Until organs go silent
on June 14, 2013
Bob Schleicher has been repairing Hammond organs and Leslie speakers in Oakland for nearly five decades–and he’s one of the best at what he does. Something magical happens when you plug in a Leslie speaker to a Hammond organ, Schleicher, now 71, says. “Lawrence Hammond and Don Leslie hated each others’ guts, and if it weren’t for each other neither one of them would have been successful as they were. The Leslie speaker made the Hammond organ sound like something you really wanted to listen to.”
Schleicher has built organs for musicians he calls “names”–people like Carlos Santana, Huey Lewis, and Dave Matthews–and many other organ enthusiasts. He makes a special, chopped-down type of organ that touring musicians like because it’s easier to move. But as he approaches the end of his career, he senses the world of Hammond organs going silent.
Click play to listen to Schleicher talk about his life working on organs.
5 Comments
Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.
Oakland North
Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.
Speaking of organs, when is this rag going to sex a sex columnist?
I meant “get a sex columnist?”
Thanks for the profile on Bob. Though not something I can listen to non stop, there are times when no other sound will do. I had to get out the Joey DeFranceso CD’s. I wish you the best Bob.
Great interview Aaron..have known Bob for many years…you might be interested in knowing that the organ you and Sandy admired so at Jack London Square Chapel was custom built by Bob!
The building was originally the office of my childhood orthodontist, Dr. Richard Ashby! I spent many an afternoon in the late 1970’s gazing at his fishtank, reading _Highlights_ magazine, and wondering if I wd ever get my braces off. He eventually retired, then I think the place became a single family house. Glad to see such cool local biz now there!