farfisa compact deluxe and chopped hammond

[bradx]

heres my farfisa compact deluxe

all keys except the bass ones work perfectly and its got great action.
this is my wandering genie, its late 70s but is an all analog electric organ, i picked it up in a pinch when my hammond crapped out once

and here's the hammond. i chopped it down myself from a full sized spinet.

[mtwallet]

well pardon me if I'm wrong, but you made a "combo" out of a spinet? is that right?

I always wondered if I could do this, as there's many more spinet on sale than combo...

[bradx]

thats right, thats what "chopped" means
i took all the innards out and built a box out of scrap wood



every key and function on it works.

[bradx]

heres the last recording i did recently featuring the chopped ham...
blip.tv/file/get/Bradx-Testify287.mp3

[blair]

Jul 8, 2008 1:21:15 GMT -5 bradx said:

heres the last recording i did recently featuring the chopped ham...
blip.tv/file/get/Bradx-Testify287.mp3

Sounds d**n good, Brad.

Out of curiousity - having never done any chopping - what did you have to do other than grabbing some scrap wood. For instance, how about the output jacks, etc.?

[combonautjim]

IN-SANE

[bradx]

well, as you can see i had to cut some rails so the circuit boards wouldnt be resting directly on the wood, and the output jack is just a 1/4" jack connected to the speaker leads. i bypassed the volume pedal so its always on its highest setting. i cut some blocks for the key panels to rest on so all the weight wouldnt be taken by a couple screws, and tied the cords in a knot so they couldnt be pulled too hard or tripped over and come ripping out the back of the cabinet. a few mistakes i made were putting the transformer too close to the reverb tank, theres a little low end hum with the reverb cranked, and not allowing the transformer enough ventilation, it gets really hot and starts making crazy whacked out sounds after a half hour or so if its in a hot room. also, i didnt set the keys in deep enough to be able to build a cover. still, not bad for a project that cost me about 40 bucks total.






i was in a band with my wife on organ and our old one died. we played one gig with a casio and that wasnt cutting it, so when i found the hammond spinet at a thrift shop for $30 i had to give chopping it a try...

[bradx]

heres some pics from our halloween gig last year

[combonautjim]

HA!
You can only do that with a Farfisa.
Try that with a vox and watch all the transistors and caps spill out!

P.s. cool video on the other page.

[bradx]

thanks!