Wurlitzer sustain question

[bakesale]

I'm new to my recently purchased Wurli 200a so excuse me if this is a daft question...
- when I depress the sustain pedal the lowest A and the lowest E flat depress automatically ,effectively muting them-
Is this -normal and or fixable?

cheers
matt[/b]

[pianotuner steveo]

no, it is not normal, and I'm sure it's fixable. The screws on the back of the dampers may be turned down too tight,or it could be something else.unfortunately its very difficult to troubleshoot mechanical problems in a wurli without seeing what is happening,

Can you be more specific as to what happens?

(Do you have the cover and static shield removed?)

[bakesale]

No haven't been game to open it up as yet-but will soon pluck up the courage and check back in. Any tips for getting the top off???
Please excuse my total inexperience with this thing!
Basically with each push of the sustain pedal the two keys I mentioned drop (as though I have played them and have my fingers pressing down on the keys)-.
Pushing he pedal actually 'plays' these two notes as well-ie you can here these notes whenever the pedal is depressed. The harder I press on the pedal with each push, the louder the notes created.

Thanks for your reply -will check back in soon

cheers
m

[pianotuner steveo]

There could be a wire or something inside that is moving the keys,or it could be what I stated before, or other things-such as nasty mouse nests or whatever...Unplug the AC, remove the knobs, remove the screws from under the front of the keys, carefully lift up the top,being very careful of the speaker wires, and remove the static shield to see what's going on. It may even just be the static shiled is too low,or bent.

Let me know what you see happening at this point.....

[bakesale]

Hey thanks for giving me the courage to open it up. Found a few odd things in there including a guitar plectrum (?) and a couple of bits of yellow foam stuffed on top of the steel shield which meant that with the lid on there was too much pressure on certain keys especially with the sustain pedal depressed.
Had a poke around, tidied it up, got rid of the loose objects and it seems to work OK now-
BUT-even before I did this the keyboard started to have quite a distorted farty kind of sound on down in volume (not just through the speakers either..)
Looks like the amp might need a look at-oh dear.

Cheers
m

[andi85]

Yes, just like mine :?

But before you give it to somebody:
- What about your speakers? They might be in not-so-good condition.
- Have you ever tried to play it over an external amp? If it's distorting that way, too, it's probably an amp issue.

[pianotuner steveo]

Or, most likely, poking around inside caused some of that foam,or dirt,or dust or whatever to settle onto the reed bar. This can cause a short between the reeds and the pickups causing an annoying crackle.This is VERY common in Wurlis-this same sound can also happen from condensation when moving a wurli in the winter.Going into the cold air,back into a warm house, then turning it on too soon can cause this very same crackle.
Unplug from wall and clean it out.
Never poke around inside a wurli with the power on.The pickups use 150VDC and it is easy to get zapped.

Most likely you will need to GENTLY blow some air through the reeds,(pedal down) make sure the compressor has a water trap (filter) on the line or you can compund the problem. Also,don;t have the air pressure up too high or you can damage dampers, etc. In a pinch, canned air for cleaning computer keyboards may work too. Try to blow the air from one end to the other and don;t go back the other way.This way you will (hopefully) chase whatever is in there out to one side and right out.