From schelsullivan@hotmail.com Sun Jun 22 21:19:12 2003
Subject:Off Topic Long - I Picked up a Wurlitzer 200A for free!

Wow get this folks,

I picked up a local entertainment publication called ESP (triad area
in North Carolina) and in it was an ad with someone wanting to give
away 2 non-working keyboards. "a Wurlitzer EP and a Korg Poly 6 that
some one might be able to use for parts, they are free" claimed the
ad. I called him right away and said I'll be there after work to pick
them up. This Wurly had been leaning up against a wall in this guys
garage for 20 years and was covered by what could only be described
as a likely mixture of bird extrement, kitty litter and spatters of
motor oil along with 20 years worth of dust, dirt and grime. He said
that it was likely the circuit board was burn out since he blew a
fused and then proceeded to wrap foil around it and plugged it back
up. It came with the pedal but no legs.

So I get it home and plug her in and nothing but loud humm from the
output and nothing at all from the internal speakers. Never having
seen the inside of one I was suprised to see on the inside it was
very dusty but not a bit of rust anywhere. It has 2 broken reeds and
one missing screw at the back of the hammers. But otherwise no
obviouse broken parts.

As I tried to put the 2 new fuses in, I noticed right away both fuse
holders were lose in the board, a quick solder job and presto!
Instead of the loud hum I got when I first plugged it up I heard that
awesome classic tone and bark. the tremelo worked great too. The keys
however were very dirty and alot of them were sticking due to the
granuals of kitty litter stuck between the keys!

So now ive pulled all the keys and cleaned them up and they look
great! All the foreign materials have been removed. The green set of
felts looks fine, the smaller white felts that the keys pivot across
are all falling to peices. I also noticed that the keys on the lower
two octives or so arent correctly aligned with their respective
hammer mechinisms. Its like the whole 2nd hammer assembly needs to be
moved an 1/8 of an inch to the left.

I was lucky to find the problem and fix the loud hum taking into
account I dont have any experience with this kind of thing. But now
im feeling confident and want to complete the restoration myself.
So far Im gonna need 2 reeds, 1 long screw on back of hammer,and a
set of felts.

I know its off topic but i have sign up for the Wurly Yahoo group a
few days ago and havent been authorized yet. So if anyone has any
advice on do it your self restoration Id love to hear it.

btw the Korg Poly 6 make gurgling sounds no matter what knob you turn
but thats another project.

Thanks and sorry for the long ot post but i just had to tell
someone :)

Schel Sullivan