Well, I’m near the end of this saga. I washed the plastic chord button assembly and put a little silicone lube in each of the 96 holes. Can you imagine washing the knobs on a receiver with 96 knobs? Typing that reminded me I cleaned the knobs and slider caps on an old Soundcraft mixer that had maybe to 200… Maybe that’s why they called it the 200!

I also took A LOT of it apart last night and a little oil here and there has everything returning as it should. I spent so much time on this I didn’t get to the coupling caps or fuse adding. Will try and do that today.

When I played the Hammond this morning it was back to happy – doing everything it was supposed to and in tune. I think I’ll just add a fuse and replace the amplifiers coupling caps this afternoon and try and see if I can get the PR-40 into a position where I can connect the two.

Okay so I played it again this afternoon and decided whatever triggers the pedal from the chord matrix was not working correctly. Cleaning the pedal contacts didn’t do anything so I decided to get into the mechanism of the chord matrix. On the Crasno site there is a picture of removing the chord button controls. I took their advice and taped the buttons to the panel so they wouldn’t all go through and end up everywhere. The matrix itself is an impressive mechanism. Whatever the note bars pivot on was hanging up and returning very slowly.

All I did tonight was get it apart then feed the chickens. I’ll do some internet searches and see if I can figure it out before I go much farther.

There was an estate sale in my neighborhood I spent an hour at (no musical instruments other than an overpriced piano or Hi-Fi audio), a trip to be made to the hardware store for some building materials and trip to the store for dinner makings, so progress was a challenge. In the last set of pictures you can see the shadows are getting long. I started feeling some time pressure to get to it if I was going to have it together before I went to bed, I started rationalizing about at what point I could say I was successful. I still needed to test a bunch of tubes, find a 5U4 and make a power cord. I had to take a break and cook some steaks, but I ran back and forth between BBQ and the project. My dad joked he would hold the flash light. My back was getting tired, so I didn’t relish the thought of not being done by dark. I ate fast, but it was still delicious. Must finish. I decided if it was assembled, and the tubes tested before I went to bed I could take my time bringing it up on a variac and testing stuff the next morning.

It was only about 9 am when I got back from the dump with this thing so I challenged myself – I will get this thing back together today. My dad thought this was laughable, but that only made me more determined. A lot of wood glue and patience as stuff set up was all it should take to get the wood back into at least functional shape. The waiting for it to set up was the hardest part.

When I was working on it I remembered there was one of these chord organs in Craigslist about 15 minutes from me for a few hundred bucks sometime in the last few months. This must be that organ. I should have called!

There is an umbilical cord of wires between the amp/preamp/control chassis and the voice chassis that is routed through a small hole in a plywood panel. There is no connector – only about a hundred solder joints on either side. I opted to remove this panel by brute force, and I left it off so I could easily take things apart as needed for electrical work.

There are scars from getting pushed out of the back of a truck that just can’t be erased, but I have noticed over the years that if you can make what you have look as good as it can, you will be surprised by the results.

Took a Trooper (1990 Isuzu) load of crap to my local dump Saturday morning earlier than usual to try and beat the crowds. It’s not a real dump, it’s a transfer station with a few categories of stuff they take including electronics. I usually look around because the guy who runs it and drives the tractor always says “sure” if I want to bring something home.

I got to the spot where people drop off mixed-material stuff for processing – a nice way of saying getting crushed by the tractor so they can sort out the wood, metal etc for recycling. Alone in the middle of that spot on its side with a broken wood side and it’s power supply hanging by a wire was a Hammond S6 Chord organ – I knew exactly what it was – I have a buddy with one in his studio. I looked at the back and it had all it’s 1957 long black plate/ square getter RCA 12AX/12AU7’s, some sweet 6V6GT’s by GE, and some other nice tubes. My first thought was to just grab them but then I was struck by what nice condition the damn thing was in in spite of the harsh treatment of the last 30 minutes that had reduced it from perfectly preserved original to heap.

“Can I have this?” The guy laughs “If you want.” Then adds, “Can you fix that?”

“Sure.” I say.

“Guy just dropped it off – I was walking over here to get in the tractor to smash it.”

Timing is everything I think to myself.

He helps me load it up and I scout around grabbing all the chunks of wood I can and the bench.

As I drive the mile home I resolve to go to the dump as much as possible in the future, and to do my best to put the organ back together. I have been wanting an organ to mess with and play, and now I have one, free but for the repairs I need to do.

If I had been thinking I would have taken a picture at the dump, but I had other things on my mind just then.