I always used to say, you played a keyboard, but you "rode" a B-3.

No two of them sounded quite the same, but they all "sounded like a Hammond."

I miss the experience of playing one, but I don't miss the pain of moving one, especially when confronted with stairs.

My old B-3 and two Leslie 147RV are still with the guy who bought them from me...he has them in his rec room, and everything still works fine.

I always carried a tube of oil, and a little wrench to adjust the nuts on the smaller motor for the horn on the Leslies.

The "Hammond sound" is and was, timeless, much like the sound of a piano or an acoustic guitar...it was a mood, a style, a color...not a shrink-wrapped sound that you get as a preset on a synth or an arranger.

I can understand where you're coming from,. Cassp...if only we could afford roadies....425 lbs is a little much nowadays.

Ian

I must say I miss my B3 days. My first church job was on a C3 which is a B3 in a church cabinet. I hauled one around for several years. Like Don said, an arranger was my salvation. As far as the bass was concerned, there was a crugar sp? bass that you could have put on that made it more user friendly. Anyway, even though I love my arrangers, I still miss my B3.

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

I suppose a B3 was what REALLY got me interested in music. My mother used to play one at church, and I would go with her when she went to practice, and she would let me "play". I must have been 5 or 6 at the time.
I can still remember how awesome the thing was, and even the smell!
We always had a piano at home and she was a concert-level pianist as well. I took lessons for about 6 months when I was in the first grade, but quit.
I always fooled around with the piano at home though. I learned to read music playing trumpet in high school, then added bass, drums and guitar with various bands in college.
The day I graduated, I bought a Lowrey organ, on credit of course, and started playing with a local band back home. It wasn't long before I realized that the B3 was the thing, and I traded the Lowrey on one. I learned to play keys almost entirely on my own, but had a great influence early.
My mom could play anything written that you placed in front of her, but couldn't play Happy Birthday without the music. Ironically, she became jealous of my ability to play just about anything I hear. Jealous, but proud.
DonM

congratulations on the purchase of the virtual B3 and two virtual leslies! Hope you don't get a virtual hernia

Good choice though. Playing a B3 (or any oth the series) through a Leslie just helps to remind you what an amazing and original instrument it is.

The trouble is it makes it hard to put up with the organ sounds on arrangers!

I was taken with the B3 when the Rascals hit the music scene, although my parentsw had albums from greats like Lenny Dee and Jimmy Smith in our collection. Felix Cavalieri really set my Hammond senses burning. When I was 16 I worked for the church organist as apprentice and flower delivery boy. He had a BV with a large PR cabinet in his house - wow, was that great. One day I was delivering flowers to a doctor's wife and she asked me to put them on a table in the den - and there it was... a beautiful cherry B3 with a matching Leslie. The lady could tell I was taken by it and offered to let me play it. She offered to let me stop by and play it whenever I wanted. I think if it were up to her, she would have given it to me. Since then I can't get that vision out of my mind.

I've played almost every type of drawbar organ Hammond put out until 1975 as I gave lessons and did some selling for the local dealer. The store manager would let me take out a Porta-B or M3 for my weekend gigs, AND let me use the store truck and dollies. I've owned two M's and now an XK-1.

Don is right about the smell. You've got tubes, the belts moving, the oil bath, and that old cherry wood. It's almost like the thing comes alive when you raise that 2nd switch.

They're neat old "monsters". At the club where mine stays, one of the "veteran" waiters is a long-time church organist who plays a little M-100 in a small country church. He and his son move my B to the room where the event is. W@hen I get there, the instrument is up and running. When the gig is over, I just walk away and William moves it back to the equipment room where it stays. We've got the regular B-3 dolly and carts for the cabinets, plus the place has elevators between floors.

I moved the B-3 there in 1977. If I ever had to move it, I'd probably donate it to William's church. Last year, I found, restored and donated the 122 they use.

Great memories!


Russ

I've owned a CV, a C3, and 2 B3's. The last was a B3 that had been 'portablized' that I bought while in Hawaii and sold when we moved back to the mainland. Even in it's portable state, it still weighed over 300lbs, not counting the Leslies. Heck, the two Leslie cables alone probably weighed as much as my Nord C1 . Would I choose the real deal over a clone? For home, yes; for gigging, never (unless I were a touring superstar....or travelling with one (the more likely scenario ), and had full-time instrument techs, roadies, and set-up guys). I want to be the keyboardist in one of those Jay Leno/David Letterman-type house bands (but I also want to be independently wealthy, living in a mansion overlooking the bay where my yacht is anchored and my trophy wife is just returning from her modeling gig at Victoria's Secret). Sorry, got carried away; what were we talking about? Must be arrangers, since we're now only allowed to talk about those, or so it's been proposed. Better get in these pointless posts while we can.

chas

Russ, you just reminded me of those old oak strap-on dollies. Those babies must have weighed 40lbs by themselves.

chas

Yes, the dollies weighed more than my Audya. My last organ was a huge Yamaha FS500, retail $15,000, like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320445361664
At least it had built-in pedals. The last Lowrey I had had a full pedal board that had to be detached and moved. What a load! Between two leslies, the pedals, the dollies, the p.a. system, the bench, I could barely get it all in a full-sized Chevy van.
Now I get all my stuff in a Scion XB!
DonM

I used one of these for a few years...factory portabilized Yamaha Electone C-605...



Pretty rare instrument as well, from what I hear...I special ordered it when I was still gigging using the organ...still needed a van, as the two powered speakers (remember the Yammie's with the white speaker cones)were nearly as bulky as two Leslies.

Wasn't near as heavy as the B-3, but I'm glad to be using an arranger today.

Only 400 lbs lighter than the B-3.

Ian