Gina Riggio

Wurlitzer Restoration, Part 2

with and w/o felts

I finally ordered some items from Vintage Vibe to start fixing up the Wurli. All I’ve done so far is replace all of the damper felts, the volume knob, and coated the insides with metal tape. It really didn’t take that much time and was pretty inexpensive. It turns out the 700 Series is basically the same inside as the 120 Series, and the 120 has cheaper parts than the more popular 200. There is still some engineering work to be done on it, which I will probably post about sometime later, also with pictures.

The old felts basically disintegrated to the touch so it was pretty easy to remove them. I used a nail file to get the remaining bits of 50 year old glue off of the wood. I must say, the new damper felts definitely make a world of difference in the sound! I have included a video to show you the difference between the sound of the notes with and without the felts. Notice how it sounds all eerie and sustained without them, and a lot more crisp with them.

metal tape coating

Another thing I did was coat the under side of the lid, the front piece, the surface above the space containing the electrical parts, and the back piece (the part that doesn’t show) with metal tape in order to construct a “Faraday shield” to prevent some of the humming. This probably won’t be enough to get rid of all of it without some other work on the power supply, which my dad will take care of. He’s also going to connect all of the now-metal surfaces with other wiring to complete the shield.

We also replaced the potentiator, which Vintage Vibe did not carry. My dad managed to find a comparable one somewhere else and now there is no more popping when I turn on the piano.

Wurlitzer Restoration, Part 1

my new toy

I recently acquired a 700 Series Wurlitzer Piano, since the baby boomers and their parents bought enough stuff to fulfill not only their wants but those of the generations to come. It’s one of the spinet models from 1959-1963,which means it is totally heavy, totally inconvenient, and totally awesome. I’ve decided to document the restoration process right here for your viewing pleasure. Thanks in advance to my dad who is both a professional engineer and a professional packrat. He has been helping me with the electrical aspects of the process since I don’t have top notch mechanical intuition.

front and top removed

The first order of business was to figure out why the internal amp was humming and crackling. We first removed the back, top, and front of the Wurlitzer to clean out all of the dust and locate the wires that connected to the volume knob and the 1/4″ output. The volume knob (or “potentiator” as I learned) and output were really dirty, so we cleaned it with an air duster and electrical switch and contact cleaner. That got rid of a lot of the crackling, but eventually the potentiator will have to be replaced because cleaning it will only hold off this problem temporarily. My dad says this is a classic problem with potentiators and dirt can permanently damage them, so we are going to order a replacement.

control box removed

There was still a significant amount of humming, but it didn’t seem like there was a problem with the grounding. It wasn’t until I accidentally leaned on the dimmer switch for the living room light and turned it off that the humming stopped and we realized what was going on. The piano can’t be played anywhere near a light bulb with a dimmer switch because it will interfere with the input. Covering the input with the wood top won’t make a difference because wood isn’t a good shield. Regular light switches don’t cause the same problem.

1/4" jack with switch

Instead of strings, the hammers hit metal reeds which vibrate like tuning forks. They are sandwiched between a receiver and an insulator and the sound goes from there to an input wire which goes to the amp. I also learned that the Wurlitzer has three different outputs for external speakers – a 1/4″ inch jack with a switch that allows you to bypass the internal amp, a regular 1/4″ jack, and an RCA output. The Wurlitzer is somewhat like the electric guitar of pianos, except a guitar is electromagnetic and the Wurli is electrostatic.

power supply with tubes

The next task was to do a better job grounding the Wurlitzer, since it was built before three-prong grounded power cables existed. We removed the whole power unit…thing… (pictured to the right) and noticed that the transformer was taped on. My dad thought someone had used paper between the case and the transformer to ground the unit and just taped it back on instead of bolting it down. So, he removed the tape and paper, bolted it down, and soldered on a three-prong input so now the piano can be plugged in using a modern computer cable.

Unfortunately, once the unit was plugged back in, a very loud humming sound occurred and the fuse blew. So, apparently the paper did serve a purpose other than grounding and may have been put there by the manufacturer once the design flaw was discovered. If anybody has an alternate opinion about this issue, leave it in the comments. Meanwhile, he replaced the fuse and insulated the transformer with carpet tape where the paper used to be . He also took off the adapter for the computer cable and soldered back on a 2-prong cord which is what the system was built for. Further modifications might be needed before it can handle a 3 prong grounded cable.

worn-out damper felts

The damper felts also need to be replaced. After the hammer strikes a reed, a wooden arm with a foam pad on the end drops down onto the reed to halt the sustain. After several decades of neglect, the felts disintegrated and are now not doing their job of dampening the sound after a key is struck. Therefore, it sounds like the sustain pedal is stuck “ON” and all of the notes bleed together. In the picture to the left you can see how one felt is chewed up and the other is totally gone. Hopefully I can find a restoration kit that contains these things that I need. I’m also considering buying this repair and restoration DVD.

