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Anyone have a source where I can get these items for a Wurlitzer EP (200 series)? I have some weak jack springs and rusty front rail pins.

Anyone ever done this? I have a reed bar with some gunk/oil on it. I'm curious if the ultrasonic will remove the rust prohibitive coating on the reeds.

Hi all, i've been searching and searching for this topic and couldn't find anything.  If you can link me to a previous topic that would be much appreciated. I apologize if it's been discussed before.

My question is in regards to the tine length charts that i've seen. Is there any reason why they are not nice smooth curves? Instead they look like someone traced them after the fact. Was it so that someone could use a ruler and the lengths were rounded to nearest fractions?

The nerd in me wanted to find a formula for the curve, so I threw all the tine lengths I found in a previous post in excel to see which tines had the most "error" in lengths.

The formula I found to fit the best was an exponential formula, and it came out to

y=7.573e^-.027x

where "x" is the key number and "y" comes out to the length. In this formula "e" is Eulers number (2.71828), not "times ten to a power"

What I found is that the tine lengths are on average .027" off. The one I found to be the farthest off is key 19. It is .081" off of the curve. The closest one was within .001", key 42.  I can't upload my spreadsheet but i'll post a picture later.

Looking for a large hum shield for a 200 series, not the tiny comb-like reedbar shields. The one that spans the entire top of the action. PM if you have one you can sell. Thx!

I have a '77 Stage 73 and I just performed the miracle mod. I had the felts on the hammer cams and painstakingly removed those. I installed .054" felt on the .065" bumps with good success. Afterwards, the escapement was really high at both ends of the keyboard. The action felt good, but still sluggish. On top of either aluminum harp support were particle board shims, about .130" thick. I scraped them off and in doing so, achieved a pretty ideal escapement across the board. The action is much more responsive and quick and light like I thought it would be. No hammer bounce either. I did have to adjust the dampers slightly at the bridle strap point. Has anyone else had to remove those particle board shims after a miracle mod? I've read stories of adding shims since the modification supposedly adds height, but I think in these models it is reversed if you do it the way I did.  The white hammer cam felt was much thicker than the pedestal felt that I installed. To me that sounds like the hammer starts off lower rather than higher and also changes the stop-lock position.

The first and last pickups are dead on a Rhodes i'm working on. Seems too coincidental. Could it have been from a voltage spike that burned those pickup wires? I get measurable resistance across all other pickups

I've searched for the different methods of removing hamming cam felts and came up with nothing. Based on some videos it sounds like denatured alcohol is best to use over acetone or naptha. I am OK with that. I'm looking more for the process. I have successfully de-felted a few sets of hammer cams with rubber gloves, denatured alcohol and some Wypall wipes (think paper towels on steroids). The result is a beautiful residue-less finish on the cams but it feels like i'm scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush.  Does someone have a method they don't mind sharing for an easier way to do this? I'm thinking dunking all 12 cams into a "pool" of denatured alcohol (only the bottom portion where the felt is located). It seems like the more I can saturate the residue the easier it comes off. Heck even a toothbrush might be something to try? This is my first rhodes and first bump mod. It's a 77 stage 73. If elbow grease is the answer im OK with that too. Just curious if there are easier methods.

Nice little shelf I drew up and built for a friend to hold his keyboards. Holds 140B styles on bottom and 200 styles in middle.  Vox continental fit on the bottom too. Just thought i'd share. Made out of 2x4's and ply.
Disclaimer: MAKE AND USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I don't know what's more unrealistic; a $6,000 red model 200 or a $2,700  model 700. May be a long time before it sells for that price. I had trouble getting $300 for my 700, and there wasn't one issue with it! Maybe I better invest in a nice camera, nice mood lights and some photoshop software. I see the same stuff piling up on Reverb for outrageous prices.  I wish you could look to see what actually sells on Reverb like you can on the bay.

https://reverb.com/item/5692497-wurlitzer-700-electronic-piano-in-mahogany

What am I looking at here?  Is this for a Rhodes or a Wurlitzer?  Because of the Bass/Treble tone controls, it makes me think i'm looking at a Rhodes preamp.
http://www.speakeasyvintagemusic.com/archives/Schematics/Vintage%20Tube%20Preamp.pdf

Are there any differences between the two other than the obvious?  I have 2 x 200A's that are 9 serial numbers apart (88659 and 88668) and the earlier one has square magnets, whereas the later one has round magnets.  I thought i'd mention it, as maybe this was a changeover point? I still have to look at the mfg. date on the keybed...dunno how many they made each day...or even if the serial plates were kept sequential.

