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Hey guys.... So I have a 200 that was in bad shape when I first bought it. The action was very sluggish and keys would get stuck, etc.  So I completely disassembled it and lubricated the whip assemblies, the pins, etc.  I also regulated it (adjusted the let-off) and tuned it, etc.  Made a big difference.

BUT when playing it, the action always felt different than my Rhodes.  It felt less substantial, not enough weight/resistance when I press down on the keys. Playing the Rhodes feels more like a piano whereas playing the 200 feels more like a toy piano.  I chalked that up to the Wurlitzer and Rhodes being two different types of pianos.

BUT last night I got a chance to play a friend's student model Wurlitzer (the one with the attached amp... almost like a suitcase model).  He just bought it and has done NOTHING to it.  And the action was amazing.  Playing it felt like playing a Rhodes.  Pressing down on the keys, it felt there was weight and resistance.  Whereas mine has a clickety-clack feel (sometimes I even hear the wood of the keys hitting something).

My question: what have I done wrong on my 200? Could I have overlubricated the key pins? How can I tighten up the resistance so that playing it feels weighter?  Thanks!

Hey guys.  Anyone have any experience trying this pedal with a Rhodes?  Thoughts?

Anyone have any recommendations for a good delay pedal for my Mark 1?  I tried the MXR Carbon Copy and found it to be way too noisy.  Has anyone tried out the Strymon El Capistan?

Hey guys.... Has anyone out there ever heard/played both of these preamps and can offer a comparison?  My Stereo Vibe is on the fritz and I'm debating whether to repair it vs. buy the retroflyer and was wondering the major differences.

Thanks!

Hi guys... Need the forum's help here to troubleshoot an issue I'm having with my '74 Mark I stage 88.

Whenever I hit a note anywhere in the middle of the keyboard, I hear an electric buzz.  The buzz doesn't seem to be present when I'm not playing, only when I hit an actual note (especially Mid D up to an octave).  I'm not sure if the problem is over the entire keyboard and I'm only hearing it more in the middle of the keyboard due to the frequencies there (I have a feeling that's the case because if I hit other notes in other octaves very hard, I hear it as well).

Also, the buzz is more pronounced the higher I turn up the treble on my Vintage Vibe preamp.  I've taken off the lid and checked for loose wiring but couldn't find anything.

Anybody have a clue as to what could be going on?  Is it a preamp issue?  Or could it be something with my pickups? I'm baffled as to why I only hear it when playing a note.  Normally, when there's hiss or noise from something (a noisy pedal, grounding issue, etc), you hear it ALL THE TIME.  But not this. 

Any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Hi guys.... For any of you using a Vintage Vibe Stereo Vibe preamp with their Rhodes, do you have any noise issues when boosting the treble?  I have an older unit (revision 5) that was put in about 3 years ago.  Love the tremolo and overall volume boost.  But when I boost the treble anywhere above 3 o'clock, I get noise. It can especially be heard when playing in the middle of the keyboard (not sure why. Maybe the frequencies of those notes pick up the noise more?).

I've checked for loose wiring and connections but all seems fine.  Just wondered if I'm alone with this issue.  Thanks!

Hey guys... The hum shield is the bane of my existence.  Setting the height on this thing is so damn finicky.  If it's set too low, then the dampers will hit it.  But if it's too high, then it vibrates against the outer case.

Anyone have any tips on how to set it properly?  Maybe I need some more vibration tape on the shield so it will stop vibrating.  Can anyone recommend any material that will do the trick (preferably something I could pick up at, say, Home Depot)?

Thanks!

Hey guys... While doing some adjustments this weekend, the grounding wire that attaches to the rear screw on the sustaining mechanism (on the back of the piano) snapped off.  I guess I torqued the screw too much and the little eyelet/lug that attaches to the grounding wire broke.

Assuming I need this ground, is there any way to fix this?  Should I solder the lug back onto the grounding wire?  Or simply strip/expose some of the grounding wire and wrap it around the screw?  My knowledge of electronics is limited (other than soldering) but I'd hate to replace the whole thing when only one part of it broke.

Thanks ahead of time!  Always appreciate the site.

For those of you who have performed this time-consuming task, I've read that there is a way to lubricate without necessarily taking the entire piano apart and removing each whip assembly one by one.  I was wondering how that's done.  Do you still need to remove the harp and dampers and remove the entire assembly chassis from the piano? Or is there a way to treat the assemblies while they're still in the piano?

