Replacing a reed on your Wurlitzer electronic piano is not difficult.  There are a few important things to keep in mind for the best results.  One, the reed needs to be as close to perfectly centered in the ‘comb-shaped’ pickup as possible. Two, the reed has a bit of wiggle room on the reed screw, and where the reed sits (favoring forwards or backwards) impacts the intonation.  Three, the tightness of the reed screw matters.  Four, there are different sized reeds for the different models of Wurlitzer electronic pianos, as well as the different registers of your piano.  Five, the solder ‘pyramid’ on the tip of the reed, which is the main area of tuning the reed, should be a symmetrical pyramid for the best sound (but this may not be of importance to you if you are buying a pre-tuned reed).

What do Jack Springs do? And, What are they?

The jack spring is a small, thin gauged spring about 1” tall that sits between the whip and the fly on your 140 or 200 series Wurlitzer. These are also in upright and grand pianos and come in a few sizes depending on the model of your piano/keyboard.

You may have heard that we restore hand wired tube amps that are found in various Wurlitzer Electronic Pianos. This article is intended to answer some questions on what we do, what our process is and what you can expect.

Let me answer your question with another question, have they ever been changed before? Then, yes, they’re weak, and probably bad. In all seriousness, once installed, a jack spring (which is a pretty thin gauge) is constantly in use because it’s always under tension. Fast forward 50 years and you have a spring that is likely close to being worn out. Add rust or oxidation and they’re definitely worn out.

What do Jack Springs do? And, What are they?

The jack spring is a small, thin gauged spring about 1” tall that sits between the whip and the fly on your 140 or 200 series Wurlitzer. These are also in upright and grand pianos and come in a few sizes depending on the model of your piano/keyboard.

Part of what makes a Wurlitzer electronic piano feel so great (and so piano-like) to play is its action design. Unlike the simple action of a Rhodes keyboard (which merely consists of a key and a hammer) a Wurlitzer’s action has multiple points of contact and moving parts all working together to smoothly transfer the motion of the player’s touch to the hammer striking tone generator. Like all other pianos, a Wurlitzer electronic piano’s complex action assembly is driven by the key. This sounds obvious, but it is important to note that the key sits on two felt punchings and it is at these points where the first critical action adjustments are done.

At this point, we have only opened up this Wurlitzer 207a in order to clean it. However, we did take a thousand pictures of the very cool (and completely untouched) circuit boards inside the keyboard. So we thought we’d do a quick post to share the disassembly process.

We had this Wurlitzer 726 for about two minutes before someone snatched it up, so we don’t have very many photos of it. But we remember it fondly because it was definitely one of the best-sounding Wurlitzers we’ve ever played. It is rare that a 726 amplifier (i.e., 140b amp) is in excellent working condition, but when it is, the tone is very sweet.

We’re always very excited when we have a vintage Wurlitzer 203w in the shop. There are so many reasons why:

1. The casters. They are amazing. The Wurlitzer itself has this space-age plastic top, but the casters are more old-fashioned: vaguely Victorian-looking, actually. They really are the cherry on top of the retro-futuristic look of the keyboard. Not every console 200/200a has casters. They’re cool with or without casters, of course, but the casters definitely add style points.

Although we love a good original-condition Wurlitzer, we also refinish them occasionally. When refinishing, we try to choose models that are in poor condition and do not have any particular historical significance. (More on our criteria for modding keyboards here.) This keyboard definitely fit the bill.

Troubleshooting a vintage amplifier involves a skillset that is distinct from designing new circuits. The prime advantage of troubleshooting — the fact that the circuit has already been created for you, in its entirety — is also its biggest challenge.

Chrome Wurlitzer 200 and 200a legs are often rusty. Unlike earlier models, the 200 and 200a do not have built-in leg storage. And chrome legs are often not stored as conscientiously as the keyboard itself — or, even if they were originally, they’re prone to rolling away (probably, as luck would have it, into the dampest corner of the room). Anyway, we’re happy anytime the original legs are present, regardless of their condition. (Without the built-in storage method, they are very easy to lose over a span of 35+ years!) And if they are covered in rust — good news! — it is easy to remove.

All speakers have an impedance, usually 4 Ω, 8 Ω, or 16 Ω. For the best performance, you should match the impedance of your speakers to the output impedance of your amplifier. When the impedances match, the amp achieves the most efficient power transfer between the speaker and the amplifier. Power transfer, expressed in watts, affects the volume, drive, and overall sound quality of the amplifier.

When you repair an amplifier, you have two choices. You can bring it back to its original state by fixing only what is broken. Or, you can improve the circuit by modding it.

There is a lot to love about an amplifier that is in fully-functioning, but original, condition. When using a vintage amp, you are playing music on a slice of time. You are combining two different musical periods in a way that is impossible to replicate with any other gear. It’s basically time travel.

If you have just scored a vintage Wurlitzer 200 or 200A, or perhaps you are just pulling one out of storage, you may find that the metal hardware has rusted or tarnished. Depending on where the Wurlitzer was stored, the chrome on the legs might have pitting and/or rust, and more than likely the feet have rust as well. In this article we are going to talk about how to replace the Wurlitzer feet. New Metal Wurlitzer feet are available in our shop and will be a closer match to the vintage chrome legs than the old dull feet. Also your studio floors will thank you!

When restoring a Wurlitzer, there are a lot of really tedious and time-consuming steps: polishing keys, lubricating action parts, regulating, tuning, etc. We could go on and on — but we won’t, because today we are talking about rust removal, a task that is not on that list. Removing rust is easy and actually borderline fun because it only requires two things: a little Evapo-Rust and a few hours to kill while the product works its magic.

The 206a is the student-model Wurlitzer. It shares all the same cosmetic features of its professional counterparts, except - appropriate for the classroom - everything about it is just a little less exciting. Instead of dramatic black, here we have friendly beige. Instead of four speakers, we have two. Instead of vibrato, we have the self/ensemble knob.

These photos are from a batch of four student model Wurlitzers that we recently picked up. All arrived in amazing condition, with very few rips or scuffs and immaculately clean interiors. With just a little restoration, they became excellent and highly playable examples of early 200 Wurlitzers. Only one is still available.

In the classroom, multiple student-model Wurlitzers were connected to each other via the two ports on the back. This connection allowed each Wurlitzer to communicate with the teacher console. It also linked each Wurlitzer to the mains wiring so that they could power on in the first place.

This Wurlitzer 214 that we once had is a classic example of 214 glory. The Avocado green top was in excellent condition and the tolex was all there without any tears. The wooden keybed has some “chair” nicks and the grill cloth had some stains, but no tears! Perhaps the most amazing feature of the 214 is that it is a complete 200 set on top of a console which houses four 8” round speakers. The four speakers - two in front and two in the back - project the Wurlitzer’s awesome tone in all directions!

When we walked into the room where the original owner had this keyboard, the seller mentioned they had it switched on for us ready to try out. We thought, oh then it must not be making sound because we heard nothing - not even the usual idle hum. We played a A-7 chord, and a wall of rich tube sound blasted out of the massive 12” alnico speaker. Needless to say, we were floored.

This is a classic example of a Wurlitzer 112a that we once had. We photographed it in our main studio live room. A serviced Wurlitzer 112a electronic piano is a powerful music making tool in any studio! The effective alnico speaker is mounted on the rear of the instrument so it can be easily mic’d without picking up much (or any) mechanical key or finger noise from the players’ hands.