Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Oops... Ignore the title these need to be 3/8", not 1/2" long!

Shouldn't be that difficult to find, but they are in Australia!

Everything seems to be phillips head these days, or nothing smaller than 4 gauge, or not in oval head, or too long, or no shipping to OZ for small quantities - which ever it is, no one has exactly the right screws, and I only need 6 of them.

These are for screwing a plexiglas plate onto my Hammond organ.

Picture below shows what a slot oval head looks like:

I'll see if I've got any in stock.

Odd...when I lived in Brasil, there were no Phillips Head screws to be found!

And the guys who installed my huge sliding glass doors (16' X 8" tall) on the front of my studio, never saw a power screwdriver, either.

They spent an entire day with slotted screws and hand screwdrivers, putting in two dozen #12 X 3" slotted flat headed screws in to hold the tracks for these doors. It was maddening to watch...

Mark, we have an old timer here in Portland who has vintage NOS screws from the 40's&50's. Can you send me the exact #, or measurements (length,thread per inch,head diameter,etc.) of the pan head/slotted screw you need and I'll give him a call on monday. If he does I can pop them in the International Mail Envelope for you... Paul were your sliding glass doors really only 8inches tall?..a type O I assume...

I don't have an example of a screw, just a plexi plate with 6 holes in it. The holes look about the same size as 4001 pick-guard holes, so I figure they would need similar size screws.

I also have a photo of an original 1960s installation that used slot head screws (shown below) - and all other screws on the organ are slot head.

That's how I came up with the screw size, and that's also why I changed my mind from needing 1/2" to 3/8" - I measured the length of my 4001 screws, which perform an identical task with an identical thickness plexi plate.

According to the RIC Boutique, it appears that the 4001 pickguard screws are Sku: 05202, which is described as:

"SCREW TAP 4 x 3/8 OV PH"

I take it this means they are 4 gauge x 3/8" long with an OVal, Philips Head.

That means either 3 or 4 gauge will do for my Hammond. Additionally, I'd be happy with 1/2" or 3/8" long, as I've never actually seen the original length anyway.

So now I am officially looking for a minimum of 6 of the following wood screws:

Either 3 or 4 gauge, and
either 1/2" or 3/8" long with
oval, slot head.

...And must be able to post to Australia, which some online US hardware stores will not do.

Mark, send me your address. I have them in stainless steel in my parts cabinet.

I've probably got some in my Hammond/leslie bits box. Or my Rick bits box. Or my pinball bits box. Or another box of bits somewhere.
There's also a guy over here called Dr Riki's Guitar care centre. He'd surely have them.
But if Paul has them and is kind enough to send them ....

What model Hammond is that from?

I think Paul has it under control.

It's a 1960 Hammond M-3, with an 'about-to-be-installed' Electro Tone preset selector, which is also from the same era.

I would obviously be hesitant to start drilling holes in an unmodified vintage organ, unless I could pull off the effect of an original 1960 Electro Tone installation - Thus the need for appropriate screws

I don't play, but I'm about to start learning...

Thank you Paul...

You are welcome. I'm a fan of "that Hammond sound"!

My brother had (probably still has it) an M3 and it really sounded great. I do think they sound best with authentic NOS Hammond screws.

I auditioned every one of those screws before I posted them!

Love old Hammonds! Back in the day, I worked in a music store and we overhauled many an M3, C3, and B3. Most of them needed replacement capacitors, we always used more modern Sprague Orange Drop mylars in place of those wax-coated paper caps (if it was old enough to have had those), or that equivalent made by CDE, and usually if the owner had put a lot of DC current on the keys with their attack settings turned up all the time, we would have to replace the switch contacts instead of just cleaning them. A really durable instrument!