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The Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company until the 1970s. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the pipe organ, it became the de facto standard for jazz, blues, and rock music (in the 1960s and 1970s) and gospel music. In the 1990s and 2000s, a variety of digital clonewheel organs and emulation devices became available, which reproduce the Hammond sound with varying degrees of accuracy. Despite the much lower cost and increased reliability of these electronic clones, there is still a strong interest in vintage Hammond organs. Although the last electromechanical Hammond organ came off the assembly line in the mid-1970s, thousands are still in daily use.

Contents 1 History 2 Tone generation 2.1 Additive synthesis 2.2 Drawbars 2.3 Presets 2.4 Hammond Percussion 2.5 Hammond key click 2.6 Speakers 2.7 Other features 3 Keyboards and pedalboard 4 Hammond Tonewheel Organ Models 4.1 Console Organs 4.1.1 A / AB 4.1.2 A100 4.1.3 B-2 / C-2 4.1.4 B-3 / C-3 4.1.5 RT-3 4.2 Spinet Organs 4.2.1 M 4.2.2 M-2 4.2.3 M-3 4.2.4 M-100 series 4.2.5 L-100 series 4.2.6 T series 5 Performance techniques 5.1 Bass Pedalboard 6 "Clones" and emulation devices 7 Pop Culture 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

American engineer and inventor Laurens Hammond, filed a US patent (number 1,956,350) for a new type of 'electrical musical instrument' that recreated a pipe organ-type sound. The invention was unveiled to the public in April 1935 and the first model, the Model A, was available from June of the same year. A number of models followed over the next twenty years, culminating in 1955 with the most well-known and widely used models the B-3 and C-3. Along with the A-100, produced in 1959, and various smaller spinet designs, these organs all share a similar tone wheel sound-producing mechanicism.

The organ was first used for popular music by Milt Herth, who played it live on WIND (AM) soon after it was invented.^{[1] [2]}

The Hammond Organ was widely used in United States military chapels and post theatres during the Second World War, and returning soldiers' familiarity with the instrument may have helped contribute to its popularity in the post-war period.^[3]. Hammond intended his invention to be a substitute for pipe organs, a replacement for the piano in middle-class homes, and for use by radio stations. For the first few years this was what happened, but by the 1950s, jazz musicians such as Jimmy Smith began to use the organ's distinctive sound. In the 1960s the Hammond became popular with pop groups and was used on the British pirate station Radio 390. In Britain the organ became associated with elevator music and ice rinks music. However, the overdriven sound of the Hammond gained a new image when it became part of 1960's and 1970s rock and early heavy metal bands such as Procol Harum, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.

The original Hammond organ imitated the function of a pipe organ's ranks of pipes in multiple registers by using additive synthesis of waveforms from harmonic series to generate its sounds. As in Thaddeus Cahill's earlier Telharmonium, the Hammond organ's individual waveforms were made by mechanical tonewheels which rotated beneath electromagnetic pickups. Although they are generally included in the category of electronic organs, original Hammond organs are, strictly speaking, electric or electromechanical rather than electronic organs because the waveforms are produced by mechanical tonewheels rather than electronic oscillators.

The component waveform ratios are mixed by sliding drawbars mounted above the two keyboards, which operate like the faders on an audio mixing board. When a drawbar is incrementally pulled out, it increases the volume of its component waveform. When pushed all the way in, the specified component wave form becomes absent from the mix. The labelling of the drawbar is derived from the stop system in pipe organs where the physical length of the pipe corresponds to the pitch produced. Hammond drawbars are set up in groups of nine arranged as follows:

16'	1 octave below fundamental
5 1⁄3'	a fifth above fundamental
8'	fundamental
4'	1 octave above fundamental
2 2⁄3'	1 octave and a fifth above fundamental
2'	2 octaves above fundamental
1 3⁄5'	1 octave and a major third above fundamental
1 1⁄3'	1 octave and a fifth above fundamental
1'	3 octaves above fundamental

Each of the drawbars has a range of 0 (off) to 8 (full on) and can be modified in real-time, allowing changes to be made while a song is being played. A given combination of drawbar settings creates a unique timbre, and is referred to as a registration. Registrations are notated using a 9-digit sequence where each digit corresponds to the level of its respective drawbar. Using this system, a mellow jazz registration might appear as 888000000 (i.e. 16', 5 1/3' and 8' full on, all others off). Famous organists are often noted for their their signature sound, created through a combination of registrations, percussion and chorus/vibrato settings, and Leslie speaker or amplifier setup. For example, the registration above was popularized by jazz organist Jimmy Smith.

