[HAM] A-102

[Doug Irvine]

With those beautiful French Provincial legs! Away back in the 70s, I had 
sold one of these to a customer of mine, who was also a good friend.  
This man, who owned a Chrysler dealership, and from whom we had bought 
our Hammond Organ Studio van, decided that he would move his A to his 
summer place on Okanagan Lake.  So, because he had lots of trucks and 
staff at his disposal, he decided to do this himself with a couple of 
his employees.  They hoisted the organ into the back of a pick up, and 
with one of his guys driving it, took off, with Gladdie(his name was 
Gladstone) following. Well, the guy took off like gangbusters and the A, 
which was facing back towards the tail gate moved toward the tail gate, 
flipped right over it, and went top first to the ground, which of course 
was pavement! The organ hit the pavement top first, and then fell 
forward(back towards the truck) breaking off both legs. Smashed the 
music desk, and as I found out when I took it apart, broke the generator 
shelf as well.  What really surprised me when I saw the damage, was that 
none of the keys were broken as well.  I got a call from Gladdie almost 
in tears, describing the damage, and I told him I would come down to 
Penticton and get it. Took the RollOKari's and off I went, brought it 
back to Kelowna, and after taking it somewhat more apart, I figured out 
what I would have to do. Most important, to find out if it played, was 
to fix the generator shelf, which was a major problem in itself. He had 
locked the generator down, so there was no problem there, but getting 
the shelf aligned took a lot of trial and error, then try again, finally 
got the generator to spin over, and that organ played! I still had the 
furniture problem to deal with, and that took about 3 months, as I had 
to first glue the legs back into place, and then repair the damage to 
the music desk, which of course had hit the pavement with the whole 
weight of the organ on top of it. That I gave up on, and ordered a new 
music desk from Hammond Organ Western Export Corporation, who was the 
export arm of Hammond Organ Company.  I had to fix the old desk 
sufficiently to be sorta usable until the new one arrived(3 months).  I 
loaned him an M-102 which was what he had prior to the trade up to the 
A-102.  How I fixed the generator shelf: I made braces to go under the 
shelf, aligned one side and clamped it to the top of the organ while I 
glued and screwed it in place. Then I went and did the same with the 
other end just to make sure it would not get out of alignment later on. 
With the generator unlocked, that organ started right up, and ran like a 
clock(Hammond, of course!) and it was just about as quiet.  The two legs 
caused me more trouble, not in getting them aligned and together, but 
the refinishing was a proper pain, I had to dig out where I had glued 
and clamped, and fill with Mohawk finishing stick, burning the lacquer 
stick in and then buffing out to smooth the leg.  I re-did one leg twice 
before I was happy, and I was fortunate in finding a spray can that 
matched the color of the Provincial. Gladstone Parker is long gone, 
however his business is still there. This was a man who learned to play 
piano when a  youngster, then lost his left hand  at the wrist when a 
young man, and he could fake bass chords with his stump, and his pedal 
work with both feet was nothing less than spectacular, learned after he 
had the 25 note clavier.  So, Alicia, every time you look at that 
beautiful French provincial Hammond, think about how careful you should 
be with it! I still at 81, do a little touch up on furniture, but not 
like I used to. Still play a little as well!   Cheers, old Doug on 
Vancouver Island BC