Wanna Help me with a Wurlitzer Electric Piano?

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:58 pm

well a friend is moving and he's letting me hold on to an old Wurly student model...

here's the problem...
can't find a standard power cord anywhere..

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:16 pm

well it appears that i won't be finding a standard power cord...soo..

anyone know where to put the cord?

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:34 pm

or more importantly where to attach the ground...?

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:52 am

and furthermore...

LeedyGuy · Post by **LeedyGuy** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:54 am

I have one of those! but without the cabinet. mine has a standard power cord like a computer takes...is that a mod? mine has been modded to shit...it had tremolo that was horrible, then i had that taken out, but i fried the circuitboard in the process so i got a new circuitboard...now who the heck knows what im dealing with. and the speakers dont work either

i need a sustain for mine...

wow. i guess i am NO help in this thread.

so whos got a sustain?

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:22 am

Put in a standard IEC 3 pin power cord recep. (like you'd find on any modern gear with a removable power cord). Pull the crappy old 2 pronger out and mount the new recep where the 2 pronger went. It might take a bit of surgery to get the new recep to fit but it will work. Land the hot and neutral for the IEC where the leads for the 2 prong recep went. Should be on the main amplifier board down by the bass notes somewheres. Land the ground for the IEC on the big aluminum base plate that the main amplifier board is mounted to. We've done this to both of our 200A's and it works fine...

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:44 am

On my 206 (looks identical to yours), the two-prong cord was hard-wired into the multicore shit that comes out at the back. You can get the schem/layout diagrams here:

http://www.alphabeck.co.uk/hoep/wurlymanual.html

Ground on the 3-prong cord attaches to the screw in between the two pickups.

Those 206's are totally packed with extra wiring that was intended for hooking a bunch of them together with a teacher's piano...it's a fucking mess. I ended up gutting it, and replacing almost every single part on the PC board. And then enabling the trem and getting rid of the speaker selection switch.

IT WAS WORTH IT.

LeedyGuy · Post by **LeedyGuy** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:40 am

enabling the trem? i think mine has a 200 board in it now or something...i have no idea what was done to it. i'd love for it to have that trem though

SUSTAIN PEDAL ANYONE?!?!

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:48 am

yess if you have any links to the mods you mentioned that would be great..

here's what i would like to do

powercord...duh..
trem mod
pull excess wiring as you described...cause as bad as i wanna have a room of these with me at the teachers console handing out F's i just don't see that happening anytime soon..

and Most importantly i would like to hook up the headphone mic to the speakers...i NEED that to happen..

do you think the value of the piano will be lessened by doing this sort of thing...?

cause i love money...i love to eat it..

pretzels · Post by **pretzels** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:17 pm

The 206 model has the vibrato circuitry installed but disabled. All you have to do is remove the short between the pin contacts and wire the intensity pot across the pins. You'll have to get rid of the speaker switch selection pot and get a pot from Morelock's. I think the value for the 206 series is 10K.

If in fact you have a 206A, then the vibrato circuitry is not installed at all. You'd have to buy a vibrato kit and install the components yourself or just take it to a tech. Check your model number. The 206A has speakers in the base, the 206 does not. The circuit board has both a headphone out and a line out. For student models the headphone out is tapped but the line out is not.

Join the wurlitzer piano Yahoo group and search the archives. I chopped my 206 about a year ago. There are some instructions on how to do the chop and also a layman's diagram of the circuit board included in the files section of the group. For parts, use Morelock's out of Mississipi. They acquired all the leftover parts when the factory shut down. Don't be afraid to use a MITA tech if you are not comfortable with doing the work yourself. Be careful that you unplug the piano when working on it as you can shock yourself very easily by touching the fuse and/or volum pot.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 1:35 pm

pretzels wrote:The 206A has speakers in the base, the 206 does not.

Except when it does. Like on mine.

I think there are almost more weirdo examples than "correct" ones...my piano has the trem installed AND the speakers in the base. And I converted the headphone out to line out. It's an all-transistor model...

Pretzels is totally right about the Yahoo group...they're nice folks on there and really into their pianos. All the mod info is on there somewhere--that's how I learned it all. And the trem enabling circuit is right there on the schem in that link I posted. Luckily all the parts on the wurlis are large and spaced far apart, so you can replace them without a lot of trouble.

Definitely redo the filter caps and C18, too. Morelock's or Vintage Vibe will sell you the parts.

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:25 pm

kentothink wrote:I have one of those! but without the cabinet. mine has a standard power cord like a computer takes...is that a mod? mine has been modded to shit...it had tremolo that was horrible, then i had that taken out, but i fried the circuitboard in the process so i got a new circuitboard...now who the heck knows what im dealing with. and the speakers dont work either

i need a sustain for mine...

wow. i guess i am NO help in this thread.

so whos got a sustain?

Not like i'm helping the thread much either but. . .

This one that kentothink has is a franken-wurlitzer. Tres bizarre if you ask me. Ken and I got it on ebay for this singer/songwriter that we were working with at the time. It was a 206A that was converted to a 200A? or something. . .There was tremolo and a 1/4" out. . .as well as speakers. We tried recording it and it was plagued with a terrible buzz. We opened it up. . .removed a few screws. . .put them back. . .and it literally never worked again. A friend of mine and I tried to get it working but all it did was blow fuses. I found a guy online that was selling 200A boards so we bought one of those. We soon found out that there was a lot of crap that needed to be done. If i remember correctly, the board in there was actually a 200 board (206) and not a 200A. The whoe thing needed to be jury rigged to work with the 200A board. I took it to my amp guy and he fixed it. No more trem or speakers, but it works.

To contribute at least a little, I do know that the power out was an add on. It was very easy to add a 3 prong power receptical that accepted normal computer-type power cables. I think i may still have the schematics if you need them?

-James

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:17 pm

a quick search around town yeilded no IEC recepticles...
radio shack doesn't have them???
that's pathetic...
it's not like thats a crazy obscure part...they're in everything...

so my quick and dirty wiring will do the trick till monday

sooo no speakers up top but the 2 in the base look and sound lovely...
line out and the headphones/mic work like a champ but only threw the lineout...
boss ds-1 to gibson thor...heh

mine is a very clean sounding one...i've heard others that were all dirt...
adjusting the pre trimpot all the way up got me no dirt :(
i like dirty wurlys...

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:31 pm

No dirt?!!? Even when you play hard?

Still, even clean, I love these suckers

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:52 am

sooo which channel does the mic go threw???

easy one
recap will clean up freq response?
will this make the amp louder?
the tones are lovely...

i like hammonds...and casio..
this is my 1st piano....
i took violin...and clarinet...

never had piano lessons..
i'm not sure how hard you have to hit it..
tho i would normally hit it very hard..

pounding on a wurlitzer is good...that's the whole point..

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Wanna Help me with a Wurlitzer Electric Piano?

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