In addition to drawbars, many Hammond tonewheel organ models also include presets, which allow defined drawbar combinations to be made available at the press of a button. Full Console organs such as the famous B-3 and C-3 models have a number of reverse coloured keys (naturals are black, sharps/flats are white) to the left of each manual, with each key activating a preset. The two top preset keys (B and Bb) activate the corresponding left or right set of drawbars for that manual, while the other preset keys produce pre selected drawbar settings that are internally wired. Only one key can be pressed at a time, and the far left key (known as the cancel key) de-activates the presets, resulting in all preset keys being in the off position. No sound will come from the organ unless one of the preset keys is depressed.

Other Hammond models such as the M-100 and L-100 series have flip tabs for presets, situated across the top of the organ. Once again, the left hand flip tab acts as a cancel button, reverting to the tone set by the drawbars.

Some models such as the M, M-2 and M-3 spinet organs have only drawbars, and no presets, but after market products such as the Duet Sixteen, manufactured by the now defunct Electro Tone Corporation can be added to give preset functions.

Another facet of the distinctive sound of the Hammond is the harmonic percussion effect, in which the 2nd and 3rd harmonic tones can be added to the attack envelope of a note. On most Hammond organs, particularly the B-3 and its cousins (C-3, RT-3, A series etc....) the percussion harmonic settings were a "one-or-the-other" choice (you could only choose 2nd or 3rd harmonic, but not both). Some later models allowed the player to activate both harmonics simultaneously. Those harmonics then quickly fade out leaving the tones which the player has selected using the drawbars. Older Hammond models produced before the 3 series organs (such as the B-2 and C-2) do not have the harmonic percussion feature. Aftermarket percussion can be added using devices from Trek II and from the Electro Tone Corporation.

Hammond organs have a distinctive percussive key click, which is the attack transient that occurs when all nine key contacts close, causing an audible pop or click. Originally, key click was considered to be a design defect and Hammond worked to eliminate or at least reduce it by using equalization filters. However, many performers liked the percussive effect, and it has become part of the classic sound that modern imitators of the Hammond organ have tried to reproduce.

Main article: Leslie speaker

The classic method for amplifying the sound of a Hammond organ is to play it through a rotating speaker cabinet, which after several name changes became known as the Leslie speaker, after its inventor. The Leslie system is an integrated speaker/amplifier combination, where the sound is emitted by a rotating horn over a stationary treble driver and a rotating baffle beneath a stationary bass woofer. This creates a characteristic sound due to the constantly changing pitch shifts that result from the Doppler effect created by the moving sound sources. It was originally designed to mimic the complex tones and constantly shifting sources of sound among a large group of pipe organ ranks. The effect varies depending on the speed of the rotors, which can be toggled by a console-based or pedal switch between fast (tremolo) or slow (chorale) effect.

Most Leslie cabinets use a tube (also known as valve) amplifier, which imparts a warm tone and overdrive characteristics generally preferred by musicians over solid state amplifiers. The overdrive can be varied from a mild 'purr' to the heavy 'growl' favored by many rock organists. The combination of the Hammond organ and Leslie speaker quickly became preferred by the vast majority of organists professional and amateur alike. Ironically, Hammond disapproved of the Leslie speaker, instead choosing to market its own line of amplified speakers (called tone cabinets) which used stationary speakers. Hammond even went so far as to prevent dealers from selling the Leslie speaker for use with their organs. Eventually Hammond bowed to public demand and the now classic combination became 'official'.

Other features added to Hammond organs included an electromechanical chorus/vibrato and, by the late 1950s, a "spring reverb" effect which simulated the reverberation of a large church hall.

The lightweight construction of the waterfall-style keyboard for the upper manuals allows for very rapid passages to be executed with more ease than on a weighted keyboard, such as a piano or pipe organ. The shape of the keys makes effects such as palm glissandos possible.

Hammond organs come with a wooden bass pedalboard for the feet, so that the organist can play basslines. Hammond organ bass pedalboards do not usually have a full, 32-note American Guild of Organists (AGO) pedalboard going up to a G (3rd leger line of the bass clef) as the top note (see AGO pedalboard). Instead, to reduce the cost of the instrument, or the size of the bass pedalboard, 25-note (with a C on the 1st leger line of the bass clef as the top note) or 30-note (with an F on the 2nd leger line of the bass clef as the top note) bass pedalboards are often used.

