Beauty in the B: The Story of the Hammond B-3 Organ [Paperback]

Mark Vail (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Publishers Group West (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879304596
• ISBN-13: 978-0879304591
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,959,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It couldda been a contendah..., January 6, 2000

By 

David Bradley (Ames Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beauty in the B: The Story of the Hammond B-3 Organ (Paperback)

This book could have been great. I've owned, played, gigged with, and fixed Hammonds for over 25 years, and I was very excited about a book like this being published. It does capture the excitement and wonder of these great instruments, but it's also obvious that the author never owned one (which he freely admits). There are many glaring errors in the labelling of Leslie and Hammond models in the photos, in technical details of differences between models, and in details about the company history. These may not reduce your enjoyment of the book, which has many historically valuable photos. Just take the information given with a grain of salt. There are many long time Hammond techs, dealers, and employees still living who have the real scoop. I'd love to see the errors in this book corrected in a new edition, while these people are still around to be consulted.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Targeted for Jazz / Pop organists, but of general interest., June 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beauty in the B: The Story of the Hammond B-3 Organ (Paperback)

This book assumes you are a interested in the Hammond because you are a Pop, Jazz, Gospel, or R&B musician. If you are looking at the Hammond from a different perspective, this book still contains loads of information about the history and construction of Hammond organs. For the more general reader the description of all the Hammond models is particularly good. Each has a photo and tells how it differs from other models. Only the description of the innovative but ill-fated X-66 is shortchanged: it was a radical departure from previous models in many ways, so I was hoping to learn more about its new features, control and construction. Another disappointing omission for me the fact that there was no stop list for the Grand-100, Hammond's only attempt to build an electric organ that would operate exactly like a pipe organ. If you are looking for new ideas on drawbar registrations, you will find here only those used by Pop/Jazz organists who tend to play the right hand very high. It was a surprise to me how these musicians use very little of the potential the the drawbars. I was scratching my head when saw registration after registration go like: 88 8000 000, 88 8800 000, or the very daring 88 8000 008, but I guess these are the sounds that work for them. If you are looking for registrations that attempt to reproduce pipe organ stops or wish to learn how to use drawbars for more subtle effects, you'll have to look elsewhere. I've pointed out a few of the shortcomings of this book for the general reader, but it still gives a really great overview of Hammond history. I particularly like the inside information that author Vail got from interviewing engineers from the Hammond and Leslie shops -- this alone is worth the price of the book. If you are at all interested in the Hammond or the beginnings of electric keyboards, this book is a must for your library.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The title and subtitle should have been reversed..., October 19, 2000

By 

William J. Spiropoulos "moogyboy" (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beauty in the B: The Story of the Hammond B-3 Organ (Paperback)

As a Hammond Organ (and vintage keyboard) fan I of course had to swipe this book up. BitB has loads of excellent technical and historical info and scads of nice pictures, but I do think that its scope is too narrow. Like the many Hammond purists who it is presumably targeted at, BitB is very B3-centric. Not nearly enough info is given on certain other popular Hammond models, notably the spinet models like the M-100, T-100, M3, and the like. What there is, is in the form of short recollections of a former Hammond engineer, under the rather general umbrella of "other Hammonds." His firsthand info is nice, but I think that the same kind of research and anecdotal info lavished on the Hammond consoles would have made this a *great* general-purpose Hammond tome. Also, no info on Hammond tone cabinets. I rather liked "Vintage Synthesizers," also by Vail, which in contrast was very balanced among the various instruments covered, and actually seemed to relish its delicious assortment of oddball, obscure synths. I would have liked a similar format in BitB, perhaps separate in-depth chapters devoted to specific instruments or instrument families. Other than that basic gripe I did enjoy BitB immensely and recommend it to anyone who loves these fabulous old keyboards.