Hammond Organ Key Contact Cleaning

Various models have been produced most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds.

Hammond organ key contact cleaning. Until 1975 hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier. This will most commonly be found near the center of the keyboard where your hands are most frequently placed. Fortunately cleaning hammond organ keys is relatively simple. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935.

If possible you ll want to clean both the key contacts and the buss bars but depending on the design of the organ this can be tricky. 46323 morning william the deoxit contact cleaner rejuvenator will be perfect for this application. Problem with the lower manual high c key contacts lining up. Shows the internal key contacts buss bars and tiny resistance or contact wires.

Hammond organ cleaning the keyboard area part ii. Inspect your keys for signs of discoloration and grime buildup. The hammond organ is an electric organ invented by laurens hammond and john m. You can use a spray dn5s 6n or liquid d100p or d100l 2db or d50w.

Cleaning the entire keyboard area not just the keys without taking the unit apart. Hammond xk 5 multi key contact duration. The wiring loom in the manual scares me. First pull out all the drawbars to their full on position.

Shows what happens when a hammond tonewheel organ key is pressed. Realistically if this step doesn t fix the problem to your liking it may be time for a busbar lube job. Thank you very much william hammond ind. They look somewhat bent too.

This is attributed to al goff in a keyboard magazine interview. The basic procedure like with the switches is to blast the key contact and rod with contact cleaner and work the key up and down many times. From the rear of the organ spray deoxit contact clean or another spray contact cleaner into the back of each drawbar using the spray nozzle extension tube that s supplied with each product. In the can so i could clean it.

First try striking the offending key 15 to 20 times in a rapid staccato manner to dislodge the dust particles and to clear the contacts.