Hammond Organ - History

History

In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium (or Teleharmonium, also known as the Dynamaphone). Using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis, it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was later used to design the Hammond organ.

About 30 years later American engineer and inventor Laurens Hammond filed U.S. Patent 1,956,350 for a new type of "electrical musical instrument" that could recreate a pipe organ-type sound. He got the idea for the tonewheel or "phonic wheel" by listening to the moving gears of his electric clocks and the tones produced by them. He understood the fact that every instrument sounds the way it does because of its many harmonic overtones and their varied intensities. The invention was unveiled to the public in April 1935 and the first model, the Model A, was made available in June of that year. The organ was first used for popular music by Milt Herth, who played it live on WIND (AM) soon after it was invented. Radio shows of the 1930s and 1940s used the Hammond for not only mood music but more significantly, for sound effects. For example, if you wanted a clock chime, you would set the drawbars at 010010603. The Hammond organ was widely used in United States military chapels and post theaters during the Second World War, and returning soldiers' familiarity with the instrument may have helped contribute to its popularity in the post-war period.

Hammond had intended his invention to be an affordable substitute for pipe organs, as a replacement for the piano in middle-class homes, and as an instrument for radio broadcasting. However, by the 1950s, jazz musicians such as Jimmy Smith began to use the organ's distinctive sound. By the 1960s, the Hammond became popular with pop groups and was used on the British pirate station Radio 390. In Britain the organ became associated with elevator music and ice rinks music. However, the overdriven sound of the Hammond gained a new image when it became part of 1960s and 1970s rock with artists like Alan Price, Gregg Allman, Steve Winwood, Rick Wright, Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Matthew Fisher, Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks and Jack McDuff. Popular artist Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the M.G.'s (which was also the backing band for Otis Redding and many others) used the Hammond, for example on the song "Green Onions". The punk rock scene of the 1970s produced The Stranglers, whose keyboard player Dave Greenfield used a Hammond on the band's early albums. During the 1990s, acid rock artists such as The Charlatans and Kula Shaker used a Hammond.

Originally located at 4200 West Diversey Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, Hammond is now owned by Suzuki Musical Inst. Mfg. Co., Ltd., and distributed by Hammond Suzuki Co., Ltd. Today, Hammond builds electronic organs that closely replicate the tonewheel organ sound using current technology.