Anyone know of a good method to repair the ball end cable stop on wurlitzer pedals?  I have one that's broke and i'm trying to repair it. I'd imagine there are some sort of screw-stop replacements.

I'm working on an early 200A that i'm thinking about converting the Aux out to the late production style (why I dont know, something tells me it must be better if this is what they went to for a lot of the production run).  As far as my brain can tell, the only difference is that the Aux out gain pot on the "Early" boards are 100k and before the Aux out circuit, vs. the "Late" boards where the aux out pot is 1k and after the Aux out circuit. Am I missing anything else?  TR-16 looks different in the schematics too, but I don't know if it matters.  Should I leave it the same or make the change?

Need some action up in here.

Anyone know of any other wurlitzer amps out there besides the following? I'm curious...

VintageVibe's solidstate and also varivibe tube replacement
Retrolinear Warneck Research EP200A
Speakeasy's tube amp (out of production? can you still buy them? I serviced a keyboard with one and it sounded great!)
The Singer (available only in Europe? for ~1000 euros)
CEPco (proprietary tube amp?)
Free Wurli  http://www.kerschhofer.net/wurlitzer-replacement-amp/   This one intrigues me.
WurlitzerStar's 200B replicate on eBay (sounds very cool too)

Hi all,

working on my first Rhodes. A '77 Stage 73 in pretty good shape internally. I've removed all the tines for cleaning and installing new grommets/screws/washers. Some tines are noticeably non-parallel to their tonebar counterparts, and i'm correcting that.

1. I'm finding that it is pretty hard to change the position of the tine relative to the tonebar due to the ratchet-like impressions the tineblock has imprinted into the tonebar. I find that tightening the tine down in several other positions seems to flatten out those impressions and allows me greater precision when aligning the tine to the tone bar. Sound right? Anyone other easier methods?

2. After reinstalling the tine/tone bar assembly back into the harp, i'm noticing the pickups are out of line. I've read some posts on this but couldn't answer this question. How centered (laterally) do the tine bars need to be w.r.t. the pickups?  Perfectly center? It seems tough to move the pickup position laterally. Is this the reason some of the tonebar screws are bent upon removal? Meaning the rhodes assembly guy just put enough side pressure on the tonebar to permanently change the position and align to the pickup? That would probably break a tonebar. I could see it being done with a prybar in close proximity to the screws.

Now for the tangent...I've heard that the legend goes that the rhodes workers were drunk at work.  Now I can see it. It seems like this thing was haphazardly put together. Tonebar screw holes that missed the original hole, interlocked doubled-up tonebar mounting springs, a million washers on one side of the harp frame arm for (I guess) centering the harp. The mechanisms are so simple and cheap looking I think, almost like a 6th grader designed it, like a really really dumbed-down rube-goldberg mechanism. The simplicity is beautiful though. It sure seemed like they tried to streamline everything with the extruded aluminum everywhere, the ability to remove 4 screws and lift the entire action assembly out in one piece, the sustain push-rod dowel thingy, and simplification of the keystroke to a cam-catapult type mechanism.  Not to dig on the Rhodes' because I do love the sound. I was sort of surprised when I opened the lid.  It makes me appreciate the wurlitzers even more though...Here we go miracle-mod!

Anyone have any idea what these are referring to? I see them all the time and they are 'always' matching.  Does it have to do with resonance? or somehow matching pairs? Inspector? Same casting? Thickness? Ideas?

Hi all, I have been thinking of this for some time now, and wanted to get some thoughts before. I made the investment. I want to retrofit a twin reverb into the cabinet of a 206A. I would point the speakers out the back, sort of staggered.  I am thinkin of buying the Hoffman amps single channel AB763 kit to build. They run pretty high and I still have to build it. If I can get a good reissue twin for $600-700 that would probably be better. What do you guys think ?  Too much power under there? I have a Fender FM210R which might fit the bill better, but I wanted that 2x12 tube feel. Then I thought, why even put the amp in the cabinet at all!  I'm torn. Thoughts ?

Hi all,
I'm having trouble finding the happy medium. Here is my issue:

I'm making the letoff adjustment, and in doing so , I'm finding that high-velocity strikes yields less check-off than soft strikes. So much so that the reed is being blocked or dampened by the hammer. Decreasing letoff distance helps the issue, and so does reducing key dip (neither of which I find desirable ). Key dip right now is great, right at 3/8". That tells me that I either:
a: have shimmed the Keybed rails too high or too much or
b: need to raise the entire action

My lost motion is good though!

