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.

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.

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!

For those who don’t know me, I’m a musician, artist, and writer. This website will be for my music. In the meantime, check me out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ginariggio or search me on iTunes!

Most of the content has been updated so far, so feel free to read my bio and sample some of my tunes using the various links I have posted. I’m still working diligently on the design and bringing you new, up to date photos and videos!

If you are a journalist and would like to write a review of my album, please contact me by email or via any social networking site listed on my contact page and I will send you a free copy!

Looking forward to your return!