My Organ Rental Business

 

Something most people don't know about me is that I've been renting out Hammond B-3 organs & Leslie Speakers for nearly as long as I've been playing them.  For a long time, it was a rare thing--someone would call me out of the blue and ask if they could rent one of my organs.  This was back when I lived in the SF Bay Area.  Some of those rentals were pretty cool--like the time I rented a B-3 out to Billy Preston.  Unfortunately, he was so animated at the keyboard that he broke the bench!  (I was reimbursed for the repair.)

After I moved up to Portland, Oregon in '86, the organ rentals started becoming more of a regular thing.  By that time, many B-3's--which stopped being produced in '74--were in poor repair, so I'd get desperation calls from people who had rented a dysfunctional B-3 for their show or recording session.  I'd load up one of my two B-3s and ride to the rescue!

I was still a bit hesitant to rent out my prized instruments, but as long as I could be on site to oversee things, I was pretty comfortable.  Multi-day music festivals were out.  But in the case of the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, which I started renting to fifteen years ago, I knew the crew was top notch and would take care of my B-3's.  Plus, because I played multiple sets at that event every year, I wanted to be sure I had a good organ to play myself!

These days, my wife Tracy and I do around twenty organ rentals a year, including the WBF, the Mt. Hood and/or PDX Jazz Festivals, the Gospel Christmas show at the Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium, etc.  Top organists, including the great Joey deFrancesco, request that I provide B-3's for all their Portland, OR gigs.  I now call my organ rental business "Pain Organ Rental Service," and I have a long list of satisfied clients.  If you're interested in learning more, click on the "Organ Rentals" tab on the home page of this website.

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