All of the pictures can be enlarged for a more detailed view by clicking on them.

Back in the Studio

Recently, I connected with a local recording engineer and found myself back in the studio recording some new songs! I’m trying things a little differently this time around. My plan is to record one or two songs at a time over an extended period rather than writing all of the songs first and then hammering them out at once. I think this new approach will result in recordings that “breathe” a little bit more than my previous work has. My intentions are to change up the instrumentation every few tracks by inviting guest artists and bands to join me and develop this project as more of composition album than as a singer/songwriter album.

I’m also excited to release these new tracks ( just piano and vocals for now) for free download on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and on this website when the mixing is complete. There may or may not also be video included. A friend of mine filmed the session and I’ll have that up for free download as well, provided I don’t look like a huge dork. (I haven’t seen the footage yet.)

In other news, I’ve been discussing a collaboration between myself and the guitar/didge duo Steam City Riders. Mysterytrain, of course, is busy as always and has every weekend booked for the entire summer. Phew! I get tired just thinking about it. All in all, this is looking like it will be an exciting year for me.

Showcase Tonight @ Red Horse Tavern!

Hey everybody! Just wanted to make a real quick post about the jazz showcase tonight at the Red Horse Tavern. Dirty Superb will be the house band and the second set will feature a heaping handful of local soloists. I’ll be there playing three songs with them sometime after 10:30 so don’t miss it! Peace!

Webster’s Fundraiser

I’m pretty excited about playing at Websters Bookstore & Cafe on April 7th. We’ve got a really interesting line-up for you! I’ll be playing some of my piano tunes accompanied by Jacob Haqq-Misra on congas. Also, later on, we’ll be hearing from Preston Lantz, a undiscovered talent from Altoona, performing some of his spoken word creations. Ryan Alford of Dirty Superb and Hounds of Soul will be taking a break from funkin’ out and play some instrumental acoustic guitar pieces. Jacob will also return to the stage and grace us with a reading from his first book “Planetary Messenger,” a philosophical novel about aliens, the environment, religion, and the deplorable nature of airline travel. You really shouldn’t miss this event!

Of course, there is no cover charge to get in, but we do ask that attendees make a donation.  100% of the tips will go to The AIDS Project of Centre County to help them raise funds to reinstate free HIV testing for everyone, rather than just high risk cases.

Please make this event memorable by showing up and bringing friends. I’d like to do it again sometime and continue the momentum of generosity in the community, especially during such difficult times. See you on April 7th!

Confusion over the song “One Way Out”

I’ve had some people tell me that they think my song “One Way Out” on Ultraviolet Catastrophe is about contemplating suicide. It isn’t. I feel as though I really need to clear this up before it gets out of hand.

The chorus of the song is as follows. “Some nights I don’t sleep much / Instead I think about how / there’s only one way out / whether I’m winning / or if I’m being kept alive by wishful thinking or self pride / it stops with me.”

One Way Out – Full MP3

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I understand how that may be construed as being very dark, and I can see how it would be mistaken for lyrics about contemplating suicide. I am taking this as a lesson in being careful with metaphors because I’ve had two comments so far by people who have a history of paying very close attention to my lyrics and both of them have implied that they thought the song was about suicide.

In fact, the real story behind One Way Out is a positive one. I was feeling very hopeful when I wrote this, and the “one way out” mentioned in the song’s chorus is not suicide, but rather an experimental medical treatment I’ve been involved with and was heavily into at the time I wrote the song. While most things have not helped me become well, this particular treatment is something completely different and offered me a lot of hope. The trouble with the treatment is that it’s very difficult and goes against a lot of conventional wisdom, which often created a lot of drama in my life and resulted in many sleepless nights.

The chorus refers to those sleepless nights where I stayed up wondering if the treatment would really work, or if it was just wishful thinking that made me want to keep going with it. Either way, I knew the cycle of illness had to stop with me, so my children and children’s children would not have to bear the same burden. The song is ultimately about hope, staying alive, and beating the odds.