B-40 Hammond Clock Co. Tone Cabinet

[WJP]

Hello all. I am new to the site and have a question for anyone that can answer.
First the background:
My friend and I are avid junk collectors. Our mutual third friend told us of a "haunted" house that was filled with junk. We went to explore. After about seven times going in there, we found the cabinet. It is one of the first made, we know this because the serial number is 3000 something and because it uses 2A3 vacuum tubes. Those were quickly replaced by some other type of vacuum tube. The Original instructions were still with it and were labeled at the end with The Hammond Clock Co. which in itself is a reason that it was one of the earliest made.

My question:
How much would this thing be worth? Its missing 3 cheaper vacuum tubes and thats it. The cabinet itself is in great shape, but definetly needs some work. There is, after all, about 80 years of wear and tear. The speakers werent in it either. The power supply and what I'm guessing is the transformer are still in it. It would be a great piece to restore and it is very rare seemingly. The F-40 replaced this one and the FR-40 soon replaced that. This model is most definetly from the 30's

[ShadyJoe]

I'm jumping in because nobody else has. This is all my humble opinion.

I think that these cabinets don't go for very much, maybe $200 in good shape and working. But I haven't heard of this model. Keep in mind that even after replacing the 3 tubes, there is probably some work that needs to be done. The amp probably needs some capacitors replaced, maybe some other work. And the speakers would need to be replaced. As you mentioned, the cabinet itself will need some work, hopefully not a lot. This all involves time and money.

It seems to me that stuff like this just isn't as valueable as some would hope. I'd love to get my hands on something like this. But I'm not rich and I tend to be cheap - seems to be fairly typical of the Hammond fans on this site.

I hope you do MUCH better, but my guess is you'd be lucky to get $100. Somebody tell me I'm wrong.

Your location does matter. Where are you?

If there was a tone cabinet in the house, I wonder where the matching organ is? These things tend to sell better as a set.

[Bobmann]

The B-40 was made between 1936 and 1947. A serial number that high does not necessarily make it toward the beginning of production. I don't know how many of them were made. My records show that all the B40's used the same amp as the A-40. The C-40 also used the same amp in early models, then they switched to a different amp in the C40 that used 6v6 and 5u4's for later units.

IMO...Without all the tubes or speakers, I would put it's value at $0 to $50.
It would cost hundreds to get this operational...at the very least all the caps would need to be replaced, then there are the tubes and speakers...and this assumes the tubes that are there work.
Fully operational and refinished you would be hard pressed to get $150 in most areas of the US...again, my opinion.
Of course, you may run accross someone who really, really wants one of these...but I would not count on it.
The only Hammond TC that seems to have any marketable value is the PR-40. Those in good shape seem to sell in the $250 range.

Bob