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When replacing the grommets, I noticed that the wood on my harp has a sticky substance on it and I'm not sure what to use to clean in off without damaging the finish in any way or wiping away the stamp. I'm thinking of trying Pledge, Murphy's, or a furniture polish of some type. I was also considering Goo Gone or Windex if they don't do the trick. Any ideas? Thanks.

After taking apart my Wurlitzer 200 over the weekend, I discovered that it has experienced a problem with moisture over the years (maybe a spilled beer?). The treble end had several loose keys due to bushing felts falling out, and after finally disassembling and pulling out the keys, I discovered a fair amount of rust on the pins. I'm wondering how to address this. I was thinking of just using a scotch-brite pad and then some McLube 444. I'm curious to know what others have used for this. Any tips? Would steel wool be appropriate for that if the scotch-brite doesn't do the trick?

Also, the wood has been slightly damaged from the moisture. Nothing serious - it's still pretty solid; just some discoloration. Should I take the time to remove the pins and sand it down - or even sand around the pins?

Thanks.

Chris mentioned in another topic that you can get more snap out of a 200 model by reverse bending damper flange springs:

"Another trick of many to get more snap out of your action is to reverse bend your damper flange springs, they get worn and weak leaving the action compromised. If you note on later 200A pianos the Damper flange spring is much stiffer thus causing a snappier action than say an early 200 or a 140 series piano."

Does anyone know what the proper technique is to do that? Do you have to pull out each of the damper levers or can it be done with them installed? Thanks.

I have my piano completely taken apart right now and am lubricating all of the joints in the whip assembly. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to lubricate the joints on the hammer assembly (for lack of a better term) as well. Will that make my action lighter? I'm not so sure I want that. I like to have a bit of heavier action so that it plays more like an acoustic piano.

Hi everyone,
I just took my Wurlitzer 200 apart and noticed that my backrail cloth has hardened pretty significantly. I'm thinking of replacing it, but am wondering what thickness to use. Has anyone ever replaced it on a 200 and what thickness did you use?
Thanks!

Hi, everyone. I have some effects pedals that I would like to use, but I can't figure out how to connect them. This is a '75 Mark I and has the 4-pin and 2 quarter-inch jacks on the piano. The amp/cabinet has "External", "Amplifiers", and "Stereo/Phones" jacks. Can someone please explain how I should connect my pedals and what the other jacks are for? Are they ins/outs? In what situations would I use them? Ideally, I would still be able to use the tone and tremolo controls on the pre-amp. Please don't direct me to the manual because I looked there and couldn't figure it out from that (at least not the one that's posted on the site). Thanks!

Hi everyone.

I was just installing the hammer tips from VV and was wondering which way they should face - particularly, the red ones for the bass section.

In the youtube video on this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUNQZuBX8Sk), Chris explains that the "crown" should face up and it should slope down away from the front of the piano. I believe that means that the "crown" is the side with the smallest surface and should always be at the top. However, the red tips are narrower than the others, so they don't cover the entire platform of the hammer when placed with the smallest surface at the top. If I place them so that they cover the entire platform, they don't come up as high as the others and the surface of the hammer tip that comes into contact with the tine is much larger. Perhaps that's by design, since I read that the escapement should be larger in the bass end.

My questions are:
1. Should the side of the hammer tips with the smallest surface always be at the top?
2. Should the red tips be installed so that they cover the entire platform of the hammer?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks.

Hi everyone.

I have a 1976 Stage with bare pedestals and white felt on plastic hammers. When I press some of the keys down, I hear a scraping sound and there is a little more resistance than other keys. It's happening for most of the keys, although seems to be a little more so in the  mid-range.

At first, I thought it was the bushings, but I lifted the hammer up and moved the key up and down and the sound was gone. Therefore, it has to be the way the hammer is contacting the pedestal. Is this a common symptom of needing to replace the felts? How do you know when the hammer felt needs to be replaced?

I tried cleaning the felt with a toothbrush and it actually did seem to help a little, but the scraping sound is still there. I'm guessing I need to replace the felt, but I didn't see any of the white hammer felt on Vintage Vibe's web site; just the red pedestal felt for $28. Are most people just putting new felt on the pedestal now, rather than putting it back on the hammer?

Also, I have some teflon powder and was toying with the idea of brushing some on the hammer felt with a toothbrush. Is that a bad idea? I thought I read a post before where someone was pleading with users on the forum not to use teflon there because it gets into the wood of the pedestals and makes it impossible to get something to stick to it later on.

Thanks.

Does anyone know what type of plastic the post-1975 hammers are made of? I'm looking to see if I can find a better adhesive than super glue (cyanoacrylate) for the hammer tips. I don't really like working with super glue and although the 3M 8001 works great for the wood hammers, I have a feeling the factory stopped using it when they switched to plastic hammers. I called 3M to see what they suggested and they said they needed to know what type of plastic the hammers are made of.

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering how others have been transporting their Wurlitzer. I found a few sites that sell flight cases, but I'm not sure how well it will actually fit in it.

http://www.swanflight.com/wurlitzer-ep200-keyboard-flightcase.html

http://compare.ebay.com/like/370421979540?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&rvr_id=190227157715&crlp=1_263602_309572&UA=M*F%3F&GUID=3ae762e312b0a0e203c2edf2ff38d3b3&itemid=370421979540&ff4=263602_309572

I have a feeling it's a stock size that they try to market as a case for anything small enough to fit inside. Also, there's no place for the pedal, legs, etc.

Apparently, there were some original cases that came with the Wurlitzer that look like this, but they seem very difficult to find and probably impossible to find in decent shape:

http://www.oaktreevintage.com/web_photos/keyboards/Wurlitzer_200_Electric_Piano_Case_collage.jpg

Would love to hear what others are using and how it's working for you. After putting so much work into fixing it up, I definitely don't want to cart it around unprotected.

Is it possible to move skirted key caps from one key to another, or would removing it damage the key in a way that it cannot be re-used?

Also, since the early models had skirted key caps, does that mean that the keys are narrower than the later models? I guess they would have to be to accommodate the extra space that would be required to fit them over the key, right? If that's the case, would using the key cap replacements that are available cause a large gap between the keys?

What is the bet method for shaving old, hardened hammer tips. You would probably have to take the hammer out, right? I was thinking I could just use an exacto knife, but am afraid I won't be able to do it very precisely. Anyone have a good method for making sure that the cut is straight?

Hey everyone,

I have been struggling with the same problem that a lot of us have. When you reach the B above middle C (where the hammer tip shore changes from 70-90), it sounds too clanky for my taste. I know that some people like that and you can EQ some of it out if you don't, but I just want a slightly softer attack.

Therefore, I thought maybe I could fashion my own from a sheet of neoprene with a shore of 80, which seems pretty widely available on the Web. Since my Rhodes are from '71 and '74, I need the square tips, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get them to the proper shape.

It seems like this might be too obvious and that someone from one the suppliers (VV, Speakeasy, Major Key, EP-service, etc) would have tried this. Does anyone know if anyone has tried this? Any ideas on how one could effectively cut such hard rubber into squares? (after reading through several hundred posts, I think Rob A would be the guy to try something like this -seems like a clever fellow ;-)

Thanks!