Hi all,

I see this installed in my 200A...a "shorting" jack that is shorted when nothing is plugged in. When a jack is plugged in, the short is broken.

According to the schematic, this shouldn't exist.

Any thoughts?

Hi all,

I have yet to see a Rhodes suitcase in person and am wondering a few things; vibrations/feedback. Is this a problem with the suitcase Rhodes at all? Will a Rhodes feedback with the amp turned up all the way? Are there rubber mounting grommets between the cabinet and the keyboard?

Thank you all!

This has peaked my interest because it seems to have much more detail regarding the regulating procedure based on the few pages i've seen. For instance, the service manual everyone probably has on here says (#11 of the regulation procedure) that "The lost motion is a 1/32" gap between the tip of the fly and the hammer butt covering," but the picture below that (Fig I) shows the 1/32" being measure at the front edge of the key. Obviously 1/32" is waayyy to much gap to have where it says it should be. Seems like a typo to me. I've never put 1/32" gap there; it would be terribly sloppy and sluggish to play i'd think. But this manual on eBay shows the actual gap should be .2mm, which is about .008" and makes more sense to me. I like that information as well as the tuning diagram. I wonder what else this manual could entail?... The page opposite of the "Regulating Blow Distance" page shows how to shim the keybed to get 10mm of travel (or a distance? i can't tell) when a key is depressed.

The red pen markings seem to be original, and not hand-drawn in by one person because of the text. I'd like to have it, but don't want to pay $120 for it. Maybe we could get a few people here to split it? Anyone have any interest? I have full Adobe Acrobat and could make a nice scanned PDF out of it. Just throwin' it out there. Or does someone have this already??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WURLITZER-ELECTRIC-PIANO-SERVICE-MANUAL-SPECS-PARTS-LIST-RARE-/391332441669?hash=item5b1d3b2e45:g:f4IAAOSwnH1WXOae

Hello all!  Merry Christmas!

I have a 200A with some slight slight warpage on the base. It's not noticeable without a straight edge. Anyways, I think it's enough to affect the action and I'd like to relevel the keybed. Anyone know how to do this?  What to look for?  What's ideal?  I'd imagine that I would have to make sure the bed is perfectly straight or at least have a uniform angle/height off of the base. I can tell its warped because of the varying key dip across the keys. Thanks all

Hello all,

I have a tough one here. I converted a 206A by adding the Morelocks vibrato kit.

Before I did this, I tested the amp with onboard speakers to see how it sounded. Loud and clean.

I proceeded with the kit and now I have no vibrato, and the onboard speakers are distorted heavily. The aux out is clean and sounds good. The vibrato knob decreases the volume slightly. I swapped a brand new vintage vibe 200A amp only (not the preamp on the reedbar) out and everything sounds perfect!  Any insight on what I did wrong or what to check? I'm gonna sleep on it.

Thanks all

Hello all,

I have some felt punchings in need of replacement on a wurlitzer 200A. Anyone have any ideas of what thicknesses to use?

The balance rail felts look like medium thickness (.080") but the front rail look like they might have been medium-thick (.215") instead of medium (.185"). Anyone have any insight? I guess thinner is always better because I can shim it.

Anyone here the lucky one? I occasionally search the sold listings to see if things exactly like this happen.

Looks pretty interesting. I didn't know these existed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wurlitzer-Electric-Electronic-Piano-Service-Manual-Vintage-1955-repair-guide-/121769367782?hash=item1c5a0518e6

200 series wurlitzer up for auction this weekend in kansas

http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=2555480&kwd=wurlitzer&zip=15017&category=0

I finally delved into the Rhodes realm today. First one I've seen/played in person. Picked it up for $60 today. Has lids, legs, no pedal. Sounds great so far! Im guessing it's a 77? Anything to look for in particular? Replace? Should be a fun little project to get up and going. No rust on the tines or anything inside. Heavy as #$@% though. Now I know why everyone is trying to lighten these things up.

Hello all,

This cap was not present on early 200 boards or their schematics. The original is a 150VAC/1400VDC .01uF ceramic cap. Is it necessary for filtering? I bought some of these

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/427/125l-239774.pdf

and don't know if they will suffice. I'm diving into the realm of amp rebuilding this year and am determined to learn.

Hello all,

I converted a 206 amp to 200 specs, adding the headphone jack, line out, vibrato pot, 2 resistors, iec jack.