Hey guys... Anyone know what kind of glue they use on 200s to glue down the speaker to the metal amp rail?  I'm having to replace my speaker and I don't want to use something too strong that I won't be able to remove it later on if need be.  Thanks.

Hey guys... Just got a new sustain pedal for my 200 and I'm having problems getting it to work.  No matter how tight I screw it into the bottom of the piano, I can't get all of the damper arms to lift high enough to get a good sustain.  Some notes in the middle of the keyboard (C-B) won't even lift at all.

I got a nut driver and turned the nut underneath the piano both all the way in and all the way out but it didn't help much.  Turning it all the way in towards the piano did get some of the arms to lift but not all of them uniformly. To be honest, I'm not even sure which way I should be turning the nut to begin with.  I just tried everything.

I don't think the problem is with the pedal as its a brand new pedal from Vintage Vibe.

Any thoughts troubleshooting this?  What am I doing wrong?  Thanks ahead of time.  Appreciate the site!

Hey all... My 200 sits in my office and there are times when I want to silence the speakers and just play with headphones.  Since the headphone jack on the Wurli is mono, I plan on going through the LINE OUT into a small mixer that has stereo headphones (mixer has onboard FX so that's a plus too).

Question: to mute the onboard speakers on the Wurli, can I simply take a 1/4" cord and plug one end into the headphone jack, leaving the other end disconnected?  I wasn't sure if some resistance was needed for the jack and didn't want to fry anything.

Thanks!

Hey guys.... I know there's been a lot of posts about this (I've read them all) but I'm still flummoxed about this lost motion business.

I understand there's supposed to be a tiny little gap between the tip of the jack and the whip felt -- and that when I press gently down on a key, the hammer shouldn't go up yet.  The hammer goes up on all of my keys at the gentlest touch so I assumed I needed lost motion.  But after doing my first key (the lowest note), I noticed the actual key dropped in height after coming back up (in other words, it was no longer level with the rest of the keys).  I could level it by gently lifting it back up.  And the key itself now feels loose and wobbly compared to the others.  It's as if the capstan screw was keeping it snug against the felt at the end of the key, and upon turning the capstan, it moved it away from the felt and made it loose.

Is this what's supposed to happen?  The hammer no longer raises at the slightest touch, so I know I've correctly added lost motion, but is that in turn supposed to make the action looser?  Perhaps my action was way too tight to begin with?

Sorry for the long post but hopefully someone can enlighten me.  Thanks!

Hey guys... Forgive the totally naive question, but what exactly does the vibrato knob control?  I have a Wurlitzer 200 and no matter how much I turn the vibrato dial, I seem to only have two options:  no vibrato or vibrato on.  The knob doesn't seem to control the vibrato depth or vibrato volume.  Just simply on/off.  Is this normal?  I'd blame the amp but I just put in a new Warneck amp and it's exactly the same as it was with the old amp.  Just wondering what I should expect. 

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Hey guys.  I have a 200 I'm bringing back to life and I've hit another snag.  The right speaker has been distorting intermitteningly.  Problem doesn't exist through the headphones or when plugged into an external amp so its most likely a bad speaker right?  But why is it on/off? Some days the distortion is completely gone only to come back again.  I haven't moved it or changed anything so I can't figure out why it's acting up.  Do blown speakers behave that way?  I'd hate to replace the speaker if it's not broken.

If I had another pair of externals I'd test it but I don't.  Question: can I desolder the two speakers and swap them to test?  Any other tests I could do before I just pull the plug and replace?

Thanks!

Hey guys.  Trying to replace an old noisy amp on my 200.  Can you help identify which of these Aux Output wires is the ground and which is the signal (which is positive and which is negative)?  I've attached a photo.

Thanks.

Hey guys.  The last few notes on the upper register of my 200 are not dampening and are sustaining too long.  I read a quick fix about turning the damper screw in the back counter clockwise to fix this. 

However, upon closer inspection, the last few notes don't have dampers!  Will turning the screw still work?

Thanks.

Hey guys.  New to the site, hoping you can help with a minor adjustment.

I just picked up a Wurlitzer 200 and noticed that when striking the 2nd lowest G# key, the hammer gets stuck and won't fall down again.  I have to gently tap the hammer for it to fall back down into place.  The actual G# key is fine and isn't sticky.  It's just the hammer that's the problem. And it only happens if I strike the note hard.  When pressing the key softly, the hammer rises and falls as it should.

I read about adjusting the capstan screw with that special wrench but wondered is this a problem with lost motion or letoff?  Each of these has their own screw, correct?  I just wanted to make sure that I adjust the right screw and not mess with something that ain't broken.  Any info would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!