A Hammond B-3 organ belonging to Ronnie Hawkins is being kept at Urban Repurpose in North Vancouver after being donated by Phil Nuytten’s family.
The Story
A Hammond B-3 organ with connections to Ronnie Hawkins and other music legends is among the items being kept at Urban Repurpose, a non-profit that holds on to valuable goods to keep them out of landfills.
The organ, housed in the group’s North Vancouver shop near Lynn Creek, is described as having been used by Hawkins’ band and later played or associated with major names listed on a certificate of authenticity kept in the instrument’s bench. The document is signed by Hawkins and name-drops artists including Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Bo Diddley, Kris Kristofferson, David Foster, Carl Perkins, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Garth Hudson.
Urban Repurpose founder Tom Riessner said taking the organ into the shop has made him nervous. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, OK, we’ve got to take that,” he said, adding that the organ’s history is part of what makes it stand out among items the shop has handled.
The organ’s last owner was Phil Nuytten, a North Vancouver inventor and undersea explorer who also collected musical ephemera. Nuytten died in 2023, and his family donated the organ and much of his mountain of memorabilia to the non-profit.
Riessner said Hammond B-3 organs became popular with rock and roll musicians through the 1960s, noting that the instrument’s powerful sound helped it spread beyond church use. He also said the organ’s heavy weight made it challenging to move—he said it took four people to load it into a truck.
Working Hammond B-3 models have been known to sell for between $10,000 and $20,000, Riessner said. He added that he plans to be selective about the buyer and is willing to negotiate, saying the organ “really needs to be played.”
Riessner said all proceeds from a sale of Hawkins’ Hammond will go back into Urban Repurpose, which is described as using the extra space created by the sale to take in the next “piece of treasure.”
The shop also houses other items from Nuytten’s collection, including original master tapes from studio recordings by Stevie Nicks, Quincy Jones, the Fugees and Tupac Shakur, along with a rare pedal-powered yellow submarine.
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