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Musik-Bertram

German Hammond dealer and chop-shop based in Freiburg im Breisgau (postal address D-79011 Freiburg, Postfach 1153; tel +49 (761) 27-30-90). Listed on the TheatreOrgans.com Hammond FAQ Europe service-shops page (entry last updated Dec 1994) as "Hammond dealer, builder of MIDI-Kit for Bass Pedals".^[raw/articles/theatreorgans-europe-shops.md]

The "Bertram-Umbau" (Bertram conversion)

From the 1960s onward the Musikhaus Bertram specialized in moving the innards of original wooden-console Hammonds (B-3, C-3, RT-3, A-100) into a purpose-built transportable case. With dismountable bass pedals the converted organ weighs roughly 100 kg, versus ~250 kg for the original console — the portability problem that chopping solves. A Hammond RT-3 (c. 1961) in "Bertram-Umbau", with a two-octave bass pedal and an original 22H Leslie (1953), has been heard at the Freiburg-based Hammond Jazz Night event.^[raw/articles/hammondjazznight-bertram-umbau.md]

Second-hand classified listings (Facebook Hammond groups) document A-100 consoles chopped to 220 V / 50 Hz by Bertram music — the 220 V/50 Hz adaptation being the European counterpart of the American chop tradition.^[raw/articles/doctormix-rarest-hammond.md]

Relationship to the chop tradition

Bertram-Umbau is the German branch of the broader chop practice documented in portable-hammonds — alongside the Oakland chop tradition and US shops like Keyboard Specialties. Where a chop typically cuts the console down to a two-manual top, the Bertram conversion kept the full instrument but re-cased it for transport — related to the tonewheel-generator innards it preserves.

Notes

  • The dedicated Bertram Music Entertainment site (bertram-music-entertainment.de) is a booking/production agency under the Bertram name; the organ-shop activity itself is only documented through the sources above — treat later activity as unverified.
  • confidence: medium — two independent secondary sources (TheatreOrgans FAQ, Hammond Jazz Night) plus market listings; no authoritative first-party source survives online.
  • http://theatreorgans.com/hammond/faq/shopservman/europe_-_select_shop.htm (FAQ entry)
  • http://www.hammondjazznight.de/styled-3/index.html (Bertram-Umbau; site parked at time of writing)
  • https://www.facebook.com/groups/1351369898349726/posts/3141671265986238/ (chopped A-100 listing)