[sdiy] One Octave Foot Pedal Project

[Glen]

At 05:15 PM 7/10/04 , Roy J. Tellason wrote:

>> Hammond organs with supposedly "full pedalboards" had only 25 notes, the
>> pedalboard surface is flat, and the pedals are parallel to each other. This
>> was done as a cost cutting measure, once Laurens Hammond decided that most
>> organists didn't use the highest notes of the AGO pedalboard very often
>> anyway! Later, Hammond did produce some organs with full AGO pedalboards,
>> but this was only done on a few models intended to please the pipe-oriented
>> AGO crowd.
>
>Do you happen to recall which models those were?  Most of the Hammond stuff I 
>encountered was smaller models.  Some of the later solid-state stuff was 
>truly awful,  in terms of how much noise came though when you weren't playing 
>anything.

Hammond models with 32-note AGO pedalboards:

E          (Separate expression pedals for swell and great manuals.)
RT-2    (The RT series were "Concert" organs.)
RT-3    (The RT-3 features electronically generated 32' pedal voices.)
D-100  (Same as RT-3, but with internal amp & speakers.)
G-100  (Largest, most elaborate tonewheel organ ever made. Unique!)

Note: I can't verify the type of pedals used on the original "RT" model.
It's possible that the RT didn't have the AGO pedalboard like its RT-2 and
RT-3 successors.

I agree about many of the earlier models using transistors and ICs being
poorly designed. It usually wasn't a problem with the semiconductors, but
with the worthless connectors they were fond of using during that time
period. Apparently their accounting department had fully taken over the
design process by that point.


Here's two Synth-DIY construction tips:

Never use cheap, flimsy connectors!  

	Baldwin, Hammond, Kimball, and designers of The Chroma Polaris
	have all made this mistake. A proper repair becomes much more
	costly than "doing it right" the first time around.


NEVER mount a circuit board in such a way that it's under pressure, and
prone to warp over time. 

	Hammond and Kimball both made the mistake of applying massive
	amounts of pressure to circuit boards, to make sure they stayed
	plugged firmly into their edge connectors. Over time, the boards warp.
	The cheap nylon connectors also warp, and connections are broken.
	Intended to be a protective measure, it only insured the eventual 
	failure of the circuit.


later,
Glen