Very interesting video, MG. You overcame several challenges and finally arrived at your destination: a functional, compact Leslie speaker unit. I had to try a few different fan speed controllers to finally arrive at one (from Ace Hardware, of all places) that provided smooth transitions without excessive loss of torque or creation of motor hum. It still causes the motor to heat up a bit, so you have to limit your use of the Leslie....much like the duty cycle of an arc welder. Congratulations on a successful conversion and an entertaining, informative video.
Uncle Doug thanks for the comment. Of course you were the one who inspired me to do this project. I wasn't sure what to do with that funny whurley thing that came out of the Conn organ.
Very Cool , I found your video from a ebay buyer that bought a leslie off me . I parted out a few 60s conn theatre organs. I've learned quite a bit , music is an eternity of beauty and art.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It looks like the speaker rotates in your Leslie unit. Very cool. It probably has a better tremolo effect than mine.
Lovely unit, now I know that it was perfectly possible to make the reflector out of plywood rather than styrofoam. Will come in handy for making my own (or maybe even producing them?) with some more modern parts, such as PWM-controlled DC motor that will allow for fluid adjustment of rotation speed. Dang, the principle of operation is so simple and brilliant :)
Agreed, very simple device that produces an very cool and unique sound. I'm not sure if the plywood horn sounds as good as the Styrofoam units but probably a lot easier to make. I like the idea of a DC motor with speed control. Good luck.
People have been giving these home organs away for years; I've amassed a good supply of speakers and other parts from these, and have done the Leslie unit conversion to a stand alone cabinet a few times now. I have exactly this same unit in my shop, but frankly, compared to some of the styrofoam cheese wheel units I have stacked up, it just seemed too clunky to bother with (It made audible noises when rotated by hand); it may be worth revisiting...
I would definitely get that fiberglass out of there. Right away. The vibration is gonna impregnate the unit with fiberglass glass slivers Use some other insulation.
I built one from an old Lowrey organ Leslie unit that has the styrene foam baffle. Some AC motors like a shaded pole motor don't get along well with modern dimmer switches that use MOSFETs to chop up the AC sine wave. You have to use a rheostat-type fan speed control. I built a cabinet that places the speaker on the bottom and the baffle on top: i.ibb.co/HVJ10qS/Leslie-Completed.jpg
I have used the rheostat type of fan controls. It does work but there is limited speed control of the motor. The motor seems to stall below about 70 volts as I remember. The Variac works well.
@@mguess Yes, that's a Les Paul R8. I drive the Leslie with a homebrew 10w tube amp. Sounds glorious when it's in the middle of the room. Super swirly. Fender's Vibratone cab used the same rotor, but it was mounted on a horizontal rotation axis, whick restricts the swirl. A vertical axis is far better.
@@sanjeevmraman I didn't measure the torque but I don't think that it takes much torque to spin up the drum and keep it going. If you are building a leslie you may want to consider a dc motor so that you can change the speed.
HEY I TRIED TO CRACK OPEN THE MOTORS THAT i HAD ON HAND, BUT THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT BECAUSE THERE WERE A COUPLE OF STUBBORN SCREWS. SO I BOUGHT A COUPLE OF MOTORS FROM EBAY, AND THEY ALREADY HAD AC cords soldered onto them. I just put one on the unit I mentioned to you before, and sure enough it started spinning fast.