Several Hammond "concert" models, the RT-2, RT-3 and D-100 had 32-note AGO pedalboards. As well, they also contained a "Solo Pedal Unit" which provided several 32', 16', 8', and 4' voices for the pedal. The solo pedal unit used oscillators, similar to those used in Hammond's "Solovox."

Hammond tonewheel organs can be divided into two main groups: the 'Console' models such as the A, B, C, D, and R series which have two 61 note manuals and the smaller 'Spinet' models that have two 44 note manuals such as the M, L, and T series. The production of tonewheel organs stopped in the mid 1970s. Hammond organs made after this time use electronic tone generation. Examples of these organs are the J/K/N series, the Hammond Aurora, and the Hammond Concorde.

Hammond tonewheel organs are preferred among most enthusiasts, the most popular models also having tube amplifiers. Some of the later Hammond models combine tonewheel generation with solid state amplifiers, with the latest models of that era being fully solid state. Hammond is now owned by Suzuki Company. Hammond-Suzuki now makes organs using digital technology that very closely replicate the tonewheel organ sound. (See "Clones" below)

The model B-3, the C-3 and the A-100 models all have the same internal components in different cabinets. In addition, the A-100 has built-in speakers. In categorizing Hammond organ types it is useful to divide them by the way their sound generation mechanisms; the three categories are electromechanical, electronic, or both. Tonewheel organs use a series of toothed wheels which spin near an electromagnetic pickup to generate sound. Electronic tone generation uses solid state oscillator circuits.

The "V" series such as the Hammond "Cadette" were starter organs. They were made for first-time organ players, and as such, had no drawbars. The theory was that beginning organists could learn on it and buy a better organ later. Like a spinet organ, there were two offset manuals with an octave range pedal board and an expression pedal. The sound produced by these organs was different than the sound produced by most other Hammond models. The upper manual had three instruments (flute, reed, and strings) and the lower manual had two instruments (tibia and cello). The pedal also had an instrument tab (for bass and accent). There was no Leslie, only a reverberation knob.

The "V" series organs came with Auto Rhythm, which had seven different rhythms (a "cancel" button was located at the far left), Synchro Start, and a volume and tempo knob. There were two tabs for vibrato (Light and Full). This series was not built by Hammond but by Yamaha for Hammond.

Production Years: Jun 1935 to Oct '38^[4]

Production Years: Apr 1959 to Dec '65^[5]

Production Years: Dec 1949 to Dec '54^[6]

Production Years: Jan 1955 to '74^[7]
The Hammond B-3 organ (often referred to simply as "the B-3") is the most famous of the Hammond Organs. It was originally produced to be a portable alternative to permanently-installed types of church organs, and was very popular in African-American churches. The "B-3" was also widely used in non-church settings. In the first decades after its introduction, the B-3 was heavily used in the Gospel, Jazz and Blues genres and was also used as a theatre organ to provide live music between feature films or perform music at ice rinks. In the 1950s and 1960s, the B-3 was used in jazz bands (Walter Wanderley) and in organ trios, such as Jimmy Smith's organ trio. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, the B-3 was widely used in rock bands ranging from Latin-rock groups such as Santana to progressive rock groups such as Procol Harum, Yes, Styx, Kansas, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Boston and Pink Floyd, to blues-rock groups such as The Allman Brothers Band and Deep Purple.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the B-3 continued to be used by many churches and also bands from a range of styles, including gospel, rock, hard rock, jazz, blues, and "jam" bands. This organ was also a favorite of renowned Grateful Dead keyboard player Brent Mydland as well as Page McConnell of Phish and Tom Scholz of Boston. In the 1980s and 1990s, lightweight "clone" organs that imitated the sound were increasingly used to digitally recreate the B3's sound as a more portable substitute, especially in live touring settings. Nevertheless, in the 2000s, some organ trios such as the Ken Clark organ trio still perform with vintage B-3 organs.

