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Messages - Pianokeys

#1
try measuring the space in which the fuse holder should fit.  Most of the time the fuse holders for electric pianos and organs are nothing special, they're the same type you'd find on the back of an amp or any other piece of electronic equipment.

If you're good with a soldering iron it shouldn't matter... fuse holders are usually just fuse holders.
#2
For how much?
#3
my point was that they're making a ton of money off of you with almost no overhead.
#4
Leave it to some asshole to sell 45 cents worth of xerox to someone for 15 bucks.
#5
Okay, so I know what's wrong now. The top bits of the harp pickup are offset somehow. I've got it mostly working, but sometimes electricity still arcs and it causes a lot of noise. The action is horrid on the thing right now, too. it must be the temperature in my room.  Does anyone know about adjusting wurli actions?
#6
okay, so I've been working on this thing for a while, I got good tubes in it and it played really well other than some of the more obvious action problems which I'm slowly working on.  I replaced the speaker wire with some high-end oxygen free cable, and I was going to replace the piano harp pickup cable's old and cracked RCA connector with a hi-fi cast chrome jack.


The problem is, now that I've switched it out, all I was getting was this hugely loud and obnoxious static and electrical noise, no notes. Upon further investigation, I found that one or two of the notes did indeed play, but incredibly loudly and distorted. Looking closer at the pickup, I could see sparks jumping between the tine and the top of the pickup (non-ground). Later on, I turned it back on to demonstrate to one of my friends what was happening, and it did nothing. I tested the cable and it was fine. I tested the harp, and there was continuity between the connectors, meaning that there's a short somewhere. However, I'm not sure how this happened, or whether that short was the cause of the noise, as now that I detect the short, I get no sound except for when I disconnect the wire from the amplifier (which makes the kind of sound you'd expect for disconnecting a wire from an amp.)

yea, anyway, I'm just looking for ideas.
#7
Where might I find a diagram like this for a wurlitzer 120 or 140?

Quote from: "BackRoomSounds"It looks like you have a bank of hammers removed from the piano there?

They aint ever guna form a straight line if so. They just arn't made with that in mind I guess. They should sit better than this in the piano but again they want be spot on and I dont think there is a measurable benifit to try and get them perfect.

In fact you might even find that adjusting key heights to get the hammers level could leave you with actual key heights that dont match each other. Once in place the eveness off the hammer line can depend on a few things

1. The felt strip that  the back of the key rests on is warn in places
2. The back of the key has damage
3. The felt on the key pedestal  (be it fitted to the hammer or key ped) is warn
4. The dimension of the key / key peds arent perfect
5. You have some key height issues
the list goes on.



#8
They forgot to mention that, while it survives the fall, hitting the ground's still a bitch and it'll probably break.
#9
It's quite obvious by looking that the little tuner thingies were simply knocked to the end, making the notes much lower than they should be.

This seems like a simple-as-pie fix.

mmmm. piiiiiiiiiiie....
#10
Is it possible to replace the driver, too?
#11
there's an organ repair shop in Mississippi that sells incredibly cheap components for wurli's and rhodes as well as organs and pianos... I don't know the name of their site, but if you find it, they're the best way to go, they hooked me up with a set of dampers, a fuse housing, a tine, and some other things (for a wurli) for like less than 30 bucks.
#12
Ha, the only problem is that I'm in the process of trying to sell the grand I already have... but that's only because I don't like it much, not because I don't like grands in general.

So, I found the problem: apparently the rectifier tube (big 5 pin dealie near the transformer) fried out. I found this out when I got in and replaced the one that had broken, then turned it on, I was treated to quite a nice light show with lots of blue plasma...then the whole thing shorted out and blew the fuse. I just so happened to have a box of spare tubes with me, so I checked the ratings between a rectifier from an old Conn organ against the one that had just blown, replaced the fuse and switched out the tube, and now it plays fine... At least it did until yesterday, when I accidentally severed one of the speaker wires trying to get something out of the back. I need to replace that wiring anyway, though... Does it decrease the value if you replace the old rotting speaker wire with modern, low loss cable?
#13
I'm wondering...what WOULD cause a broken tube? All I can think is heat because no one goes near the thing except for me.
#14
I found one of the tubes to be cracked down the side. I've ordered and received the new tube, but I'm out of town right now so I won't get back to checking it until probably next week. If it turns out to be the tube and not the cap do I still get that piano? :P
#15
I accidentally posted this in "general discussion" first... Mods, you can delete that one if you want.

I am the proud owner of a wurlitzer electric piano that I got for the right price (FREE!!!) some time ago. I had to put on new dampers, one tine, and adjust a few settings, but it wasn't anything I've not had to do on a "real" acoustic piano before so it was pretty straightforward.  It had a HUGE fat tone because of its tube drive, I ran it through two amps, a bass amp and a guitar amp for stereo sound and it had the greatest tone of any instrument I own.

Unfortunately, a few days ago the fuse blew. I thought "well, I hadn't replaced the fuse before, it's probably just time for a new fuse." I bought a new one. I put it in. It blew again, instantly.  Now, I am wondering, could it be a short in the mix, or perhaps just a blown tube? Which tubes are more likely than others to die, and if it's a short, how the hell do I get the amp out to fix it? (this thing is built like a wooden tank, but I can't get it apart!!!) Any help would be nice.

By the way, If you need help to positively identify it: It's got a wood case with a flat metal top (curves down for the front), wooden action, a full tube amp in the back with a 6x9 speaker, and the thing looks freaking old, though I know that doesn't mean much. I am still somewhat new to the world of ACTUAL electric pianos (which I've learned you just can't really synthesize properly) and can't wait to fix this thing, but I also can't afford to have someone else do it.
#16
I am the proud owner of a wurlitzer electric piano that I got for the right price (FREE!!!) some time ago. I had to put on new dampers, one tine, and adjust a few settings, but it wasn't anything I've not had to do on a "real" acoustic piano before so it was pretty straightforward.  It had a HUGE fat tone because of its tube drive, I ran it through two amps, a bass amp and a guitar amp for stereo sound and it had the greatest tone of any instrument I own.

Unfortunately, a few days ago the fuse blew. I thought "well, I hadn't replaced the fuse before, it's probably just time for a new fuse." I bought a new one. I put it in. It blew again, instantly.  Now, I am wondering, could it be a short in the mix, or perhaps just a blown tube? Which tubes are more likely than others to die, and if it's a short, how the hell do I get the amp out to fix it? (this thing is built like a wooden tank, but I can't get it apart!!!) Any help would be nice.

By the way, If you need help to positively identify it: It's got a wood case with a flat metal top (curves down for the front), wooden action, a full tube amp in the back with a 6x9 speaker, and the thing looks freaking old, though I know that doesn't mean much. I am still somewhat new to the world of ACTUAL electric pianos (which I've learned you just can't really synthesize properly) and can't wait to fix this thing, but I also can't afford to have someone else do it.