[HAM] WD 40 & Hammond oil

[Doug Irvine]

The reason I am jumping in here is an experience I had many years ago, 
in Manitoba. I had sold an L-112 to an old farmer in the boonies.  He 
learned to play it and did fairly well with it. About a year later, his 
brother read the instructions and noted that the generator should be 
oiled. He oiled it. Used # 10 motor oil, same as for the tractor. When 
the organ no longer turned on, I was called. After I determined that the 
organ was so gummed up that it would not turn over, I brought it back to 
the store. Those long ago days, we were able to buy Hammond oil in 16 oz 
tins and I had several of those on hand.  I did, however call Chicago 
and talked to someone in the Service dept who recommended using a large 
quantity of Hammond oil to flush the motor oil out. I removed the 
deadening material from under the TG, placed a load of newspaper on the 
shelf, and started throwing kerosene  at it!  I did this for two weeks, 
every day or so, until I could get it to turn over by hand. Then I used 
WD 40 to further clean the # 10 out of there, and let that sit for 
another few days.  I then threw the Hammond oil at it and I used about 
half a can, over another week.  After I put it all back together, that L 
ran quieter than any other L or M in the store.  I left Manitoba about 6 
years later for Alberta, and the L was still going strong. The farmer 
who owned the organ gave the bill, almost 200 bucks to his brother, who 
simply handed me a cheque! I know that Steve will not agree, and I 
respect what he and his late wife accomplished, but it did work. Who 
knows now 40 years later, if the organ is still working or not, but it 
worked at the time. I also have no idea what kerosene would do to those 
bearings and capillary threads, although I expect the threads would not 
be affected.  Just an old guy's experience in a situation which probably 
would never occur again as also the time when we had an organ, Leslie 
and organist end up in a lake when some smart a** decided to rock the 
raft they were on playing 50 feet out from the shore! That was much 
worse, believe me! Good thing it was fresh water! Speaker cones take a 
long time to dry out!!  Cheers, Doug in BC