So this means even the most crappy vintage amp or guitar sells for way over what it should when compared to USA prices. 8 or 9 years ago I bought a 74 SF Deluxe Reverb and paid around $3k for it. ... and that was a pretty good price for that type of amp locally here in Oz.
Over the years there are some instruments that I have wanted but I have never tried to buy (from the USA or Europe)... basically because of the "tyranny of distance" and what happens if the instrument is not as described. To a certain degree this is why I have bought the guitars (electric and acoustic) from some of the larger (more expensive) dealers in the USA. You pay more, but there is a guarantee that the item you buy and receive will be the same.
But there is one instrument I have loved since I first heard it back in 1975 (when I was 13) but I never thought I'd ever get. A Wurlitzer electric keyboard ... specifically a 200A.... you see I am a keyboard player at heart and this has been my holy grail of instruments … an instrument that it seemed I would never acquire.
Yes there are Wurlys on ebay here in Oz, but they haven't been serviced in 30 years or they are in so bad a condition no one would attempt a rebuild.
Over the years I have managed to locate locally a 70s Pianet T (think something like Fender Rhodes, but without all the added amp and electronics… just plug into a guitar amp and you’re away). I imported a 60s Pianet N (think The Beatles “The Night Before” the Zombies “She’s Not There”) which is great. I was able to replace the old/drifting electronic components on the Pianet N preamp/amp, replace the pads, add some shielding to reduce the noise and it is sounding like it did when it was brand new.
And that is the point... the vintage 60s and 70s Hohner electric pianos have electronics I can understand but more importantly are extremely simple mechanically ... so simple I can fix them without any issues. On the other hand Wurlitzer electric Piano is very much like a normal acoustic piano in their mechanics, then you add electronics on top. I don't have the experience or expertise to repair or bring back to life a near death Wurlitzer electric piano.
But then I stumbled upon the Chicago Electric Piano Company.
12 or 18 months back I saw somewhere... can't recall where ... the fact that there were a shit load of student model Wurlitzer 206 & 206A EPs for sale ... a school was getting rid of their old stock. At the time I thought that someone would pick up them and probably make a fortune or at the very least have a shit load of spare parts. It seems CEPCo bought this job lot of 70s Wurly EPs.
The way I "fell over this fact" was I happen to see that WILCO had had a Wurlitzer restored by CEPCo
http://chicagoelectricpiano.com/custom- ... wurlitzer/
The white one in the centre.
Jeff Tweedy also had a personal one restored.
This then lead me to some other custom restorations they had done for a singer called KESHA (have no idea who she is) but she had a shit hot 200 restored and custom painted:
http://chicagoelectricpiano.com/custom- ... wurlitzer/
Reading more about the KESHA Wurly 200, I discovered it is a restored 206 student model with new electronics ... modern electronics that sound awesome with the additional of a vibrato circuit (the student models 200 & 206A were the 200 & 200A without the vibrato).
The student model
The rebuilds/restorations basically bring everything back to factory set up, new AlNiCo speakers, new electronics, hammers re-felted, everything tuned up just right.
So I bit the bullet... ever since I heard the keyboard player from Lynyrd Skynyrd (Billy Powell) do the keyboard solo from the studio version of “Workin’ For MCA”, back around 1975, I had loved the sound of the Wurlitzer Electric Piano. [then at the time I also discovered Ray Charles used a Wurly on “What’d I Say” …. All I can say is …I was hooked!]. So the time was right … I decided to order one.
I know I have restored many vintage guitars in the past, designed/built my own amps, but life is too short to get up to speed and buy an old Wurly that needs lots of TLC. Having experts restore one for me is the best of both worlds, they can restore the Wurly but also improve it.
I ordered a 206A student model, that would be “chopped” and some new parts added and I decided I also want a custom paint job... not as psychedelic as the one above, but I wanted something other than beige or black or red or avocado coloured.
Did a few photoshop attempts:
Eventually settled on a version of yellow like this... maybe a little more lemon than New York cab yellow.
I would actually love a Wurly in Foam Green, or even a mauve or peach colour, but I have seen bad paint jobs on guitars over the years, where the eventual colour is nowhere near the desired colour. The colour I selected in the end, a yellow/lemon colour, is great and had more chance of being a hue that is close to what I envisaged.
Given the EP is having a refinish, I asked for new keys, new speakers and the new preamp/amp that has been developed as a drop in replacement for the original preamp/amps. A vibrato unit that has both speed and depth (unlike the original that didn’t have variable speed controls) is also added. A 240V transformer for Australian power, switch to turn the face mounted speakers on/off, reproduction legs and a new sustain pedal were also requested.
So after first hearing a Wurlitzer Electric Piano (a 200 model), it has taken 40 years and I am savouring the moment.
I took a day off work today to make sure someone was home to sign for the wurly when the shipping company came past. No one was home yesterday … mind you if they had have bothered to let me talk to the delivery scheduling guy I could have stayed home yesterday. Geeeez I hate call centres that are in some foreign country, who have no ownership of the issues being discussed.
Anyway, 10.00AM today the package was delivered and the guy who delivered it was friendly and a muso as well. Bonus !. Having vintage guitars (electric and acoustic shipped across the Pacific Ocean is always a nervous wait for me, but shipping a vintage keyboard is worse. But in the end it arrived safe and sound, Chicago Electric Piano Co. had packaged it up securely and there was no evidence of any drops or rough handling on the box surface.
Opened up the box and slowly removed every item … fitted the legs to the keyboard, the sustain pedal, powered it up and … wow ! just fucking wow ! what a sound, yeah
after 40 years I have finally got the piano sound (and action) that I love.
The colour looks awesome and I am mightily impressed with the “fit and finish” given this was a chop conversion project of a 206A to a 200A Wurlitzer.
The modern internal preamp and amp seems sound sublime. The speaker switch is perfect, positioned where I can do an A : B test between internal speakers and an amp that is plugged in to the piano.
Tremolo functions nicely and cleanly. Interesting that it has a different “feel” than the vibrato I have designed in the valve amp I will use with the EP, so I have choices there as to what I use, which is good.
Yes this is the more expensive way to get a Wurlitzer 200A electric piano than say restore one myself, but for me it is money well spent on an instrument that will last a lifetime.
Had a cup of tea and I took some photos…
Oh Mr Delivery Man , what can this be ?
(note the 70s style floor tiles and wall colour that is in harmony with a 70s keyboard )
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The toggle switch on the RHS of the faceplate switches the output from the internal speakers to the aux output for an external amp.
