From rick155@aol.com Fri Jan 16 18:31:37 2004
Subject:Re: Namm and Hammond?

In a message dated 1/16/2004 6:58:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
tonysounds@yahoo.com writes:

> I dont know about the ORIGINAL B, but the Hammonds I've played start with
> the lowest drawbars right above Ab...so if you want to make your upper manual
> your "tweaker", the left hand lays comfortably above those drawbars, both
> sets. Now they're in clumsy position, at least for the upper manualists like me.

I'm going to disagree a bit here with all the complaints about drawbar
placement. I realize that what I'm going to say is simply a matter of personal habit
and preference, but then that's all any of us are discussing, really.

On a B-3, I use the right set of drawbars for the upper manual for tweaking.
I use the left set for the Bb preset and pretty much leave them alone most of
the time. So I'm focusing on that right set of drawbars and their placement
for comparison with the XK-3.

Now, there's no question the XK-3's right set of drawbars would be difficult
to tweak on the fly while you're playing the right hand. They're wayyyy to the
right. So? It's clear to me that this drawbar set becomes the one for LH or
preset use. In other words, for me the *function* of the two drawbar sets gets
"reversed" from how I use them on a B-3. Instead of tweaking the right set,
on the XK-3 I'd tweak the left set. The other is the one I would set up and
pretty much leave alone. I don't really care where it is.

So, comparing apples to apples in this way, how different is the alignment
between the right set of upper manual B-3 drawbars and the left set of XK-3
drawbars? Hardly different at all.

On the B-3, that right set begins at A and extends to Ab. The XK-3 is very,
very close to this alignment. Its lowest drawbar (speaking here about the
left set of drawbars for the reasons stated above) begins at B and the highest
is at A, almost to Ab. This is so little difference that it's probably
immaterial in actual use.

So I'm not particularly concerned about the drawbar placement. I would've
preferred a setup like the B-3's, but I think I could live pretty easily with the
XK-3's setup. Again, speaking from the perspective of my own personal habits.
But I can't believe I'm alone in the way I use the drawbars on a B-3.

A pic to compare the B-3, XK-3, and CX-3 keyboard/drawbar placements:

http://pow-wowcentral.com/COMPARO.jpg

Rick

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