Introduction to the Wurlitzer Piano

These are world famous pianos. They are manufactured in the US. The 1st piano was made by Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer, in 1914 and named after him. Many years after his death, the production of these pianos is still done under different names like Apollo, De Kalb, Butterfly clavichord, Frayne, Kinston, Kurtzmann, Merriam, Schiff Bros, and a few others. The piano has 88 keys.

The Wurlitzer piano has stood the test of time. No instrument ever created or designed even he gramophone beat the piano in play or in the market. Not even in sound production.

After many years of producing the piano, Wurlitzer got into production of other instruments including the Tone crafted Hammers, the Pentagonal soundboard and the augmented soundboard though these are just a few of the products, there are many more. The “wurl-on” finishing was then created to give the instruments a fine finish. The “wurl-on” finish helped protect the instruments from scratches, smears, and abrasions. They also made the piano weather friendly. It could survive in any kind of weather, cold or hot and did not absorb moisture.

In 1955, Wurlitzer designed and produced the electronic piano which had no strings and board. The tone was exactly the same as that of the original Wurlitzer piano. Even better it was small and was fit in a suitcase cover which protected it. It only weighed 68 pounds. So it was easy to carry around.

Wurlitzer Features

The Wurlitzer piano is considered an investment. An online appraisal service is used to give the piano price point. This is a good guide for those who intend to buy or sell. Or just want to know the price of their piano. It may be new r or used. The appraisal also gives you the estimated price of the piano as per the market price. An appraisal is used to get to know the real value of your piano. The piano appraisal can be used for buying, selling, trading, insurance, rebuilding, refinishing, estate tax, tax deductions community property, donations, equal distribution or damage claims. This list just tells you how valuable the Wurlitzer piano can be.

The other aspects that determine the value of a piano include age, geographical location, piano’s cabinet condition, inner parts and state of the structure, and of course, how eager the buyer is to buy or sell.

All these information would be valuable to the buyer or the seller of the piano. When putting a piano out for sale, you are required to fill an online piano appraisal form and good and clear photos of the piano.

Wurlitzer piano maintenance

Piano maintenance includes,

Tuning – a piano has over 200 strings. This is done by a well-trained piano tuner. It takes hundreds of lessons to get to know how to put the right pitch and frequency of a piano string. It takes a lot of practice and training. Sometimes, an Electronic Tuning Device is used to help achieve the results that are required. Piano tuning is an art that requires the tuner to be able to listen to the sound of all the 88 keys and know if there is a problem and rectify it to produce a beautiful sound that the human ear can appreciate. Each string has 3 threads that are tuned to work together and they are called “unison”. These strings should work together and they should be tuned and stretched to attain the same frequency. After this is done, the strings are then locked to a pin. Before tuning is done, a pitch raise and correction is done. Tuning should be done twice a year.

Action regulation – This is done by a professional piano technician. Grand pianos need to be regulated. Action regulation is done:-

• When a key is not responsive to an intended motion, it shows it needs an action regulation which is done to help it move well.
• When playing the piano keyboard, there are keys that are given repetitive action. Action regulations help the key responsibilities as required.
• Each key has an expression power. The responsiveness of the key to touch determines how much control the player has of each key they touch. Action regulation gives you power and control on the piano
• How deep each key you touch is regulated to allow you to control the sound as you play.

Piano voicing

This is regulating the tone of the piano. Voicing your piano improves its tone. A Piano tuner or piano rebuilder will help you achieve this. Voicing is controlling the hammer strength by either hardening or softening it. After many times of playing, the hammer striking on the string, the point of contact becomes hard and a groove is formed. This hard part is removed by sanding or filing. You could also prick the hammers with needles to help soften them.

The voice of a piano is determined by:-

• How hard or soft the hammer is when it strikes on the string.
• Hammers from different types of material have different weights. So the weight of the hammer.
• The soundboard shape determines how the voice will come out.
• The construction of the piano and of cause the design.
• What materials have been used to make the piano will also determine the voice
• Where you place your piano.

All these factors put together will determine what voice you will hear from your piano.