Hammond Novachord

Easy to play. If You can play Piano, then You can play this Beast!
Mine came from a Hammond Organ Dealer in the late 50's. It was a show room piece, and when the dealer got tired of trying to sell it, He donated it to a local Church that really had no use for it. I wound up owning it for the price of removing it, plus a Hammond model E concert organ built in 1941. The Novachord was built a few years earlier. The Church opted for a new Conn organ because the Hammond was picking up a local Country music station on it's speaker system. The Church even gave Me the twin Leslie 122R speaker systems and two Hammond PR-60 tone cabinets. The Novachord also came with an owners manual, over 100 spare 6W4 tubes, and Service book and notes.

The unit only has two controls for the sound. One sounds like a Harpsichord, and the other provides some additional tonal qualities.
Keys are like banging on an old Player piano, but fun to play. It will make Your electric bill go up. It lights up like a Christmas tree inside with all those tubes. It is basically one of the First Tube Synthesizers, built in the late 30's.

Basically a Classical instrument, but someone with flying fingers can really brighten this thing up. It sounds great attached to My twin 122R Leslie speaker system. I made a change-over switch so I can switch from the Hammond Organ to the Novachord. A lot of careful wiring was involved. I replaced many many condensers in this thing, and it sounds like New.

Would NEVER use this thing on a Gig! Would need a Crane to lift it.
Dependable? Yes, as long as a Tube does not burn out or get weak. But that should be no problem. I have Lot's of tubes, and a Great Hickok Tube tester.

I do all My own repairs. It came with a Hammond dealers service manual & book of repair notes. Have not had any real problems since I replaced most of the Condensers/Capacitors and a few resistors that changed value because of the heat. Played very well for the past 40+ years with only a few tubes changed.

Not much can be said about this thing unless You own one and can compare notes. Not too many survived. Mine still plays, but not an item You want to repair on the road. Too heavy to move anyway. I also own a Hammond Porta-B, A 1964 Hammond B-3, A 1971 Hammond Piper Autochord, a 1974 Hammond Maverick, a Model E Hammond Concert Organ, a Hammond L-100, Casio, Korg, and Yamaha Keyboards, a Wurlitzer Electric Piano, and a Wurlitzer style 153 Band organ made in 1926. ( Carousel Organ, uses Music rolls )

No software, no OSes, no nonsense. Turn it on and play. All the knobs are within arms reach, and there is a sustain pedal on each side of the volume pedal, which is a nice touch. Manual?

Fully polyphonic all vacuum tube all analog synthesizer. Built in vibrato, and all tube amplifier. It can be plugged into any Hammond tone cabinet, or even hooked to a Leslie. No MIDI, but I am planning on adding it to mine.

It is it's own thing, nothing comes close to it, and samples will not do it justice because of the unique vibrato system. The vibrato is beautiful. It isn't velocity sensitive, but the sound builds nicely as you play more notes. Its a very dynamic instrument once you get to know it.

Well....it's nearly 70 years old and has over 1000 capacitors. If you find one that is all original today, it WILL need work. It could be gigged, but not recommended. I can't say it is unreliable, once it is properly repaired and updated with modern components.

There are probably less that five people in the US that know how to work on these, and have done it successfully. Parts are easy to get, the service manual is a little trickier. I maintain it myself, and find it quite enjoyable to work on.

If someone stole this thing it would have to be premeditated, it would take over an hour, be noisy, require at least 4 people, and it needs to be disassembled to get back out of my studio. As I said, very few people know how to work on it, so I would have a short list of suspects.

I have been playing for 10 years. I own a Hammond B-3, Wurlitzer EP, and the usual stuff you find in a nice, commercial recording studio.

Repairing it is a gumption trap to say the very least. It is a BEAST. But once you hear the sound, it is intoxicatingly beautiful. There is no comparison, and no sample library that will reproduce it accuratley because of the vibrato and other eccentricities of the design. I don't wish it had anything. There is nothing to comare it to to say it is missing something. It is exactly the sound I have sought after for years and years. Must be heard in person to appreciate. It is even better played along with a Hammond organ, as if the two are made for each other.

Feel free to contact me about the Novachord if you have one or are interested in it.

The Novachord is delightfully easy to use.
It possesses no O.S., as it is a tube-based synthesizer.
There are only two presets, and they sound fantastic.
"Editing patches," or, more accurately: "Shaping sound" is easy.

The Novachord was the first fully polyphonic synthesizer (1939)... all 72 notes can play simultaneously. The action is similar to any unweighted synth, although it's more fun to play on bakelite keys, than plastic.

The sounds the Novachord creates are all "realistic," as it was not created to emulate other instruments (although it could, with a little imagination).
The Novachord has been featured in many styles of music.
Although the prototype was designed to be touch sensitive, all production models were not. There is also no aftertouch.
The sound is purely analog, but not transister analog, TUBE analog... which is even warmer than transistor analog... so the Novachord creates a hauntingly beautiful sound.

The Novachord is made up of over 160 tubes, and literally thousands of capacitors. It was designed in 1939. There are very few Novachords that still operate today, without a major overhaul. Also, it weighs 500 pounds... you would not use it in a gig, unless you've got a lot of roadies and a great tech.

The Hammond company no longer exists, but there are many electronics technicians that are able to work with it's very basic electronics... especially those who recondition old radios... so, customer support is nonexistant, but it's not impossible to get it repaired.

If it were lost or stolen, the thieves DESERVE it for the effort they put into stealing a piano-sized piece of equipment... but seriously... it is irreplaceable.
I've had my Novachord for a year, and I use it in recording... it's wonderful.
I love the sounds it creates... I hate how much an overhaul is going to cost me.
There is no way to compare this keyboard to any other product.
It's an important device because it was the first marketed electronic synthesizer (it is NOT an organ... repeat, NOT AN ORGAN), and is largely ignored because only 1069 of them were made, and few remain. If you possess one, please register it at www.museslave.com/novachord!