I turned on the amp when it wasn't connected to the reedbar and it turned on ok, I could hear the static get louder with volume. I plugged it into the reedbar and it played! Very distorted sound though. All of a sudden, about 15 seconds later, heard a little crackle or two, then, No sound! Orange lamp is still on though. Turned it off. Waited a few minutes. Turned on/off a few more times, then sound! Distored again. Played a few notes, small pop(s) then sound went out again. What to do?? Any thoughts?

*Edit: only 14 volts on reedbar

Looking for the following Wurlitzer parts:

140B NOS volume knob
140 series music stand hinges (set of 2)
140 series keyboard cover/leg housing

This 120 looks like the back end has been shortened. I asked the seller and he said an amp won't fit inside. Has an RCA jack on the left side of the piano in one picture. Interesting...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1950s-WURLITZER-Electric-Electronic-Piano-Model-120-not-working-/321621871590?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item4ae2284be6

I am attempting (in my spare time) to model the 200A piece by piece, mainly for fun and to see if I can do it. I will have models available for download and update this thread as I go. Modeled in SolidWorks. Maybe someone can print the parts on a 3D printer one day and have a totally plastic wurly! Each piece will be measured down to the thousandths of an inch, so should be pretty accurate. I made these two tonight.

Anyone have one?  I am in need of just one single keys whip assembly for a 200A. I have paypal.
Thanks

Hello all,
Picked up a 206 recently and noticed this one does not have speakers in the console but instead has the regular 200 style speakers on the amp rail. Also the underside of the lid is black but the outside is yellow, as if they (wurlitzer) converted a 200 to a 206.  The music rack is different looking as well, much thinner and has a taller piece across the bottom. Are these common or are they the first of the 206's produced? I am very glad I have the regular speakers as it will make conversion much better.

Anyone done it? Anyone have the schematics? I am wondering if the vibrato circuitry is present and am lost...

Thanks in advance

Hello all,

I came across a 200 amp with the .01 mfd cap parallel with the neon bulb that is not on the 200 schematic. This cap is on the 200A schematic though, AND the video I saw of the installation of the vintage vibe Classic 200 amp. Is this necessary?
http://youtu.be/Fx_ID0QDBz8?t=7m26s
7:26 in

Came across this video today, and decided to try and start a thread that has songs with wurlitzer in it these days since I love to hear it being used. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7X8ZnmLfM0&list=PLDE53A978215C0424&index=7
Pomplamoose - Happy Get Lucky

I thought I came across this topic years ago, but now I can't find it.

I've heard that Radioshack used to make a 4"x8" 4 ohm speaker and I think I found a pair at a local flea market (whatever they are, they are about 4 ohm each.

I know that the normal 200 series speakers are 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel, equivalent to 8 ohms impedence.

What if I were to wire these two 4-ohm speakers in series to yield the same 8 ohms that the amp sees. Would the speakers be the same volume? Would the amp notice the difference? Distortion? Would there be any difference?

Thanks in advance

I don't know if this has ever been mentioned before, but does anybody know the purpose of the paper shims under the reed bar? Is it to un-torque the reed bar or to torque it? I replaced a reed on a slightly dull note, #54. The note sounded fine before I brought it up to pitch, but when I brought it to pitch the note sounded like the old reed. Slightly duller than the rest. Has anyone experimented with the reed bar twist? Is it a resonant frequency thing? I'm pondering why these shims are there as I think it may be dampering some vibrations. If that were true, I guess I would get a loud note that tapers off quicker rather than a softer note. I'm trying to get the best sound out of this thing but i'm not sure why they did certain things. I could try it but wanted to ask if anyone had some insight into it.

Thanks

Anyone else have this problem?

I'm trying to install the vari-vibe right now on my 200, and it won't fit!

The reedbar RCA input jack is right under my vari-vibe pot!

Any ideas on what I can do?

I assume i'll have to un-solder the RCA jack and put wires in it's place to a new RCA receptacle somewhere.


I think I know what the problem is.

The first screw on the left of the new amp is directly above G# where as in the VV video I think that screw is directly above A#. My amp is positioned to the left a little. Bummer.  The amp that came off this rail was dated Dec. 02, 69.




Thanks,

Mark

Anyone else have this dried up glue crap under their 200 amp? It's a little flakey and I don't want it getting into or around my new amp. I want to get it off with steel wool but don't want it to rust after. Anyone have any ideas as to how to keep it from rusting once I get it off?