All Quiet on the H7 Front #2: Leslie 145/147 Rebuild

HarrySeven

As per post #1, been tied up with work, but grabbed some time to dig into a few things...

This arrived, looking a bit worse for wear...

By a strange quirk of fate, it was rescued years ago from an imminently-demolished working men's club just round the corner from where I grew up (by the previous owner).

I don't think it's been serviced since some time in the '70's.

The amp had been modified to accept a Bulgin 3-pin mains plug and the Leslie 6-pin connector had been removed. A 1/4" jack input was also added.

Some form of external motor contol must have been used, as the upper and lower motors were disconnected and the power connectors blanked on the chassis. Head scratching time, but anyway...

Whipped out for inspection and quickly wiped over:

Uh-Oh...nasties...









The cabinet needed some TLC and had also been home to a few woodworm in the past, some remedial action was required...

Then came sanding and a liberal soaking in permethrin, just in case...






I also took the opportunity to undertake a few minor "glue-and-clamp" type repairs, just to tidy things up a bit.

Meanwhile, time to turn my attention to the metalwork and moving bits...











Bearings recued (for now):



They'll be replaced with new in due course...



So far:

*Top motors separated and oiled.

*Bottom motors separated and oiled.

*All Bass rotor bearings cleaned and re-lubricated.

*All metal parts cleaned.

*Bass rotor cleaned.

*Horns cleaned.

*Drivers cleaned.


On order: :

Upper and lower drive belts.

Motor drive 'O' rings.

The plan is to re-stain and varnish the cabinet, re-install all moving parts and work towards this being a guitar-oriented Leslie.

Whether that means rebuilding the amp to stock (or replacing it) and using a Combo Preamp or doing something more drastic, I'm still unsure...

Watch this space!

guitars4you

Do you ever watch American Pickers Mr H ?

I love the Health and safety aspect of the electrics there - Forget about PAT testing but not sure any dealer would be allowed to sell that now - @ICBM might know more on this

But certainly looks cool

HarrySeven

guitars4you said:

Do you ever watch American Pickers Mr H ?

No, I hate it. Almost as bad as that Storage Wars crap.

Neil

Looking forward to seeing the progress Harry.

IvisonGuitars

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...). Can’t wait to see this take shape.

HarrySeven

IvisonGuitars said:

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...).

Ahhh, I’d have said Phillips, personally...

IvisonGuitars

HarrySeven said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...).

Ahhh, I’d have said Phillips, personally...

Phillips a close second, followed by Joesph and then Ash...

HarrySeven

IvisonGuitars said:

...and then Ash...

Pre- plastic surgery disasters/Botox-gate, I hope?

Winny_Pooh

Cool project

Kittyfrisk

IvisonGuitars said:

HarrySeven said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...).

Ahhh, I’d have said Phillips, personally...

Phillips a close second, followed by Joesph and then Ash...

It would have to be Neilsen,  Shirley?

vonLayzonfon

Kittyfrisk said:

IvisonGuitars said:

HarrySeven said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...).

Ahhh, I’d have said Phillips, personally...

Phillips a close second, followed by Joesph and then Ash...

It would have to be Neilsen,  Shirley?

Judd for me (back in the Blue Peter heydays).

Nice restoration, by the way. 

Funkfingers

HarrySeven said:

IvisonGuitars said:

Superb job! Love a Leslie (my particular favourite being Crowther...).

Ahhh, I’d have said Phillips, personally...

HarrySeven said:

Ooh...nasties.

Left hand down a bit.

Wonky

Funnily enough, the last time I seen one of those was in the hall of a working mans club that a band I was in used for practice space.  It had that particular old world smell to it.  Cool bit of kit

lukedlb

A great restoration work. I’m particularly fond of Leslies. I still have two Leslie 16s. I look forward to seeing your progress and hopefully a recording. 

HarrySeven

Well, here’s the cab with a coat of wood stain this evening...

http://i.imgur.com/tN7q3TU.jpg

IvisonGuitars

HarrySeven said:

Well, here’s the cab with a coat of wood stain this evening...

http://i.imgur.com/tN7q3TU.jpg

Very nice!

B.T.W it’d have to be Ash circa first series of Men Behaving Badly/Hot Neighbour role...

HarrySeven

And today’s progress...

http://i.imgur.com/G2xVlWE.jpg

IvisonGuitars

It’s a wow from me, top job!

guitars4you

HarrySeven said:

And today’s progress...

http://i.imgur.com/G2xVlWE.jpg

Looking smart - Could almost live in the lounge now

How is the electrical department going ?

jpfamps

That's a great job.

I've worked on loads of 145/7 s. 

As well as the usual suspects (electrolytic caps) it's always worth replacing the 0.1 uF suppression caps across the motor power supplies as these can (and do) short out and damage the motors.

Some techs even advise increasing these to 0.22 uF.

I use 1000 V rated caps here.

I've built a couple of 145/7 11-pin to 6 pin controller for use with Nord etc clone wheels so that the 145 can be controlled from the keyboard if that is any use to you. I'm currently laying a PCB for a more compact design that uses SS relays.

I've also got a few Leslie spares knocking about.

If you want to chat feel free to get in touch.

jpfamps

guitars4you said:

Do you ever watch American Pickers Mr H ?

I love the Health and safety aspect of the electrics there - Forget about PAT testing but not sure any dealer would be allowed to sell that now - @ICBM might know more on this

But certainly looks cool

None of the old Hammonds or Leslie conforms to current regs, so technically you would not be able to sell them via a shop.