I fished an old Hammond organ out of a dumpster and started cutting it up for scrap. When I got to the keys, I noticed that each one appears to have a gold wire for a contact on the tips (these are thin copper strips under each spring steel key that when depressed connect to a copper bus bar strip that also has what I think are paladium contacts welded to it).
I found a couple of other topics on this using the search but the organ I have seems to be different from the ones discussed in those theads. As you can see in the photo, the fine wires are gold in color, not silver. The bottom one has the wires pulled of and they are below it. Would these be solid gold or just plated?
Also, here a photo of what these contact. What is this metal? Is that the paladium you guys were talking about in the other threads? There is what appears to be a silver wire connecting the two halves of the stamped bus bar together in the upper left of this photo as well . Any comments on what's worth saving here would be appreciated (I almost didn't notice the fine wires and started to toss the whole thing in with the #2 copper). The model # of the organ is "124 XL".
I found a couple of other topics on this using the search but the organ I have seems to be different from the ones discussed in those theads. As you can see in the photo, the fine wires are gold in color, not silver. The bottom one has the wires pulled of and they are below it. Would these be solid gold or just plated?
Also, here a photo of what these contact. What is this metal? Is that the paladium you guys were talking about in the other threads? There is what appears to be a silver wire connecting the two halves of the stamped bus bar together in the upper left of this photo as well . Any comments on what's worth saving here would be appreciated (I almost didn't notice the fine wires and started to toss the whole thing in with the #2 copper). The model # of the organ is "124 XL".