Some will remember the Hammond organ as a substantial piece of musical furniture proudly displayed—and sometimes played—in upscale 1960s suburban living rooms. Others, like the Civil/Structural Section’s Steve Blair, regard it, and specifically the Hammond B3 with a Leslie speaker, with something bordering on passion.

Back in the ‘60s, the marketing objective of the Hammond Organ Company was to put “an organ in every home.” Steve has taken that just a little farther, with Hammonds in the living room, bedroom, basement and garage of his Orinda house—about 30 at last count.

So what kind of person collects vintage electric organs? In Steve’s case, its one who brings a lot of energy to everything he does. Since joining Berkeley in 1976, straight out of the University of Michigan, Steve has provided engineering design and support for roads, parking lots and 14 new buildings at Berkeley Lab. According to Civil/Structural Lead Fred Angliss, “Steve is pivotal to any of the civil engineering for the site from storm drainage to landslide repair, paving and parking layouts. He shines in performance of year end projects and ensuring that the Lab’s resources are effectively and constructively utilized.” Then however, this was just the beginning. As he explains, “In the mid-80’s Hammonds became cheap because people were dumping them for synthesizers.” This enabled Steve to buy his first Hammond organ—a B3 with a Leslie Tone Cabinet—in 1989. “I just wanted a real organ,” he recalls. Three years later he bought another. Then, as he admits, “It went up exponentially.” Today, he has what is probably one of the largest collections in the western United States.

First produced in 1935, the Hammond organ is a gadgeteer’s dream. Musical notes are produced by up to 91 silver-dollar-size “tone wheels”—one for each musical frequency—mounted on a common rotating shaft. As these steel wheels spin next to electromagnetic pickups, patterns of teeth or “bumps” on each wheel induce a current corresponding to a specific audio tone.

The Leslie speaker (for the Hammond aficionado there are no others) occupies a separate cabinet. The Leslie’s treble and bass speakers broadcast, respectively, into a rotating horn and counter-rotating drum, producing a distinctive tremolo effect. Steve has played a B3 and Leslie at the Cafeteria for such events as the Open House and Runaround. After one show, a Berkeley Lab scientist, after studying the rotating Leslie horn, asked if it was some type of antique rotating fan.

To keep all those spinning parts, motors, bundles of wire, and vacuum tubes working, Steve trades knowledge and hardware with enthusiasts from all over the world, sending parts as far away as Finland. He’s driven as far as San Diego and Seattle to pick up organs, once hauling three B3’s and a Leslie in his Astro van from Los Angeles. “I had to hang one of the benches off the back bumper,” he recalls.

These days, Steve says, the Hammond is enjoying a resurgence: “Its gone a full 360 degrees. Now the bands want them.” He recently provided an organ to a San Francisco band, and has loaned his B3’s to touring musicians including the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, and jazz virtuosos Jimmy Smith and Joey DeFrancesco.

What started out as a hobby has evolved into what Steve terms “...a Hammond rescue operation. I’ve found them by the side of the road. People put them in the trash because a few keys were broken.” Not all old Hammonds are unloved, though. These days original owners are parting with their treasured Hammonds. “They want to know where their organ is going, that it will be taken care of.” And true to the Hammond Company’s old slogan, Steve finds them a home. “I recently placed an organ with a family in Walnut Creek,” he says, and this year, at his 50th birthday party, Steve gave away four organs as door prizes, “Just to find them homes.”