New B-3

Production Years: 2002 to present
In 2002, the Hammond company (now known as Hammond-Suzuki) relaunched the B-3 as the 'New B-3', a recreation of the original electromechanical instrument using modern-day electronics and a modern sound generator system. The New B-3 is constructed to appear like the original B-3, and the designers attempted to retain the subtle nuances of the familiar B-3 sound. Hammond Suzuki argues that it would be difficult for even an experienced B-3 player to distinguish between the old and new B-3 organs. Hugh Robjohns' review in the recording magazine 'Sound on Sound' called the New B-3 "a true replica of an original B-3...in terms of the look and layout, and the actual sound." The New B-3 was used by well-known B-3 players such as Jimmy Smith and Joey DeFrancesco, who both played a New B-3 on the collaborative album 'Legacy' released in 2005 shortly before Jimmy's death. Additionally, Evanescence used the new B-3 organ in almost every song of their album The Open Door, released in October 2006.^[8]. Hammond-Suzuki went on to release a portable version of the New B-3 as well as a new version of the C-3 model.

Production Years: Jan 1955 to '73^[9]

Two 44-note offset manuals, built-in pedals, internal speakers and amplification.

Production Years: 1948 to '51

Production Years: 1951 to '55

Production Years: 1955 to '64
As used by Booker T Jones on in 1962 recording Green Onions.

Production Years: 1961 to '68 J-200 first year w/ built in speakers ; 1966 ???????

Production Years: 1961 to '72

Production Years: 1968 to '75

Pianists and synthesizer players who begin playing the Hammond soon realize that authentic performance practice involves a lot more than playing the notes on the keyboard. Hammond players vary the timbre of both manuals in real time through a combination of changing drawbar settings, engaging or disengaging the vibrato and chorus effects or percussion settings, and changing the rotating Leslie speaker system's speed setting. As well, performers obtain other effects by setting the Leslie's amplifier to maximum output (and controlling the effective volume using only the organ's volume pedal) to add overdriven distortion or growl for certain passages, or by briefly switching off the organ's synchronous run motor, which produces a wobbly pitch-bend effect.

There are playing styles that are specific to the Hammond organ, such as palm glissandos, rapid repetition of a single note, tremolo between two notes a third apart (typically the 5th and 7th scale degree of the current chord), percussive drumming of the keyboard, and playing a chord on the upper manual, then sliding your hand down to duplicate the chord on the lower manual. Artistic use of the foot-controlled volume pedal is an important facet of performing on the Hammond.

Tom Vickers notes that after Jimmy Smith popularized the Hammond organ in jazz, many jazz pianists “...who thought that getting organ-ized would be a snap...” realized that the “... B-3 required not only a strong left hand, but killer coordination on those [bass] foot pedals to really get the bass groove percolating."^[10] In the 1950s, the organist Wild Bill Davis told the then-aspiring organist Smith that it could take over a decade just to learn the bass pedals. Jazz organists such as Jimmy Smith developed the ability to perform fluent walking-bass lines on the bass pedals, mostly on ballad tempo tunes. He played up-tempo bass lines with his left hand, augmented by occasional taps in the bass pedalboard. Currently, jazz organists such as Ken Clark and Barbara Dennerlein are able to perform fast-moving basslines on the bass pedalboard.

Many jazz organists from the 1950s/1960s era and from more recent decades perform the bassline for uptempo songs with their left hand on the lower manual. Organists who play the bassline on the lower manual may do short taps on the bass pedals-often on the tonic of a tune's key-to simulate the low, resonant sound of a plucked upright bass string. Playing basslines on the manuals may make the bass lines more light and fluid than if they are played on the bass pedals, especially for uptempo tunes. As well, playing basslines on the lower manual makes it easier to perform grace notes.

Due to the difficulties of transporting the heavy Hammond organ, bass pedalboard (a B-3 organ, bench and pedalboard weighs 425 pounds/193 kg) and Leslie speaker cabinets to performance venues, and due to the risk of technical problems that are associated with any vintage electromechanical instrument, musicians sought out a more portable, reliable way of obtaining the Hammond sound. Some early emulation devices were criticized for their unrealistic imitation of the Hammond sound, particularly in the way the upper harmonics were voiced, and in the simulation of the rotary speaker effect. Refinements to Hammond emulations eventually led to the development of relatively light electronic keyboard instruments such as the Roland VK-7 and the Korg BX-3 and CX-3 (and even Hammond-Suzuki's own XB-2/XB-5 models) that produce a fairly realistic recreation of the original Hammond tone.

