Drawbar Dave
Vintage Valve Tonewheel Hammond Organ and Leslie Speaker Specialist. Valve Lowrey Organs, Vintage Keyboards Serviced and Repaired. Custom One Off Builds. Tour Preparation.
Don Airey and Deep Purple
I am delighted to be associated with this legendary band who are one of the original pillars of Hammond driven rock and are still touring the real deal to this day!
Paul Carrack
As well as being an established solo artist for decades, Paul has also been in some of the biggest groups of all time including Roger Waters' Bleeding Hearts Band, Roxy Music, Ace, Squeeze, Mike and the Mechanics and is now a member of Eric Clapton's touring band.
Paul has a pristine late 60's Hammond B3 and an early Leslie 122 in his home studio. To keep it in perfect condition the Leslie has had a mechanical overhaul and the Hammond and Leslie amps health checked and recapped. You can hear this organ on Paul's new album "One on One".
I have been privileged to hear "One on One" ahead of it's launch and it is a fantastic record. Fans of Hammond organ and Wurlitzer Electric Piano will not be disappointed! Paul sang and played every instrument (except horns) and engineered and produced the record himself during lockdown.
In the UK you can pre-order it here: https://carrack-uk.shopfactory.com/
Steve Winwood
I am privileged to be responsible for Steve's UK collection of Hammonds and Leslies and synths for studio and live work. I carry out preventative maintenance, repairs and design custom mods and gadgets as required.
In June 2021 I delivered the new B3 that I built for Steve. Like the famous Hammond C3 that was used on Traffic and Blind Faith recordings (and of course with Jimi Hendrix), this B3 has a second preamp to handle the lower manual and pedals in a separate channel which is what gave him his signature sound. It's always a blessing to sit with Steve in the studio and listen to his playing and there is a short snippet of footage on his Facebook page taken from that session.
Rory More/Les Hommes
Rory was one of my first professional clients and has a vast body of recorded work as a solo artist and as a member of Les Hommes and Wyllowe. As well as being an accomplished Hammond organist he is best known for bringing the sonic mystery that is the Lowrey Heritage Deluxe organ back into the public consciousness. While a new solo album is currently in the works, if you like the sound of the Lowrey jazz, listen to "The Sinner" by Les Hommes.
Fans of Rory will be pleased to know that he has a new record called "Through the dappled dell" due for release in mid April.
Dave Oliver
Friend and regular customer Dave Oliver has played keyboards for 40 years and has been Lisa Stansfield's Musical Director/keyboard player for 10 years. We were put in touch by a mutual friend during lockdown when Dave discovered the joys of Hammond ownership and now has four tonewheel organs. You will hear Dave's Hammond on the next Mamas Gun record!
Squeeze
I had the privilege of repairing and servicing the band's Hammond C3 at their London studio.
Some of the work included freeing up a sluggish tone generator, oiling and cleaning and the replacement of some components in the preamp to get it up to recording standard again.
Studio organs may have long periods of inactivity between projects and it pays to have a service and checkup ahead of recording sessions. I visit many professional studios, both public and private ones to carry out these checks andmake sure that the organ is at it's best.
The London Jazz Organ aka Greg Boraman aka The Fantastics
London jazz organist/bandleader/DJ/presenter Greg enlisted my help late last year in getting the organ ready for 2020. As well as hiring out his C3/147 rig he uses it on his own projects too!
This 1961-1962 Hammond C3 and Leslie 147 has been played by some of the biggest names in organ jazz, including Jimmy Smith (!), Big John Patton, Reuben Wilson. Cory Henry, Dr Lonnie Smith, Doug Carn, Brian Auger, Delvon Lamarr, Kyle Kohler, Brian Charette, Adam Scone, Ike Stubblefield and James Taylor and is the go-to rig for live London shows. Throughout the winter and spring 2019-2020 we have carried out some maintenance work at the request of the owner; on the C3 some wiring, the addition of an active EQ, a crossover recap and most recently a scanner service which means the chorus now sounds better than ever. The Leslie also had it's motor stacks tweaked for silent operation and a drop of oil.
Ross Stanley
Ross is an extremely sought after jazz organist and pianist. I highly recommend you look him up on Google and Youtube.
I had the privilege of tearing down Ross's touring Hammond and rebuilding it in a new case with all new wiring, legs, pedals, new Leslie outputs and amp mods.
This prototype had a design brief that it had to be a portable B3 organ that one person could move from the van and onto the stage without additional help. It had to be constructed so that a single person could set it up on their own, perform a sell out gig and then pack it all back into the van and go home.
This design became the DBD3 portable.
Matt Cooper (Incognito)
Matt is a successful jazz-funk keyboard player, producer and musical director best known for his work with Incognito amongst many other projects.
Several years ago I helped him find a Hammond A100 for his London studio. When our schedules have allowed, I have given it a major service including; recapping the preamplifier, power amplifier and reverb amplifier. Customisation work includes; A line in, an adjustable line out with mixed dry and reverb signal, a remote control for his Neo Vent so that it can be controlled from the organ's three speed half moon switch and separate mute switches for the main and reverb speakers which allows Matt to send anything he wants from the mixing desk though the organ preamp and reverb which can then be recorded via the line out or via the reverb speaker in isolation. It sounds fantastic!
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
My association with Ronnie Scott's began through mutual friends of their technical team as many of my clients regularly perform there.
In due course I was asked to source a Hammond B3 and Leslie 122 for them as their in house organ. The story of this and pictures can be seen on the case studies page of this website.
I spent a couple of weeks giving the B3 and 122 a ground up refurbishment to ensure the high quality performance and reliability that it would have had from new.
The arrival of the organ caused great excitement and anticipation and it has been regularly used in live performances ever since.
John Henry's Ltd
Between Summer 2023 and Winter 2024 John Henry's and I embarked on a programme of refurbishing and servicing their extensive inventory of Hammond B3s (and a C3) and Leslie 122s and 147s. There were UK models, US models, ones that had belonged to rock legends, portable models, split models, MIDIed models, you name it, they have it!
Every Hammond and Leslie had an amplifier rebuild and Leslie speed control system fitted as a standard and other work such as busbar cleaning, drawbar overhaul, swell pedal modification was undertaken as needed. No expense was spared to get everything to its maximum potential for touring, studio and broadcast work.
