Found in the KC newspaper!

[Rick Prevallet <rickp@tyrell.net>]

Hammond friends,

After 9 months of searching, calling, reading, and agonizing, this past 
Sunday the following ad appeared in the KC paper:

Hammond Organs, 3 units 1 C3 and 2 CVs in nice condition.

I called and got a Pipe Organ Company, located in a very small 
(543) town south of KC.  They acquired the organs as trades during 
installation of pipe organs.

The gentleman I spoke with said he had many calls with no one at all 
interested in the CVs.  He wanted $1500 with a DR-20 tone cabinet for the C3.

I had a charter to fly Monday and could not get to the shop until 
3:00pm.  I figured I'd lost my opportunity, but would get an inside shot 
at the next one.  Amazingly, I was the first person to show up.

I used Al's twelve step organ inspection program to determine the unit 
was operating properly.  The organ has lived its entire life in an 
evangelical church in mid-Missouri.  It is virtually spotless; probably 
only played on Sundays, Wednesday evenings, and by appointment!

And it sounds quite good, even through the Hammond cabinet, which was 
surprisingly load (its a tall beast too).

The service card underneath the bench lid indicates 7/17/67 as the first 
date of service, but does not say what was done (initial oiling?).

There is no quatrefoil on the cabinet, so it is certainly a relatively 
new unit.  I forgot to write down the serial number; seems like it was 
90526...anyone know what year that might be?

Anyway, the proprietor and I got to talking and I mentioned I flew 
charters.  He turned out to be a lapsed pilot and soon we had spent an 
hour talking about airplanes.

Having made a good impression, I asked if I could buy the organ without 
the JR-20.  He thought for a minute, then said he'd sell the organ alone 
for $1250. SOLD!  And Al says those cabinets aren't worth anything!

That done, we proceeded to play several of his digitally sampled pipe 
organs, one costing in excess of $40,000.  What a trip. Someone talked 
about the sensation added to their playing by having a Hammond to 
preach from.  Try a pipe organ sometime!  I pulled all the Bach out of my 
memory and had a blast!  Now guess what I want....

Oh well, small victories for now.

By the way, I'll now be selling my two CVs.  Anyone interested?

Rick Prevallet