..but why do they only have 2 speeds, ..I mean, why couldn't someone wire some kind of variable voltage drop into it somehow? ..something like a Dimmer switch maybe? Could someone please enlighten me, on why this never done, ..🤷
i just bought an old cordovox leslie cl-10 as parts not working, received it, took it apart plugged in a unplugged wire and there we go a working leslie, one of the benefits of the younger generation not being taught anything useful these days. Edit: i bought a 3" 18x18 foam pad cut it to size & replaced the old speaker covering material
@@mguess well that's still to be seen, when i put her to the amp it came across as extremely dark in sound with not a lot of swirl to be heard on both high & low settings, I opened the small crossover box mounted to the unit , gave the cap a measure she's out of spec so i have a new one on the way but i think it might be more then that, Who ever had it changed the speaker out i think, it appears stock but i don't think they used this speaker, It currently has what appears to be a beautiful 8" JBL D216 @16ohms but like i said it's really dark in tone, to dark, i might look into a speaker swap depending on what i hear after the cap change, plus being 16ohms & i really need it to be 8 ohms, anyways i have $160 into her right now we'll see what happens. I'm sure you played through yours How's it sound ? thanks ✌
If you are planning on using the leslie for guitar, I would remove the crossover altogether. There is no need to limit the frequency on a single 8 inch speaker. If you are looking for a replacement speaker, you might want to consider the Celestion speaker that I purchased from Parts Express. www.parts-express.com/Celestion-Eight-15-8-15-Watt-Guitar-Speaker-8-Ohm-294-2470?quantity=1 I removed the speaker from my practice amp and used it in the leslie. I used the Celestion to upgrade the practice amp. I don't actually play guitar so I can't relate the sound through the leslie. I have played tones and voice through the unit and it has a very cool "wap wap" sound. More than just a tremolo because you have the Doppler effect of the spinning drum. Good luck with the project and let me know how it turns out.
@@mguess I recently acquired a Hammond Scanner free-mounted by Analog Outfitters, and it has an open cup where I guess I am supposed to add oil for the bearings. Old tech.
Really cool video. I too found you through uncle doug. Get a guitar build some tube amps and plug into that leslie. Even if you are a slow learner you'll enjoy the journey. I want that leslie.!
Thanks! I've been thinking about picking up a cheap electric guitar just for testing amps. My brother tried to teach me how to play the guitar when we were kids but it never clicked for me like it did for him. He was a very successful guitar player who played in several bands including playing for Carol King for 20 years. Unfortunately he passed away about 10 years ago. Here is a link to he memorial video if you want to check it out. Very entertaining. czcams.com/video/LjZs1W63IR4/video.html
Yes, I did try a dimmer switch for a while but it didn't work very well. The speed of an AC motor is best controlled by changing the frequency of the supply voltage. A DC motor speed is controlled by changing the voltage however the Leslie has an AC motor. The dimmer switch just reduces the voltage which starves the AC motor for power and will eventually slow it down due to friction of the system. However the speed wasn't very consistent. If I really wanted to vary the speed consistently I would probably swap in a DC motor or develop a circuit which could vary the frequency of the AC voltage for the existing AC motor.
Hey John, thanks for the comment. You are correct, no guitar playing for me for several reasons. I don't play guitar, I don't own a guitar, and even it I did I would be way too embarrassed to play anything on CZcams. I am looking to pick up a cheap electric guitar for amp testing. Any suggestions?
Very interesting video, MG. You overcame several challenges and finally arrived at your destination: a functional, compact Leslie speaker unit. I had to try a few different fan speed controllers to finally arrive at one (from Ace Hardware, of all places) that provided smooth transitions without excessive loss of torque or creation of motor hum. It still causes the motor to heat up a bit, so you have to limit your use of the Leslie....much like the duty cycle of an arc welder. Congratulations on a successful conversion and an entertaining, informative video.
Uncle Doug thanks for the comment. Of course you were the one who inspired me to do this project. I wasn't sure what to do with that funny whurley thing that came out of the Conn organ.
@@mguess Well you definitely put it to good use, MG. Hopefully others will follow your example and build their own compact Leslie's.
@@UncleDoug I just got a wuhrlitzer 7045 amp and speakers already taken out for free last week for my very first project. I felt so lucky lol
@@jungleforeva That's great news, JF. Best of luck with your project.
Very Cool , I found your video from a ebay buyer that bought a leslie off me . I parted out a few 60s conn theatre organs. I've learned quite a bit , music is an eternity of beauty and art.
