You're very lucky to find one for sale anywhere without an organ (donor
) and here in NZ, a genuine wood-cased, valve-tube, two-speed, treble-and-bass Leslie is hopelessly, stupidly rare. A music-shop owner I got to know had a couple high up on a rack in his warehouse and as the band was working nearly every weekend I said 'yes' before he'd finished naming his price. In the late-'90s I paid NZ$1,000.
(In the early '90s the Hammond was £50 so ... yeah!)
I was already using an 825 for gigs, which is smaller, transistor, vinyl covered, twin-speed but single rotor and portable. Well ... it has handles and wheels. For recordings I use both. That's the voice of god, right there! (well, Laurens Hammond and Don Leslie ...)
The 145 had seen some life and pretty soon into our relationship I gave it a coat of polyurethane lacquer, mainly to protect it. It looked a little more decent from 25 paces on a dark stage, anyway. A few months afterwards, somebody scratched the top quite badly during a clean-out of our rehearsal room. That really fucking annoyed me!
Anyway, I have a gig coming up in May in a church hall with a vaulted ceiling, so decided to check it was all working in case I could use it with my Hammond. The bearings seem fine and the belts I did 10 years ago so I ordered some service items - grommets, some missing screws and replacement wires - and cleaned the amp as best I could, all shiny and everything contact-cleaned.
The black cloth scrim around the bass rotor had been rubbing every revolution as the bearing holder was a little off-centre so after removing the rotor, I tentatively undid the drawstrings (waxed, of course), removed it and took it home for a soak. It didn't fall apart and refitted like a charm. After repositioning the bearing holder slightly, it no longer rubs. That's a great result as that's what prompted the whole strip-down.
To the cabinet.
It's been fun cleaning the entire interior of dust and cigarette filters (
), finally sanding back my godawful younger-self brushmarks and getting out some smaller dents in the wood using the soldering iron/wet T-shirt combo. I've sanded it from 120 grit up to 600 and once I've wiped it with lighter-fluid, it looks so much better. I'll carry on to 1500 grit and apply some fine buffing oil then see how she looks. Any deep gouges that still annoy me, I'll try some filler wax but really, I'm content for it to tell its tale.
More parts arrive in April so look out for some 'after' shots.
- the Hammond approximation is as big a part of my live sound as the Jag at this point.
♂️ it's worth so much more" and I mean value not just worth.
