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Tonewheel
Generator Filter Capacitor Replacement Kit
(This Kit is our most-requested
Custom Rebuild Kit)
Custom Kits are
available for all models of Tonewheel Generator
Organs
Why are
Filter Capacitors mounted on the top of the
Tonewheel Generator?
HAMMOND Tonewheel Generator organs were
manufactured with hand-matched Filter Capacitors
for some of the reactor coils mounted on the top
of all Tonewheel Generators. The Filter
Capacitors accoustically filter certain tonewheel
frequencys to remove unwanted spurious harmonics,
low frequency hum, rumble and other mechanical
and inductivly coupled noise. The original Filter
Capacitors were military grade components,
designed for an expected 15 – 20 year life, as
this was the maximum electronic component life
available at the time. The combination of the
reactor coils and Filter Capacitors together are
commonly referred to as “Tone Generator
Filters”.
Why do the
Filter Capacitors require replacement?
In lieu of the fact that the last Tonewheel
Generator organ was manufactured more than 20
years ago, ALL Tonewheel Generator organs should
have a new set of hand-matched Filter Capacitors
installed to restore factory design specification
tonewheel filtering performance. Many organs are
now 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years old or older (the
HAMMOND Model A was introduced in 1934; the B-3
was first introduced in 1955!). In all cases, the
original critical tolerance Filter Capacitors
have randomly changed capacitance value due to
component aging and now mask the true sound and
performance of the organ’s Tonewheel Generator.
Many of the original capacitors have increased
in value to several times their original values,
and as such, they tend to “muffle” the
sound of the organ. Others have failed completely
and “opened” causing a dead Tone in the
organ. Since all capacitors age differently, the
organ sound is at the very least extremely
inconsistent. Although this is a very common
problem in all Tonewheel Generator organs, it is
generally cured with the installation of a fresh
set of matched replacement Filter Capacitors,
assuming all other organ components are also
working correctly.
Are there
different Capacitor types among the many Models?
Actually, the generator filter capacitors are
very similar among ALL Tonewheel Generator
organs. The numbers of capacitors may vary
slightly among models, but the essential
ingrediant to restoration of the
“classic” HAMMOND sound is to install a
set of new very close tolerance, extremely
stable, hand-matched Filter Capacitors. GOFF
Professional
installs these same custom kits in ALL of our
touring, church and other custom organs. The new
Filter Capacitors can restore the factory-fresh
brightness, consistency and drawbar definition to
a generator which is otherwise working as
intended.
Beware — Simply installing a set of
equivalent value electronic store capacitors will
NOT restore the original sound, and in many
cases, will cause the organ to sound even worse
than before!
Why are some
Filter Capactors a brown color and others a red
or purplish-color?
From 1934 to around 1963, Tonewheel Generators
were equipped by the factory with brown-colored
capacitors manufactured in a wax composition,
covered with paper. These are commonly referred
to as brown “Wax-cap” generators.
Beginning around 1963, the HAMMOND Organ factory
began installing dark reddish-colored styrene
capacitors in the generators. The generators are
commonly referred to as “Red Cap”
generators due to the color of the capacitors.
What are R/C
Networks; Why and When were they introduced by
HAMMOND?
Also around 1963, as new generators were being
manufactured at the factory, in many larger
console models (B-3, C-3, A-100, D-100, etc.),
HAMMOND began installing an additional level of
special Resistor / Capacitor (R/C) Network
filtering for tones numbered 37 to 48. The new
R/C Network filtering was specially designed to
reduce the crosstalk and 60 hz hum which
generally resulted when the first brown Drawbar
(16′) was pulled out in conjunction with other
Drawbars. The hum was most noticable in tones 37
to 48, so HAMMOND added the R/C networks and
recommended that early console organs be
retro-fitted with them when the Filter Capacitors
were changed to further reduce hum and crosstalk
in the older organs.
A short
little history lesson on the reasons behind
changes in Tonewheel Generator construction
There were many Tonewheel Generator design
changes during the approximate 40-year time (1934
– 1974) that Tonewheel Generators were
manufactured by HAMMOND Organ. Some very early
organs featured larger generators which were
found to cause hum and inductive noise coupling
among the tonewheels themselves. In later
generators, tonewheel frequencies were grouped
and their physical locations moved to different
“galleries” within the generator
minimize this problem. Some early organs featured
“consecutively wired” generator wiring
terminal strips which were also modified to
accomodate the relocation of the frequencies.
That is why many early console organs have
consecutively-wired terminal strips and later
ones have the non-consecutively wired terminal
strips.
All HAMMOND Tonewheel Generator organs can
benefit tremendously from Filter Capacitor
replacement, and addition of the later R/C
Network filtering, if applicable to the
particular model of organ.
What does
the Tonewheel Generator Filter Capacitor
Replacement Kit consist of?
Each GOFF Professional Tonewheel Generator
Filter Capacitor Replacement Kit consists of
hand-selected and matched new critical value
Filter Capacitors which are assembled in
individually matched sets. These Capacitors were
selected specifically for their superior
performance in a HAMMOND Tonewheel Generator
application. They exhibit particularly high
non-inductive qualities, are impervious to oil in
the generator, feature a shielded-body
construction, and are extremely consistet over
time. The Kit also includes hand-matched
resistors, capacitors and mounting lugs for
building and installing R/C Network for tones
37-48 on Pre-1963 console organs which were not
originally equipped with this added level of
filtering.
Our Kit will upgrade early Tonewheel
Generators to the latest B-3 level of filtering.
Complete Instructions and a detailed
description of the technical reasoning behind the
need for Filter Capacitor replacement is also
included.
NOTE: Since
many organs require different installation
techniques, we recommend that a Qualified HAMMOND
Organ Service Technician be contacted for
installation help if the owner of the organ has
no previous experience in electronics,
particularly soldering and component removal /
installation techniques. Many owners have also
successfully installed our new kits themselves
with excellent success!
A technical description of our Vibrato Line
Box Replacement Filter Capacitor & Resistor
Kit can be found in our ON LINE Catalog. We
recommend that the Vibrato Line Box Kit be
installed with the Tonewheel Generator Filter
Capacitor Replacement Kit for best results.
Please
supply your Organ Model and Serial Numbers when
ordering the Tonewheel Generator Filter Capacitor
Replacement Kit.
GOFF Professional
offers Mail-Order repair and rebuilding services
for your Tonewheel Generator and Vibrato Line
Box, in addition to complete Leslie tube
amplifier and HAMMOND tube preamp rebuilding. We
can restore them back to factory-fresh operation
and help you refurbish your own organ by handling
the difficult rebuilding tasks in our CT shop.
We can repair, restore, rebuild and/or
modify your existing Hammond organ and Leslie and
upgrade single-speed Leslie models to two-speed
operation! Custom Cabinet Refinishing / Repair /
Painting available.
Roll-or-Kari Organ Moving
Dollies and flat Leslie Moving Dollies are also
available. Please review our ONLINE Catalog for
details.
Email
GOFF Professional for parts,
equipment, information or technical assistance
with any Hammond Organ or Leslie Speaker
[email protected]
REV. 11-27-97
APG / BPG
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