in place, and another was too short so we soldered it to a short length of wire and soldered that to the correct contact. all notes work perfectly now.)</p>

</p>

and surprisingly, the reverb problem just completely stopped. now it's not even happening because of vibration, and i'm thinking it may have been something else...</p>

now my free organ works perfectly, and i have to say, a whiter shade of pale sounds best live. (if only i had a leslie though...)</p>

</p>

oh, and there was a bit of dirt in the keys (not interfering with contacts) </p>

it was loose, and most of it blew out with a hair dryer (set on "cool" to not melt anything... though i'm sure it wouldn't on "warm" either)</p>

i think my organ hadn't been oiled since 1993... and it started perfectly (after which we gave it a healthy dose of oil, which the motor spattered all over the place...)</p>

</p>

[Fenrirlupus]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)

[quote user="back52887"]

You can store the bolts and top hat washers in the holes they came out of. just let them be loose enough to allow the TG to move. If you get a hum that you did not have before, loosen the bolts some more.[I]</p>


Lee</p>

[/quote]</p>

but do i have to?
</p>

[bluetantra]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)

[quote user="Fenrirlupus"]


(after which we gave it a healthy dose of oil, which the motor spattered all over the place...)</P>
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[/quote]</P>


Don't over-oil the reservoir for the run motor and vibrato scanner or you'll soon be learning how to disassemble and clean the scanner. Excess oil can cause a steady popping or clicking noise sometimes referred to as "motorboating" in the organ's output when the vibrato is engaged. George Benton has put together a very comprehensive guide to servicing the vibrato scanner here:</P>


http://bentonelectronics.com/vibrato.html</P>
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[Hammond101]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)



No not loose, invert them. Turn the washer of the generator hold-down so it is at the bottom, rightabove the head of the bolt. Reinstall the hold-down so the spacer contacts the generator frame and the washer sits below the generator shelf.</P>


Now the assembly acts as a limiter and will keep the generator from banging around if you move the ogran within your home but it still hangs free on the springs to dampen vibration. This applies if the console has the stock hold-down/limiter assys. Hammond Wiki has a pic of this under moving a Hammond.</P>


I'm glad you found your missing notes! WSOP sounds great on a M100 with all that reverb you can dial in, congrats! I enjoy is more so on my M101 than playing it on the RT3. Just has the perfect tone.</P>


H101</P>

[back52887]

Re: i finally have my organ (m103)

[quote user="Fenrirlupus"][quote user="back52887"]


You can store the bolts and top hat washers in the holes they came out of. just let them be loose enough to allow the TG to move. If you get a hum that you did not have before, loosen the bolts some more.[I]</P>


Lee</P>


[/quote]</P>


but do i have to?
</P>


[/quote]</P>


I can almost guarantee that you will loose them otherwise, brilliant indivdual though you otherwise doubtless are.</P>


I have never heard of anyones bolts dropping and breaking tubes etc. You turn the top hat nuts over and the tops fit in the holes and you can tighten them fine.[Y]</P>


Lee</P>