Creating Useful Wood Projects, Both Large and Small
Written by on January 12, 2017
INTRODUCTION
This is the first project I’ve built inside my new woodworking shop. I hope to use this blog to present the things I build in order to encourage others to do the same. Making useful and practical things can benefit the builder for a lifetime, as well as the satisfaction of knowing you built it yourself. I will always try to take plenty of pictures to document the progress of my projects. I also will tell the problems I run into in order to save anyone the trouble of making the same mistakes!
Like I’ve said before, I’ve played music my entire life. My formative years were the seventies, and I guess that’s why I enjoy playing classic rock so much. I grew up in church, so it was a natural for me to enjoy harmonies, and when I was 16, began playing in a group called Everybody’s Pillow with some college aged fellows. I started to show them harmony parts, and they were excited! We were able to put together a Beach Boy medley, which we became well known for playing in the south. We played from Florida to Oklahoma. We were booked months in advance due to demand for live music at the time, and made enough to support our passion of playing.
This brings me to the Hammond B3. When I was 15 years old, my father took me to Arnold & Morgan Music Company in Dallas, and signed for me to purchase a B3 and leslie 122. I was ecstatic! We had a gig at that time in my little group to play in St. Joseph, La. Three weeks after buying the organ on the way to the gig, my Dad’s pickup caught on fire and burned my baby up. The leslie was only charred on one side, and so remained functional. I was devastated. I had to pay the entire thing off for the next three years with payments made from playing.
The local music store got wind of my situation, and went overboard to help. They loaned me whatever equipment I needed to play jobs for the entire year following the fire. I think that speaks volumes of the time, and quality of support from our community. A year later, my Dad and I once again traveled to Dallas, and I bought a second B3. I still have that organ, and it works great.
The trouble today is, I’m older, and the fellows DO NOT want to help lift a Hammond B3 anymore. I don’t blame them. I’ve actually used a portable Hammond XK2 for the last number of years, hooked up to my 122 leslie. Many venues are still surprised when someone shows up with an actual leslie and not a simulator. It still makes me smile. But its still not the same thing as playing with the real thing. There is something about the Hammond Organ tone generator (TG) that creates that sound that digitally, to many folks, is not as full and deep. Also, sitting down with a B3 is a feeling that many keyboard players have yearned for, but cannot have due to the shear weight of the thing.
This was a lot to say in order to bring me to the point of this post. I know many have attempted to build a Hammond organ “chop.” Basically, most were on their own to design some sort of portable cabinet to house the Hammond tone generator, keyboard manuals, and preamp. Most leave MUCH to be desired, and do not give the feel of the real thing (although the sound is basically the same.) I was wondering if it might be possible to design and build a Hammond B3 cabinet reproduction that was portable. It would have to be able to break down and fit into 2 flight cases for portability, and be LIGHT enough to be moved and setup by one person (ME!)
After thinking about this for months, my new wood shop was finally completed at my home, and of course the first project was my bright idea of the portable Hammond. I think it will be successful. I wanted to show in this post, which I’ll continue to update as often as I can, the actual construction. In school, I learned a lot of procedures in woodworking, and this project is bringing back a lot of dormant memories for me, and certainly testing my limits. It HAS been a challenge, and so let’s see how it ends. You’ll be with me at each step as I learn how this thing was made.
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