We are extra-excited about this group of four Wurlitzer 200 student pianos because they are clearly of an early manufacture. Three of them had original music racks with the closely-spaced metal bars, which are incredibly rare. Even aside from that great detail, however, all of the keyboards were in great shape. They had clearly been used only lightly and had been stored in a clean, low-humidity area.

When we decided to make our own original guitar amplifier, we knew that the cabinet had to be original as well. The first idea we had was to eliminate the corners, which are always a weak point where sound quality is concerned. We also dreamed of a cabinet with a minimalist appearance that showcased the natural materials that it was made with.

We drove through the eastern U.S. on a pickup/delivery run last week. (Little-known fact! We do deliver long-distance. More info here.) We dropped off our gorgeous Wurlitzer 720a, and then picked up a handful of new pieces: a teacher/student 206a/207a pair, a 203w wheeled console Wurlitzer, an extremely rare Wurlitzer 140a, and a Fender Rhodes Mk I.

The 140b is at the midpoint of Wurlitzer's electronic piano production: a stepping stone from the vintage tone of the 100-series to the more reliable modern electronics of the 200-series. The mechanical parts are easier to work with. It has updated, 200-style reeds. It has a transistor amplifier like the 200, but an early one, with germanium power transistors and neon bulb vibrato.

We removed these switches from a Wurlitzer 726 electronic piano. This model was the student version of the 720 (itself the console version of the 140b). One switch was for toggling between "self" and "ensemble" modes, while the other switched between the built-in speaker and the hardwired headphones.

When we received this Sears Silvertone amplifier, it had no knobs, tubes, input jacks, or power cord. It had started its life as a hi fi amplifier to complement a record player. We looked at the all-tube circuit and saw the potential for a unique, one-of-a-kind guitar amp. 

Is a piano more an instrument or a piece of furniture? If you're reading this blog, you'd probably find the question offensive. Of course a piano is an instrument! But if you just live with a pianist - as a spouse or a parent - you'd might have a different perspective. Specifically, that the piano is neither instrument nor furniture but some big wooden behemoth that takes over the living room and clashes with everything. 

We have a few Wurlitzer 200 circuit boards that we use for parts. Most of repairing vintage equipment is maintaining a large hoard. Just because a component is obsolete doesn't mean it's useless: a lot of old transistors and diodes are both absolutely necessary and hard to source. We do our best to keep a surplus when possible. 

Before the electric guitar, lap steel was the coolest instrument a kid could play. Introduced to the United States by Hawaiian emigres in wake of the 1898 annexation of Hawaii, the lap steel became hugely popular in the first half of the 20th century. It was on the cutting edge of technology not once, but twice: first, on its invention in the 1880s, and later as one of the first amplified instruments. Played with a high action and a metal slide bar, it allows a musician to unlock all of those interesting microtonal pitches that hide behind the frets of a guitar. Manufacturers instantly capitalized on the craze by releasing lap steels bundled with instructional booklets, sheet music, and eventually amplifiers. 

It's always a pleasure to have two examples of the same vintage model in stock, but these Wurlitzer 700s are extra exciting. The 700 is not as well-documented as the later plastic-top Wurlitzer 200, and are often overlooked by collectors because of their traditional spinet-style cabinets. Acquiring two 700s gave us the rare opportunity to compare two rare electronic pianos.

Our latest Wurlitzer 112 is one of our cleanest yet. Although it's over 60 years old, it sounds fantastic. It still has all of its original parts, including a bench and music rack: two things that usually disappear over the years. We've put together a gallery of all the small details on this beautiful instrument that still impress us. 

Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" is probably Sears's coolest shoutout. It's the story of teen newlyweds with style, whose blue-collar bohemian lifestyle is powered by ginger ale and vinyl records. The song is living proof that, just because a piece of gear is "budget" or "entry-level," doesn't mean it lacks history. This Sears Silvertone guitar amplifier is a very cool addition to any gear collection. 

Video of the amp in action after the jump. 

The Wurlitzer 112 was released in 1955. Excluding some prototypes, it is the first Wurlitzer electronic piano. 

As the first of it's kind, the 112 has a lot of interesting features that were phased out in later iterations of Wurlitzer keyboards. First, the pedal is mounted to the side, rather than the bottom. By 1956, even the revised Wurlitzer 112A had a bottom-mounted pedal. Surviving original 112 pedals have become extremely rare. 

The 112 also has a unique silhouette: slightly deeper and taller than later Wurlitzers. A vintage keyboard is never going to fade into the wallpaper, but the 112 has a clear presence in a room. Between its size, speckled paint, and midcentury lines, this is definitely a statement piece. 

When Wurlitzer first released its electronic pianos in the mid-1950s, they were sleek and modern - almost space-age - in design. Curved cabinets, elegantly tapered legs, bold speckled paint jobs: inside and out, these were the pianos of the future, unlike any pianos ever built before. 

And Wurlitzer knew pianos. By 1955, the company had been manufacturing pianos for 75 years: uprights, spinets, compact grands. Wurlitzer did it all: entry-level apartment-friendly pianos, ornate heirloom-quality pianos, chic spinets trimmed in avocado tolex. The unusual design of their first electronic piano - the 112 - was a statement, not a necessity. If Wurlitzer wanted to give it a traditional look, they certainly had the resources to do so. 

Enter the 700. 

If you're mystified by this rare amp, you are not alone. Here's the story behind the most Fender of Gibson amps. 

In 1954, Gibson released the Les Paul Junior and its companion amp: the tiny, 5-watt GA-5. Keep in mind that, even in the 1950s, Gibson was a behemoth in the manufacture of musical instruments. The company had been around since 1902, and for fifty years Gibson had cultivated a reputation for high-quality, innovative guitars.

Four 8" speakers. Dramatic all-black styling. All the features of an original 200a amplifier. The 210 is truly the Wurlitzer's Wurlitzer. 

The Wurlitzer 206 is the Wurlitzer that went to school. Equal parts practical and utopian, it was invented to solve an age-old problem: how do you give group lessons on an instrument that weighs half a ton and is taller than the student? 

It's easy to mistake Wurlitzer as the little-brother rival to the Fender Rhodes. For one, Fender is still around dominating the market, while Wurlitzer faded away in the 1980s. 

In fact, Wurlitzer has a much more storied past than Fender. Wurlitzer was founded nearly a hundred years before Fender, and was a huge retailer of acoustic pianos (among other instruments) back when household electricity was just a mad scientist's fever dream.