True. Fortunately for Hammond though - In 1980, the Hammond Corporation bought Electro Music which was Don Leslie's Company {the man who invented the Leslie Cabinet} and the Leslie name from CBS. Currently, Leslie remains part of Hammond under Hammond/Suzuki, USA.

Beyond that, Hammond was well aware of how Leslie Cabinets were a boon to the sales their Organs. People realized that a Hammond Organ sounded wonderful when hooked up to a Leslie Cabinet and when word got around people started buying more and more Hammond Organs. Over the years, Hammond engineers routinely checked out new Leslie Speaker models as they were introduced and the company was well aware of their impact on Hammond tone cabinet sales. Hammond never admitted it but after 1940, there never was a time when there were "no Leslie Speakers at the Hammond Organ Company." So there was constant interaction with the in's and out's of Leslie speakers by the Hammond Organ Company years ago. PS: I would guess the Hammond engineers intimately scrutinized the workings of Leslie speakers from the inside out, and were "thouroughly" aware of its technology and how they worked from an engineering perspective. Which helped immensely I would think when they finally acquired Don Leslie's Company, Electro Music in 1980.

In fact many Hammond people, some of them Management personnel, respected Don Leslie and didn't support the Hammond Organ Company's "Anti-Leslie" policy from years ago.

It has also been said that Laurens Hammond was musically tone deaf and the reason he rejected the 'Leslie Effect' in Don Leslie's speaker cabinets was his inability to appreciate and notice the improvements the Leslie rotary effect made in the sound of his Organs. If he really understood what most everyone else already knew, i.e. that the Leslie rotary effect provided an absolutely marvelous sound improvement to a Hammond Organ, he probably would have hired Don Leslie on the spot. But being tone deaf he allegedly couldn't "hear" the difference the Leslie's made so he rejected them and their maker Don Leslie. At least, so the story goes anyway.

Best regards,
Mike



[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 11-06-2004).]