Ĭompared to the Rhodes piano, the sound from a Wurlitzer is sharper and closer to a sawtooth wave, while the Rhodes' is closer to a sine wave. It has one, two or four internal speakers (depending on the model), but can also be connected to an external amplifier. The instrument is fitted with a mechanical sustain pedal. Most Wurlitzer pianos are 64-note instruments whose keyboard range is from A an octave above the lowest note of a standard 88-note piano to the C an octave below its top note.
This induces an electrical current in an electrostatic pickup system running at 170 V DC. However, the sound is generated electromechanically by striking a metal reed with a felt hammer, using conventional piano action. The official name of the instrument is the Wurlitzer Electronic Piano. Problems playing this file? See media help. However, the action and performance of the instrument has meant it is stable enough to be used for years.Ī Wurlitzer electronic piano, showing the velocity sensitivity Several electronic keyboards include an emulation of the Wurlitzer.Īs the Wurlitzer is an electromechanical instrument, it can need occasional maintenance, such as replacing and re-tuning broken reeds. The stage instrument was used by several popular artists, including Ray Charles, Joe Zawinul and Supertramp. However, it was adapted for more conventional live performances, including stage models with attachable legs and console models with built-in frames. Originally, the piano was designed to be used in the classroom, and several dedicated teacher and student instruments were manufactured. The first Wurlitzer was manufactured in 1954, and production continued until 1983. The instrument was invented by Benjamin Miessner, who had worked on various types of electric pianos since the early 1930s. It is conceptually similar to the Rhodes piano, though the sound is different. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me for more information.A Wurlitzer 200A, the most commercially successful model Generally console pianos are superior to spinet pianos because of the regular style actions and the slightly taller size of the instruments which offers a more rewarding sound. With a smaller soundboard and shorter strings, the pianos are limited in the amount of sound they can produce. The inherent limitations in console and spinet pianos lies more in the size of the pianos more than anything else. At some point they lost favorability with consumers and have since been replaced by less expensive consoles that don’t have to sacrifice the quality of the actions.ĭespite spinets having different actions, there were some higher quality models – the Baldwin Acrosonic being a classic example – that were decent pianos. Whether it is short or tall, a console pianos have a regular style upright action where the key is much longer and connects directly to the action: Instead it drops down to the other part of the action.
WURLITZER CONSOLE PIANO VALUE FULL
This is why they are called indirect blow actions, because you don’t have a full length key that interacts directly with the action. The instruments are so small that they have to change the way the action works in order to fit them into the piano.Ĭompared to a typical piano action, spinet pianos have shorter keys and they have rods that connect each key to the rest of the action. Spinet pianos have what’s called an indirect blow action (or drop action). Console and Spinet Pianos can look almost identical from the outside case but what lies beneath separates them a great deal from one another.īoth spinets and consoles are upright-style pianos that are typically very short The fundamental difference between the two types of pianos are the actions.