[HAM] Overdrive

[JOHN HABURAY]

>  If a pre 1964 wax capped tone wheel
>generator is recapped , then it will again produce more or less the
>original factory stock sound  with more bite.

This won't be the first time I have tried to counter this assertion, 
not 
will it be the last. I especially object to the term "original factory 
stock sound," when I have heard more than one re-capped organ that 
sounds 
like dog shit, and I know plenty of others who have heard the same 
unfortunate results. I repeat: without using the original factory 
methods 
of matching cap values to individual tuned reactance filters, there can 
never be a restoration of "factory sound" except by sheer luck or bad 
hearing. My complaint here is that your statements are highly 
theoretical 
and not based on much real-world experience.

  Hi,
  Not to start a battle here but, wax caps, dirty bus bars, over oiled scanners and old stock A0-28 preamps sound like dog shit to me, NOT recapped generators. Recapping may not make a Hammond sound like it did when new, or  get a "factory sound", but it sure as hell will make it sound better than it does with that old wax crap in it. As a rule here red cap gennys are left alone and wax ones are redone. Recapping generators alone will not a good Hammond make, but rebuilding them along with doing that sure will.  Should people go out and grab a bag of caps and recap the generator? Of course not. Do that and you will get the results that Scott talks about. Luck cannot be counted on when rebuilding or modifying Hammonds and Leslies. It is knowledge and experience that will make it happen. Sooner or later the wax caps have GOT to go. After 40-50 years of sucking up moisture and drying out, about any time now is fine unless you are happy with how your Hammond sounds after all
 these years. If you are, leave it alone by all means. Different strokes for different folks.  
   John


www.HammondStore.com