Wasn’t a Hammond, but we had a similar organ in our house when I was a kid. My family got it free from a church that was closing or something. Not unrelated, my little brother was a music major in college with an emphasis on keyboards and specifically organs. Grew up hearing about how the organ was the “King of Instruments” and all that. I think that organ stayed in the house after my family moved out.
I would agree. Before the synthesizer the organ was arguably the best instrument, at least in terms of versatility. If you think about other categories like strings, brass, or woodwind, just one instrument is rarely enough to cover all the bases. Got a violin? Well I hope you also have a cello, a fiddle, an upright bass, a viola, etc. If you have an organ, you don’t need anything else.
The guy that used to own the place next to mine was an Organ repairman, before he had to retire due to illness. The joint is still full to bursting with old organs, ranging from your proper vintage sort, through to old-school transistor-based units, through to synthesizer style models.
There is a book titled “Fools Rush In” by Nina Munk that is a historical autopsy of the AOL Time Warner merger. While it only briefly mentions the dot-com bubble, it was a part of the cause.
