Hammond B3

The Hammond B3 organ is a tone wheel organ made by the Hammond-factory. It is considered as the most popular Hammond organ of all time, and has been used in a great number of popular rock bands and jazz-ensembles. It is also a popular theater organ.

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It was originally produced to be a portable alternative to the unportable church organs.

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For the main article about tonewheels, see the tonewheel article.

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The sound reproduction system is based on tonewheels. There are one of these wheels for each of the ninety-one tones the organ can produce. Each key on the keyboard can control up to nine tones, depending on the drawbar settings or drawbar presets. Each tonewheel has a number of bumps along its edge. The number of bumps and the rotation speed of the wheel determines the tone's frequency. A synchronous motor turns the wheels through a set of axles and gears. The gear ratios determine each wheel's rotation speed. The entire gear train rotates continuously. An electomagnetic pickup is placed next to each tone wheel. The bumps in the edge of the tone wheel cause the magnetic field of the pickup to vary, generating a periodic voltage change in the pickup's coil -- a tone. The organist selects these tones via the drawbar circuitry and the keyboards while playing the organ. The resulting tones are ultimately amplified and converted to sound by a speaker.

Theater organ: redirect theatre organ...

Keyboard: A keyboard can refer to a:...

Hammond B3 related Images and Photos (experimental)

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