Just got an unexpected Freebie - Wurlitzer 200

[Mr. Nightime]

OK, time to try adding pictures/

 

First off, here is the action on the workbench.

 

The black marks are how I was able to keep track of what had and had not been lubricated

 

 

[Mr. Nightime]

This is one of the escapements. You can see the pivot points where it needed lubrication

 

[Mr. Nightime]

Here it is after I cleaned up the keybed, and got 40 years of gunk off the keys.

 

[Mr. Nightime]

And finally, here is the action sitting in place. I realigned all the hammers, and they all work fine. I just have not fully attached it.

 

You can see the damper rods sticking up behind the action. The bracket in between the hammers is where the harp Left & Right will go. And the post in the very back is for the damper assy. That's where the sustain pedal connects.

 

Middle of the night, I removed the one damper that required the replacement felt, and glued it on. I'm giving it until this evening for the glue to harden before installing it back into the damper assy.

 

Next step is to attach the action and fix the couple hammers that need some TLC, then reinstall the harps.

 

All goes well, I'll play a little something on it soon, and post the recording.

 

 

[Doerfler]

All goes well, I'll play a little something on it soon, and post the recording.

 

looking forward to that.

 

[WesG]

Okay, I realize I'm a little late to the party, but how did it go?  I just got a free 200 in similar condition and am about to do the same thing.

[HammondDave]

Had a 200A back in the 70’s. Have a 206 now. Nothing like a real Wurlie. 

[Doerfler]

5 hours ago, HammondDave said:

 Nothing like a real Wurlie. 

I wish this weren't true, however in my world it is true. My first was a 145B, sold it, bought a 200, sold it, bought another 200 then sold it last year.

Buyer made me a cash offer I couldn't refuse. Except I miss it. Alot. 

[elif]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:21 AM, WesG said:

Okay, I realize I'm a little late to the party, but how did it go?  I just got a free 200 in similar condition and am about to do the same thing.

Careful in there Wes, the stators (i think) have about 200 VDC on them.

 

I had a 140 for a while.  For the longest time I couldn't figure out why tone produced from a tine wasn't the 2nd harmonic of the tine's vibration frequency. The tine and stator form a time-varying capacitance.  When the tine is at rest, the capacitance is maximum.  At the maximum physical excursion either above or below the stator -- minimum capacitance. So one cycle of tine motion gives two points of maximum capacitance and two points of minimum capacitance. That should give two cycles of change for one cycle of tine vibration. What gives?

 

Then I worked on a Rhodes and it became clear -- the amount of 2nd harmonic is set by adjusting  the tine-to-pickup offset position at rest.  The Rhodes will generate a pure 2nd harmonic if they are aligned with no offest. I don't have a Wurlitzer anymore but I expect that the Wurlitzer tine is not centered in the stator gap. It's also not adjustable through simple means, though the tines could be bent I suppose to adjust the harmonic level.  Unfortunately that also changes tuning I think.

 

Being me, I replaced the noisy SS amp with a single op-amp transimpedance amplifier. The input is a virtual ground. The input current equals the change in capcitance times the DC voltage on the cap (thus the 200VDC).

 

  i(t) = V*dC/dt + C*dV/dt, but since the input is a virtual ground, the 2nd term is 0. It worked great.

 

Have fun!

 

-- bradley