Leslie Speed Change Noise and Motor Lube

["Spence, Colin" <cspence@nelson.env.gov.bc.ca>]

>    Spence,> My Leslie 145 sometimes produces a "pop" or "snap" in the
>    Spence,> audio when changed to fast speed.  This is not someting
>    Spence,> that you would ever notice in a live mix, but I find it
>    Spence,> irritating at home.  The problem is variable and does not
>    Spence,> occur in fast --> slow transitions.  I use this speaker
>    Spence,> with an XB-2 and 1147 pre-amp, but also noted the problem
>    Spence,> when I first heard the unit, when it was attached to an
>    Spence,> older Hammond of some kind (one of the T series).  The
>    Spence,> 125 I played as a kid had the same problem.  Does anyone
>    Spence,> know a fix for this?
>
>I believe this may be characteristic of the unbalanced series of
>Leslies. The relay is switched with 115VAC. Depending on the line
>phase at the switching point a big transient can be coupled in to the
>unbalanced input signal. My 145 does it too. My 122-like model does
>not (non-stock switching). A couple of fixes come to mind, though i
>haven't settled on something i like yet. I want to fix this too but
>i'm not to anxious to hack up my stock 145 amplifier yet.

>Regards,

>Bradley Baker

Brad,

So I'm not alone anyway - that's good to know.   I was going to try to talk 
to someone at Goff about this but was put on "hold"   :^(     I'll try to do 
some digging and see what I can come up with.  Seems crazy that the motors 
and switches aren't somehow totally isolated from the the audio!

While on the topic of motors, do you or others have recommendations on 
Leslie motor lubrication and maintenance (e.g. how often, what points and 
what type of lube)?  I didn't get a manual with mine.  There are obvious 
exposed bushings on the slow motors, so those are easy to hit.  I worry 
about fine oil moving down the axle and onto the rubber drive wheel though. 
 And what about the guts of the fast speed motors, which are harder to 
access?  I wouldn't mind tearing them apart completely if that is what is 
required to get at all the bushings properly.  Any thoughts on this?

Colin Spence
cspence@nelson.env.gov.bc.ca