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.

Wurlitzer 200 and 200a keyboards came with some essential accessories and parts, as well as some that were optional at the original time of purchase. If you are less familiar with a Wurlitzer 200 series keyboard, you might overlook something that is critical and you’ll want to have. For the sake of this article, we will be discussing exterior items and accessories, not internal mechanicals, and will be focusing on the 200 and 200a. However, a lot of this information can be applied to the rest of the 200 series (such as 203, 210, 214, 206 and so on).

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.

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.

We have a lot of affection for this 112 service manual. First of all, the manual’s Introduction conveys a lot of the excitement surrounding the electronic piano, now available in the new-and-improved 112a version. It is an “entirely new concept!” It is “similar in many ways to the conventional piano” and yet “quite different!” It is a “piano with a purpose!!”

A Wurlitzer is a self-contained instrument. Thanks to its onboard speakers and onboard amplifier, all you truly need to get started playing a Wurlitzer is the Wurlitzer itself. No external amps or accessories required!

Of course, there are a few pieces of gear that will make your Wurlitzer perform at its fullest potential. Here’s what we recommend:

If you own vintage gear, you must have a really good outlet to plug it into. There are a lot of options for this, but our favorite is the Furman SS-6B power strip.

Our Furman SS-6B is easily the most essential thing in our studio. Not even exaggerating: it is a pleasure to plug things into this strip. If you have only ever used cheap, flimsy surge strips — or, God forbid, you’ve been plugging all your gear straight into the wall — you are honestly in for a treat when you use this thing. If I could return to any moment in my life, I’d choose the first time I plugged something into my Furman SS-6B, just to relive the surprise and delight of it.

Early Wurlitzer keyboards — the 112, 120, and 140-series — have built in leg storage. The outer lid (which is hopefully still present all these years!) has a space to firmly screw in the legs, as well as a little strap in the center to hold them in place. This is probably early Wurlitzers’ most underrated feature!

A Wurlitzer electronic piano is a unique instrument that uses a piano-like action assembly to strike metal reeds of various pitches to make sound. Like traditional acoustic pianos, a Wurlitzer electronic piano (or EP) has an action assembly with wooden hammers, keys, whips and dampers. However, the tone is generated when the hammer strikes a metal reed, whereas on acoustic piano a string is being struck. One simple principle remains the same though: longer or larger tone generators make lower-pitched notes, and shorter or smaller tone generators make higher-pitched notes.

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.

Every tube amplifier has a preferred speaker impedance: usually, this is something in the neighborhood of 4 Ω or 8 Ω. The preferred speaker impedance of tube Wurlitzers are as follows:

We are very excited to announce that our collection of Wurlitzer service manuals are available for download!

The Wurlitzer service manuals are a valuable resource in restoring Wurlitzer keyboards. Although they are not perfect, they contain a lot of interesting, useful, and historically important information. The 112 claims that it is not a guide on servicing pianos in “ten easy steps” (condescending air-quotes theirs!), but it kind of is. You should read the service manual corresponding to your Wurlitzer — and maybe even a few others, since a lot of the information can be applied across models.

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 only true difference between 140-series and 145-series Wurlitzers is the amplifier. Both keyboards were released in the 1960s and represented a total redesign of the Wurlitzer electronic piano. Wurlitzer overhauled the mechanical action, revised the cabinet, and — for the first and only time — manufactured two parallel styles of amplifier: a solid state amp (the 140/140a/140b) and a tube amp (the 145).

Tube amplifiers (and many solid state amplifiers) contain high voltages. Like any reasonably dangerous household object, you should certainly respect your tube amp. However, you don’t have to be afraid of it. If the amp is unplugged and the chassis is screwed in, it is safe to perform basic maintenance like replacing mains fuses and swapping tubes. In fact, fuses and tubes are accessible from the chassis because they are intended to be replaced by the user.

Cathode bypass capacitors are not absolutely necessary in a circuit. However, their presence or absence in an amplifier affects three things: gain, frequency response, and hum.

If you feel that your amp is lacking in any of these aspects, determining whether the cathodes are bypassed is a good place to start.

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.

Whenever you think about modifying a vintage electronic piano, you should think about two things. Is the mod reversible? And, if not, am I actually improving the keyboard?

A Wurlitzer electronic piano has been around for decades. Clearly, Wurlitzer did something right when they manufactured them, because even after all these years they are still desirable. It is important to avoid performing impulsive mods that will irreversibly change the keyboard. Think it through. Consider whether the mod enhances the function of the keyboard. Consider whether there is a less invasive way to reach the same goal.

Before we start, a disclaimer: hum should be addressed on a case-by-case basis, because every vintage amp is special and degrades in its own way. What cures one amp may not work for another. That said, reading this guide should give you a good starting point on how to address your own hum problems. This guide is pretty basic and going to assume that the only piece of test equipment that you have is a multimeter.