Thanks for leaving a comment. It's always fun to see the influence that my silly little videos have.
I'm inspired by this. I have a similar one that I took out of my Lowrey SSO-25 organ in 2018. My Leslie unit is a 14 L 2S tremolo unit
Thanks for watching and commenting. It looks like the speaker rotates in your Leslie unit. Very cool. It probably has a better tremolo effect than mine.
Lovely unit, now I know that it was perfectly possible to make the reflector out of plywood rather than styrofoam. Will come in handy for making my own (or maybe even producing them?) with some more modern parts, such as PWM-controlled DC motor that will allow for fluid adjustment of rotation speed. Dang, the principle of operation is so simple and brilliant :)
Agreed, very simple device that produces an very cool and unique sound. I'm not sure if the plywood horn sounds as good as the Styrofoam units but probably a lot easier to make. I like the idea of a DC motor with speed control. Good luck.
People have been giving these home organs away for years; I've amassed a good supply of speakers and other parts from these, and have done the Leslie unit conversion to a stand alone cabinet a few times now. I have exactly this same unit in my shop, but frankly, compared to some of the styrofoam cheese wheel units I have stacked up, it just seemed too clunky to bother with (It made audible noises when rotated by hand); it may be worth revisiting...
I think it makes a cool sound. I haven't heard a Styrofoam unit first hand but I assume it would sound better than the plywood type.
great work!!
What Chonn Organ model did you find this Leslie from?
or which Model organs can I get a similar Leslie from ?
It was a Conn Caprice model 431. I'm not sure which models had Leslie units.
I would definitely get that fiberglass out of there. Right away. The vibration is gonna impregnate the unit with fiberglass glass slivers Use some other insulation.
I built one from an old Lowrey organ Leslie unit that has the styrene foam baffle. Some AC motors like a shaded pole motor don't get along well with modern dimmer switches that use MOSFETs to chop up the AC sine wave. You have to use a rheostat-type fan speed control. I built a cabinet that places the speaker on the bottom and the baffle on top: i.ibb.co/HVJ10qS/Leslie-Completed.jpg
I have used the rheostat type of fan controls. It does work but there is limited speed control of the motor. The motor seems to stall below about 70 volts as I remember. The Variac works well.
Beautiful cabinet and guitar. Is that a Les Paul? How do they sound together?
@@mguess Yes, that's a Les Paul R8. I drive the Leslie with a homebrew 10w tube amp. Sounds glorious when it's in the middle of the room. Super swirly. Fender's Vibratone cab used the same rotor, but it was mounted on a horizontal rotation axis, whick restricts the swirl. A vertical axis is far better.
Hi; thanks for an excellent video. Do you know what the specifications of the motor are? I’m planning to build one. Thanks
It's a 115V AC motor that draws about 0.7 amps. I'm thinking something out of a larger fan should work.
@@mguess thanks. Are there any requirements as far as torque?
@@sanjeevmraman I didn't measure the torque but I don't think that it takes much torque to spin up the drum and keep it going. If you are building a leslie you may want to consider a dc motor so that you can change the speed.
HEY I TRIED TO CRACK OPEN THE MOTORS THAT i HAD ON HAND, BUT THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT BECAUSE THERE WERE A COUPLE OF STUBBORN SCREWS. SO I BOUGHT A COUPLE OF MOTORS FROM EBAY, AND THEY ALREADY HAD AC cords soldered onto them. I just put one on the unit I mentioned to you before, and sure enough it started spinning fast.
Excellent! I'm glad you got it spinning. The make a very cool sound.
@@mguess Now I have a couple of IEC jacks one of which I will use in this project. My thing is where do I mount and/or solder the the jack?
