Hammond M102 Organ
Written by Andy Taylor on Wednesday, 21 October 2009
"I've had this for about 6 years and, much as I love it, I'm ashamed to say it doesn't see much active service these days. It's a model M102 - the last digit indicates that, while it shares the same internal gubbins as the rest of the M100 series, it has a "contemporary" style cabinet (the other variations I've come across tend to disguise themselves as pulpits or writing desks).
"I believe it dates back to around 1967, and somone has at some point chopped it in half and removed the bass pedals and all the internal speakers (it originally had three). This may sound cruel, but these modifications mean that it's possible for less than five men with industrial lifting gear to move it. That said, none of my fellow bandmates (see www.thedials.co.uk) have been that interested in helping me shift it to gigs since I invested in a Nord Stage keyboard.
"As you can see from the picture, I've started stripping away the decades of "custom" paint jobs the poor thing's had to endure. I'm not sure whether to repaint it or just wax it down when I'm done. I've also glued back that missing C key since this picture was taken.
"Despite being rather rusty and full of spiders when I first got it, it seems to work perfectly. The local Hammond service man gave it a couple of drops of oil and a clean bill of health. It came with a Sharma rotating speaker which I later discovered someone had removed the amplifier from, so initially I had to first put it through a Marshall guitar amp head. I then bought a beautiful Leslie 145 cabinet from a local church, which I thought was an incredible bargain for £200 before I discovered that... someone had removed the amplifier from that as well.
"I bought a reconditioned Leslie amp from the US which I had to power via a big transformer 
because of the UK/US voltage difference. It's probably ended up costing me a lot more in the long run, but I've finally got a rig which sounds exactly how I like it, and I can dismantle and reassemble it blindfolded.
"It's the classic British 60s organ sound: purists would say it's a "baby B3" but as B3 models were harder (and more expensive) to get your hands on over here, it was the nearest alternative. The only difference in sound I'm aware of, apart from the obvious lack of octaves, is the M100 doesn't have foldback, meaning it lacks a little zing in the upper registers. It's still got real tonewheels and real valves - which Hammond decided to ditch in the 1970s when everyone stopped buying them..."
