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Vintage Synth Repair

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Message

RE: [vintagesynthrepair] Wurlitzer Organ repair help

2007-06-28 by Keith Niver

Sometimes it's hard to remember what happened yesterday. But when you work
on them all the time, it's hard to forget. 
 
Keith
 

-----Original Message-----
From: vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John Keeley
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:33 AM
To: vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [vintagesynthrepair] Wurlitzer Organ repair help





Sorry ,got it backwards.
Sometimes it's hard to remember much of the 70's .
               John

Keith Niver <kaniver@...> wrote:

Hi John.
We were a Wurlitzer dealer from 1957-mid 80's when they were sold to
Baldwin. I've been a tech since 1968. Pedals have always been low note
preference. The orbit keyboards were hi note preference. But you are correct
about the plastic swizzle stick. It is possible they are either broken or
not in the proper hole in the pedal. Unless the organ has been moved, they
are probably still in there somewhere. I would still look at the circuitry.
Perhaps a mouse chewed some wires and shorted them out for the bad pedals.If
the customer did find any mouse droppings, they should be very careful in
how they remove and clean the offending area. 
 

Keith A. Niver 
Certified MITA tech 
Master Certified Wurlitzer Tech.
Niver's Service Corp 
801 Columbia St 
Hudson, NY   12534 
518-828-0616, Bus 
518-755-6960, Cel 
kaniver@... 

-----Original Message-----
From: vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John Keeley
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6:58 AM
To: vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vintagesynthrepair] Wurlitzer Organ repair help


My Mother was a Wurlitzer dealer in the 60's-70's . If I remember ,the
pedals used a nylon "stick" that ran from the pedal to the contact switch
.They were prone to breaking .Also,the Wurlitzer played only one note at a
time on the pedal board .And play the highest note .
                                    John

James Cason <jlcason@...> wrote:


--- Kate <bobmannn@bellsouth. <mailto:bobmannn%40bellsouth.net> net> wrote:

> I could use some suggestions to repair my Wurlitzer
> Model 4373. I 
> inherited it from my Uncle recently. It appears that
> it had not been 
> played in quite a while, as a lot of the keys made
> no sound and there 
> was a lot of static in the switches. I cleaned all
> the contacts which 
> restored all the keys and eliminated the static, but
> the pedals do not 
> work right.
> Going UP the scale, I press the pedals:
> C D E F G A B C
> The sounds, however, come out
> C D E E G G B C
> When I play the pedals DOWN scale, neither the E nor
> the G play any 
> sound...I must go back up the scale to get the sound
> (albeit the wrong 
> notes)
> I cleaned the contacts, made sure there were no
> obvious shorts or 
> crushed wiring, but no luck.
> Anyone have any suggestions?
> Thanks for reading this far...
> Bob
> 
> 

If I remember correctly (it has been a while) that
model Wurlitzer used a key contact that had both a
normally closed part and a normally open part. I used
to clean them with a rather thin rubber tool made by
cutting a strip from a big eraser. The silver plated
bronze contacts get corrosion. There are two wire
contacts with a flexible spring contact between them.

The MITA website indicates the following on service
manuals and parts for Wurlitzer (who have been out of
business for some time:
Morelock's Organ Parts (Parts and Service for all US
built Wurlitzer Organs and Electronic Pianos)
Mark Morelock
37-A Main Street
Rienzi, MS 38865
662-462-7611 - Phone
662-462-7611 - Fax
morelocksorgan@ <mailto:morelocksorgan%40frontiernet.net> frontiernet.net 
Wurlitzer Service Manuals Website:
www.MitaTechs.com/morelock1.html 

When I was in the trade, I dealt with Mark and his
wife, very nice people. I don't know how much of the
stuff is still available.

Jim Cason
Promised LAN Computing, Inc.
former organ/keyboard/amp technician.




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