Messages

1

The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer Jack Springs and Front Rail Pins

« on: October 11, 2019, 10:17:10 AM »

How cool is that polisher! I wonder how it does on the oblong front rail pins.  Seems like they would tear it up?

As for reporting to VV, I have not. It states on their website that they are 1" springs. I bought these a year or two ago and don't know what the description said at the time. I know 1" springs will fit and have some coming today actually. I just don't know if they will buckle due to being too long.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer Jack Springs and Front Rail Pins

« on: October 11, 2019, 06:17:42 AM »

I did try their jack springs... unfortunately they are too big as well. As for that tool, that is quite interesting... do you have to use a polishing compound of some sort??

3

The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Wurlitzer Jack Springs and Front Rail Pins

« on: October 10, 2019, 02:05:04 PM »

I looked into the Vandaking springs already (the shorter spinet ones that are 25/32" long) and they won't work. The diameter at the bottom of the coil is .230" whereas the bore on the wurlitzer whip is ~.210". I really don't feel like removing the fly and boring the hole larger but may have to. The 1" springs have a .200" coil diameter at the bottom which would fit, but the spring would probably buckle. I used the 8:1 solution on the center pin a couple times and it is definitely free. I shoved a new spring in there even though it didn't fit and it fixed my issue.

As for the rail pins, Vandakings aren't the right size either. Wurlitzers are .137" wide and 1-3/8" long.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Wurlitzer Jack Springs and Front Rail Pins

« on: October 09, 2019, 07:20:13 PM »

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.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: No vibrato in 206a after installing the kit....where to start trouble shooting

« on: September 06, 2019, 11:45:40 AM »

I got mine from there as well. I think the next thing to check is your bank account to see if you have enough money to buy a Warneck amp. Honestly I don’t know what to check. I guess you could make one of those headphone circuit testers to trace the signal path.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: No vibrato in 206a after installing the kit....where to start trouble shooting

« on: September 04, 2019, 08:53:40 PM »

I did it once, same thing. No vibrato. I said the hell with it and went Retrolinear and haven’t looked back.

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The Fender Rhodes Electric Piano / Re: Help selecting tone pot capacitor for Rhodes Piano Bass

« on: August 17, 2019, 02:16:48 PM »

Hi all, I have a December 1969 Piano bass (sparkle top) that i'm working on. My circuit differs from that found above. Here is mine vs. the one above. I don't know what the difference in sound would be, or which is superior. Mine looks original too. Looks like the tone pot is wired the same just reversed, but the volume pot is slightly different (tapers are different too).

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / Re: New electromechanical piano brand

« on: August 08, 2019, 06:28:21 PM »

Interesting. Sounds bell like, like a Rhodes but those are obviously reeds.

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Other Keyboards & Software Synths / Re: New electromechanical piano brand

« on: August 07, 2019, 10:36:10 AM »

this seems bogus

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Lacking Sustain in the high end

« on: August 02, 2019, 11:38:45 PM »

And also that the reed bar mounting screws are not over tightened... there should be a little play around those spacers, just a tiny bit.

:::scratching my head:::

 

Can you elaborate?

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Just got a 206A - need vibrato and line out parts list

« on: July 24, 2019, 11:10:37 AM »

There are instructions on VV's website, but you'll have to cross-reference the schematic for component values, etc. The LED LDR may be tough to source.

12

The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Best procedure for re-gluing nameplate on 200 series Wurlies?

« on: June 28, 2019, 04:39:17 PM »

Whatever it was it didn’t last. I have yet to see an original faceplate that is still securely attached and not lifting somewhere. I use contact cement on new glues. Vintage vibes faceplates have 3M peel n stick type tape on the backs, Retrolinear’s must be glued.

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The Wurlitzer Electric Piano / Re: Best procedure for re-gluing nameplate on 200 series Wurlies?

« on: June 28, 2019, 11:44:15 AM »

The original nameplates look to have used an adhesive tape

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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

15

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?

17

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.

18

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.