Hammond C-3 Handed Down

[michelej1]

Excerpt from Keyboard Magazine article on Don Airey

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/d...yboards/153011



Some of your Hammonds have some history to them, right?

Most of mine come from the Hammondstore. John Harburay buys them from people’s homes where generally they’ll have sat unplayed for 40 years. The A100 had integral speakers and was made for home use. I don’t think I’ve had a Hammond that was made after 1967. Apart from the three from the Hammond store, I’ve got another A100 that has a bit of history to it. It belonged to Gary Wright from Spooky Tooth at one point, and then a prog rock band called Tobruk, and then the Choirboys from whom I bought it in 1992. Apart from those, I have an M102 that I’ve had for years and years and also an L100. All secondhand. When I joined Deep Purple, I inherited Jon Lord’s C-3, which had been on the road with the band since 1974. Jon had used it in Whitesnake and then taken it back to Deep Purple when they reformed. He bought it from Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, and she’d acquired it brand new in 1965. Its career ended when it was pushed out of a cargo plane before the gantry went down in Russia. It had been on the road continuously for 43 years, which is quite a thought. As far as I know, it had never really broken down. Jon told me there was a gig in Calgary in the late 1990s where they plugged it into 220 volts instead of 110, and there was a bit of smoke but they got it working. Hammonds are extraordinary pieces of gear designed by a guy who was really a clockmaker. Incidentally, Jon’s C-3s and Leslies have been restored and I’m sure will end up on display somewhere appropriate.