Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M Hanert and first manufactured in 1935.
FactSnippet No. 585,463 |
Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M Hanert and first manufactured in 1935.
FactSnippet No. 585,463 |
The Hammond name was purchased by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation, which proceeded to manufacture digital simulations of the most popular tonewheel organs.
FactSnippet No. 585,464 |
The sound of a tonewheel Hammond organ can be emulated using modern software audio plug-ins.
FactSnippet No. 585,465 |
In contrast to piano and pipe organ keys, Hammond keys have a flat-front profile, commonly referred to as "waterfall" style.
FactSnippet No. 585,466 |
Hammond organ manufactured from 1969 onwards have the footage of each drawbar engraved on its end.
FactSnippet No. 585,467 |
Hammond organ's New B3 contains similar switches to emulate this effect, though it is a digital instrument.
FactSnippet No. 585,468 |
Hammond organ's technology derives from the Telharmonium, an instrument created in 1897 by Thaddeus Cahill.
FactSnippet No. 585,469 |
Laurens Hammond organ graduated from Cornell University with a mechanical engineering degree in 1916.
FactSnippet No. 585,470 |
Hammond organ was inspired to create the tonewheel or "phonic wheel" by listening to the moving gears of his electric clocks and the tones produced by them.
FactSnippet No. 585,471 |
Hammond organ gathered pieces from a second-hand piano he had purchased for $15 and combined it with a tonewheel generator in a similar form to the telharmonium, albeit much shorter and more compact.
FactSnippet No. 585,472 |
Since Hammond was not a musician, he asked the company's assistant treasurer, W L Lahey, to help him achieve the desired organ sound.
FactSnippet No. 585,473 |
In 1936, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint claiming that the Hammond Company made "false and misleading" claims in advertisements for its organ, including that the Hammond could produce "the entire range of tone coloring of a pipe organ".
FactSnippet No. 585,474 |
The complaint resulted in lengthy hearing proceedings, which featured a series of auditory tests that pitted a Hammond costing about $2600 against a $75, 000 Skinner pipe organ in the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel.
FactSnippet No. 585,475 |
Criticism that the Hammond organ was more aesthetically suitable to the home instead of the church led to the introduction of the model C in September 1939.
FactSnippet No. 585,476 |
The Hammond organ was manufactured in a variety of different chassis, with the last two digits of the specific model number determining the style and finish of the instrument.
FactSnippet No. 585,477 |
The Hammond organ was not particularly well made, and suffered a reputation for being unreliable.
FactSnippet No. 585,478 |
The first Hammond organ that bridged the gap between tonewheel and transistor was the X-66, introduced in May 1967.
FactSnippet No. 585,479 |
Hammond organ designed it as the company's flagship product, in response to market competition and to replace the B-3.
FactSnippet No. 585,480 |
Hammond organ introduced their first integrated circuit model, the Concorde, in 1971.
FactSnippet No. 585,481 |
Hammond organ had stopped manufacturing tonewheel organs entirely by 1975, due to increased financial inefficiency, and switched to making IC models full-time.
FactSnippet No. 585,482 |
In 1979, a Japanese offshoot, Nihon Hammond organ, introduced the X-5, a portable solid-state clone of the B-3.
FactSnippet No. 585,483 |
Laurens Hammond organ died in 1973, and the company struggled to survive, proposing an acquiring of Roland in 1972, which was turned down.
FactSnippet No. 585,484 |
In 1985, Hammond went out of business, though servicing and spares continued to be available after this under the name of the Organ Service Company.
FactSnippet No. 585,485 |
Sound on Sound Rod Spark, a longtime Hammond organ enthusiast, said these models were "a matter of taste, of course, but I don't think they're a patch on the old ones".
FactSnippet No. 585,486 |
In 2002, Hammond organ-Suzuki launched the New B-3, a recreation of the original electromechanical instrument using contemporary electronics and a digital tonewheel simulator.
FactSnippet No. 585,487 |
Company has since released the XK-3, a single-manual Hammond organ using the same digital tonewheel technology as the New B-3.
FactSnippet No. 585,488 |
Hammond organ has a dedicated Church Advisory Team that provides a consultancy, so churches can choose the most appropriate instrument.
FactSnippet No. 585,489 |
Hammond organ modified their interface connectors to be "Leslie-proof", but Leslie quickly engineered a workaround.
FactSnippet No. 585,490 |
Some Hammond organ staff thought Laurens Hammond organ was being irrational and autocratic towards Leslie, but Don Leslie later said it helped give his speakers publicity.
FactSnippet No. 585,491 |
Leslie company was sold to CBS in 1965, and the following year, Hammond organ finally decided to officially support the Leslie speaker.
FactSnippet No. 585,492 |
Hammond organ-Suzuki acquired the rights to Leslie in 1992; the company currently markets a variety of speakers under this name.
FactSnippet No. 585,493 |
Hammond organ makes technical compromises in the notes it generates.
FactSnippet No. 585,494 |
Originally, key click was considered a design defect and Hammond organ worked to eliminate or at least reduce it with equalization filters.
FactSnippet No. 585,495 |
Third party companies manufacturer transformers that can allow a Hammond organ designed for one region to run in the other, which are used by internationally touring bands.
FactSnippet No. 585,496 |
Early customers of the Hammond organ included Albert Schweitzer, Henry Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt, and George Gershwin.
FactSnippet No. 585,497 |
One of the first performers to use the Hammond organ was Ethel Smith, who was known as the "first lady of the Hammond organ".
FactSnippet No. 585,498 |
Organist John Medeski thinks the Hammond became "the poor man's big band", but because of that, it became more economical to book organ trios.
FactSnippet No. 585,499 |
Hammond organ eschewed a bass player, and played all the bass parts himself using the pedals, generally using a walking bassline on the pedals in combination with percussive left-hand chords.
FactSnippet No. 585,500 |
Hammond organ modified his Hammond so it could be played through a Marshall stack to get a growling, overdriven sound, which became known as his trademark and he is strongly identified with it.
FactSnippet No. 585,501 |
Hammond organ continued to play the instrument in this manner alongside other keyboards in Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
FactSnippet No. 585,502 |
Hammond organ was perceived as outdated by the late 1970s, particularly in the UK, where it was often used to perform pop songs in social clubs.
FactSnippet No. 585,503 |
The sound of the Hammond organ has appeared in hip-hop music, albeit mostly via samples.
FactSnippet No. 585,504 |
Hammond organ is positive about the future of the Hammond organ, saying "Everybody loves it.
FactSnippet No. 585,505 |