By the 1990s and 2000s digital signal processing and sampling technologies allowed for better imitation of the original Hammond sound, and a variety of electronic organs, emulator devices, and synthesizers provided a reproduction of the Hammond tone, such as the Clavia Nord Electro keyboard. Hammond Suzuki USA currently markets numerous home, church, and professional models that digitally reproduce the sound of vintage Hammond tonewheel organs. Some sophisticated emulation devices have algorithms that recreate some of the characteristics of the vintage Hammonds, such as the "crosstalk" or "leakage" between the tonewheels, and digital simulations of the rotating Leslie speaker cabinet's sound.

Currently, there are numerous B-3 "clones" on the market, from full-size, dual keyboard behemoths with real Leslie cabinets from Hammond/Suzuki, to inexpensive Casio WK series home keyboards that actually have a "tonewheel organ" function built in, to allow the user to simulate changing drawbars "on the fly." In between are numerous models, most of them excellent, from Hammond, Korg, Roland, Clavia (Nord Series), and virtual synths- notably the B4 by Native Instruments- computer simulations of every B-3 nuance down to key click, leakage of tonewheels, dirty contacts, type of tubes- just about any variable can be accommodated, though many aficionados consider them (whether rightly or wrongly) inferior to a real Hammond. An article entitled Clonewheel Heaven in Keyboard Magazine that reviewed electronic simulations of the traditional Hammond sound claimed that some aspects of the vintage electromechanical Hammonds' sound are not accurately reproduced by clones and emulation devices.^[11]

The sound of the Hammond B-3 organ can be heard in 1960s surf music, where the spinning Leslie speaker created distinctive special effects. The Hammond sound was also a key part of the mystical soundscape of the great 1967 Procol Harum classic, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" , in the famous Bach-like introductory measures contributed by organist Matthew Fisher (who actually played an M-100 on the famous recording). Except for a few months in late 1976 and early 1977, Procol Harum has always (and still does after 40 years) appeared in concert with a Hammond. Hammond organs are also widely used in 1970s progressive rock music bands such as Pink Floyd's Rick Wright (First on a Hammond M-100, and later on a C-3); Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Keith Emerson; Genesis's Tony Banks (a Hammond L-122 and later a Hammond T-100); and Yes' Rick Wakeman. It also sparked the interest of the keyboard players in early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple's Jon Lord, Uriah Heep's Ken Hensley, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones.

In several sketches by Monty Python's Flying Circus Terry Gilliam plays a nude Organist who provides a fanfare on a Hammond L-100 in "Blackmail" and "Crackpot Religions Ltd." as well as Terry Jones for the opening scenes on the third season. The British adult comic Viz had (or has) an occasional strip featuring 'Captain Morgan and his Hammond organ'. The strip's plot usually revolves around the crew sighting a treasure ship or similar lucrative opportunity, which they then miss due to the eponymous captain insisting on first spending some time serenading them with a selection of tunes played on said organ.

Arnold Rimmer (from the BBC TV series Red Dwarf) is a big fan of Hammond Organ music; he is particularly fond of an artist by the name of Reggie Wilson (a satirical reference to Reginald Dixon), whose Hammond Organ albums include "Lift Music Classics" and "Funking up Wagner". Rimmer has also taught the Skutters to play the Hammond Organ; every Wednesday night is "Amateur Hammond Organ Recital Night". It should be noted that none of the other crew of the Red Dwarf particularly enjoy Rimmer's taste in music.

• List of jazz organists
• List of Hammond organ players
• Clonewheel organ
• Organ trio
• Hammond Piano

• Hammond/Leslie resource and home of the hammondzone user group
• Matthew Fisher's unusual 1968 Leslie setup for Procol Harum
• Drawbar Settings, Progressions, and Links
• obsolete.com article on the Hammond Organ
• http://www.roth-handle.nu/instruments/organ_HammondL100.htm
• History of the Hammond B-3 Organ
• note: Hammond Organ first closed up in the mid-late 80's, not 1975 as stated. As a former product specialist (Bill Dilks), I was with Hammond in Chicago in '81-'82.
• The HammondWiki
• Captain Foldback (Hammond organ history, information on the different models of vintage Hammond organs, and technical data)
• Article on the Hammond Organ
• Description of Hammond Organ
• Beatrix - The Organ Software Synthesizer
• Geoff Alexander's history of the Jazz Organ
• The model list of all vintage Hammonds (and Leslie speakers)
• Dom's Hammond organ and Leslie speaker in-site