..but why do they only have 2 speeds, ..I mean, why couldn't someone wire some kind of variable voltage drop into it somehow? ..something like a Dimmer switch maybe? Could someone please enlighten me, on why this never done, ..🤷
i just bought an old cordovox leslie cl-10 as parts not working, received it, took it apart plugged in a unplugged wire and there we go a working leslie, one of the benefits of the younger generation not being taught anything useful these days. Edit: i bought a 3" 18x18 foam pad cut it to size & replaced the old speaker covering material
Sounds like you got a deal. I've ordered a number of items on eBay sold as "parts only" that were easily fixed.
@@mguess well that's still to be seen, when i put her to the amp it came across as extremely dark in sound with not a lot of swirl to be heard on both high & low settings, I opened the small crossover box mounted to the unit , gave the cap a measure she's out of spec so i have a new one on the way but i think it might be more then that, Who ever had it changed the speaker out i think, it appears stock but i don't think they used this speaker, It currently has what appears to be a beautiful 8" JBL D216 @16ohms but like i said it's really dark in tone, to dark, i might look into a speaker swap depending on what i hear after the cap change, plus being 16ohms & i really need it to be 8 ohms, anyways i have $160 into her right now we'll see what happens. I'm sure you played through yours How's it sound ? thanks ✌
If you are planning on using the leslie for guitar, I would remove the crossover altogether. There is no need to limit the frequency on a single 8 inch speaker. If you are looking for a replacement speaker, you might want to consider the Celestion speaker that I purchased from Parts Express. www.parts-express.com/Celestion-Eight-15-8-15-Watt-Guitar-Speaker-8-Ohm-294-2470?quantity=1
I removed the speaker from my practice amp and used it in the leslie. I used the Celestion to upgrade the practice amp. I don't actually play guitar so I can't relate the sound through the leslie. I have played tones and voice through the unit and it has a very cool "wap wap" sound. More than just a tremolo because you have the Doppler effect of the spinning drum. Good luck with the project and let me know how it turns out.
The felt is an oil reservoir for the porous bronzite bearings. In my opinion.
I agree. I've since soaked it with oil.
@@mguess I recently acquired a Hammond Scanner free-mounted by Analog Outfitters, and it has an open cup where I guess I am supposed to add oil for the bearings. Old tech.
Really cool video. I too found you through uncle doug. Get a guitar build some tube amps and plug into that leslie. Even if you are a slow learner you'll enjoy the journey. I want that leslie.!
Thanks! I've been thinking about picking up a cheap electric guitar just for testing amps. My brother tried to teach me how to play the guitar when we were kids but it never clicked for me like it did for him. He was a very successful guitar player who played in several bands including playing for Carol King for 20 years. Unfortunately he passed away about 10 years ago. Here is a link to he memorial video if you want to check it out. Very entertaining. czcams.com/video/LjZs1W63IR4/video.html
@mguess super cool. Carol King was amazing and that is something to be very proud of
..oh, ..is That hat a Dimmer Switch you got on there? ..why didn't that idea work
Yes, I did try a dimmer switch for a while but it didn't work very well. The speed of an AC motor is best controlled by changing the frequency of the supply voltage. A DC motor speed is controlled by changing the voltage however the Leslie has an AC motor. The dimmer switch just reduces the voltage which starves the AC motor for power and will eventually slow it down due to friction of the system. However the speed wasn't very consistent. If I really wanted to vary the speed consistently I would probably swap in a DC motor or develop a circuit which could vary the frequency of the AC voltage for the existing AC motor.
..forsale? ..let me know what you'd take.
Send me an email and we'll talk. mguessva@gmail.com
dude you didn't even play your guitar through it, very cool but I am very disappointed haha
Hey John, thanks for the comment. You are correct, no guitar playing for me for several reasons. I don't play guitar, I don't own a guitar, and even it I did I would be way too embarrassed to play anything on CZcams. I am looking to pick up a cheap electric guitar for amp testing. Any suggestions?
@@mguess oh I just assumed you play the guitar my bad, there's no better cheap guitars than squiers 😊
@@chrisbliss7 Thanks. I'll look into a Squire.