Messages

1

The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Recommended (cheap, generic) replacement speakers for 200A

« on: March 29, 2019, 07:21:13 PM »

Me and you both.... I can tell you they don’t exist. RadioShack at one time made some but they were 4 ohm not 16 ohm, so you’d have to wire them in series instead of parallel. That was decades ago. Save your time looking and just buy Ken rich or VV. Once in a blue moon someone lists them on the bay but they’re usually broken or sold “as-is”.  Oh, and the size is 4x8

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 700 cracked reed bar casting

« on: March 23, 2019, 07:40:56 PM »

If clamping it does bring sustain back, and you don’t want to weld it, you could drill some through holes on either side of the broken rib (in between reeds of course) and put some all-thread through those holes with nuts on the end to merge it back together. I bet 8-32 all thread would be good enough. I have no other ideas on how to do it.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 700 cracked reed bar casting

« on: March 23, 2019, 01:41:27 PM »

If you C-clamp it does sustain restore?

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Location of output jacks on a 200/200A

« on: March 21, 2019, 05:02:37 PM »

See the block on the left that the amp rail mounts to?  On 200’s and 200A’s it is two smaller blocks and the output plate hangs off the amp rail into a pocket.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Ultrasonic cleaning of reeds

« on: March 16, 2019, 03:00:49 AM »

I have some sort of residue on the reedbar around some of the bolts and some reeds. Looks like someone wiped oil on the whole things at one point also. I’m probably better off taking all the reeds off and running them through the sonics that way. I think the entire reedbar assembly would attenuate too much. Plus the sonic would have to be large.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Ultrasonic cleaning of reeds

« on: March 10, 2019, 07:54:15 AM »

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.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: March 04, 2019, 12:41:45 PM »

Here is the tine length curve. You can see the irregularities of the actual curve vs. the calculated curve.

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Parts, Service, Maintenance & Repairs / Re: Wurlitzer 200A constant noise

« on: February 23, 2019, 04:56:47 PM »

Sounds like you have a ground loop issue

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 200A - 3D model

« on: February 22, 2019, 11:45:46 AM »

Working on the reedbar now. Baby steps...

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 13, 2019, 03:11:34 PM »

I believe DocWurly already has that!

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 11, 2019, 04:12:01 PM »

Totally agree. I'm just using the formula to find a "best-fit" curve to determine if the tine lengths have error, or find out why they are the way they are.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 11, 2019, 12:49:48 PM »

Yea! The chart says 5.344” for tine 13, which is almost negligible difference. I wonder if the differences are due to the type of tuning that was used (perfect thirds vs perfect fifths or whatever they are)

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 11, 2019, 10:05:55 AM »

So the chart you transcribed goes to the resolution of 1/64 of an inch (.015625"), which should be plenty good enough for a good smooth tine length curve. I'll take into account the tuning springs also. Are all tines the same base tine, just cut to length?

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 11, 2019, 10:01:32 AM »

Yes I missed the "2" in that constant.  I corrected it a bit ago. The caret is an exponent yes.

I actually did use your tine cutting chart information from that link below. Since the VV tine chart didn't have lengths, I didn't bother.

What i'm doing is probably overkill for sure. I thought maybe there were certain notes with undesirable harmonics or resonant frequencies at certain lengths so they were altered.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 10, 2019, 07:40:03 PM »

I see only one change in the manual between notes 33 and 34. VV has five different tuning springs.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 10, 2019, 07:30:17 PM »

That’s right! Is there a chart somewhere with those changes? I see VV has one, is there an original one?

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Rhodes Tine Length Curve

« on: February 10, 2019, 03:43:51 PM »

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.

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Sources For Generic Parts & Maintenance Materials / Re: Leg compartment screw stud

« on: January 25, 2019, 11:58:10 AM »

Don't know the size but they sell some at home cheapo

19

Buying / Re: WTB: Wurlitzer 200 series hum shield

« on: January 25, 2019, 11:53:38 AM »

Correct

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Buying / WTB: Wurlitzer 200 series hum shield

« on: January 24, 2019, 08:43:12 PM »

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!

21

The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 206a - To chop or not to chop?

« on: December 29, 2018, 09:49:08 AM »

I thought of that too but I would advise against putting a large speaker and amp in there. Some 206’s feed back already and you will get tons more if you beef up the cabinet. If you do you should isolate the keyboard as much as you can from the cabinet with springs, soft rubber or other doo-dads.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Question regarding glue on miracle mod

« on: December 17, 2018, 07:00:13 AM »

 The superglue is just for gluing the bump mod.  For gluing felt I have seen people use hide glue, PVC-E glue, 3M yellow weatherstripping adhesive.  I have used PVCE glue multiple times in the past for key bushings, but I recently found out it may be the same stuff as Aleenes tacky glue sold in Home Depot and craft stores for a buck or two for 8 ounces.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: More Questions on Dating a 200A

« on: December 14, 2018, 05:53:56 PM »

So there actually is good information in that thread but i'll summarize.  There are a bunch of places to get dates inside the wurlitzer.  On the keys is a date code.  First digit is the last digit of the year (i.e. 70304192 is 1977).  2nd and third digits of that number are the month, and 4th and 5th digits are the day. The example would be March 4, 1977.  There is also a number stamped on the back of the action on the treble side.  Same format.  The transformer also has an EIA format code from which you can tell the date. The pots also have date codes. The large black chip on the amplifier has a date code.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: More Questions on Dating a 200A

« on: December 14, 2018, 01:01:01 PM »

This thread should give you a starting point.  The serial number does not really have anything to do with it. It will give you a general timeframe, but it is not numerically related to any dates. There are many places under the hood which give more accurate timeframes.

https://ep-forum.com/smf/index.php?topic=6837.msg53546#msg53546

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Leveling a Harp

« on: December 12, 2018, 12:22:17 PM »

Probably the greatest mystery of all

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer 214, all keys ring (press damper pedal)

« on: December 12, 2018, 12:20:52 PM »

This will always be there to some effect, but shouldn't be that noticeable. Check your damper regulation (1/32" max  gap between damper arm and felt on damper rail). Yours is probably larger.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Dating a Wurlitzer

« on: December 09, 2018, 01:22:25 PM »

The 8 digit stamp on the keys had the first numeral smeared, both on the bass side of the keyboard and the treble side. The stamp reads X0421370.

My 8 digit stamp code was 40422442 (1964) but the action is stamped 50304055 (1965). Your keys are probably 1964 also.

The speaker only had a part number and manufacturer code stamped on it, the manufacturer being Carbonneau.

My carbonneau speaker reads 651109-1, 719, 417 which probaly 1965 also. What's yours say?

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Escapement Adjustment Post Miracle Mod

« on: December 09, 2018, 07:14:41 AM »

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.

29

The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / First and Last pickups dead - Overvoltage?

« on: November 27, 2018, 09:09:38 AM »

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

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Noisy Rhodes Sitting on top of Hammond

« on: November 14, 2018, 11:16:43 AM »

Thanks again for your input, this has been extremely helpful and I'll be posting back with results as soon as I get them.