This is a very common problem with Wurlitzer 200 series pianos and one of the most annoying! It is usually to do with loose components or the lid. The source could be one of many things. Fortunately it is usually something very simple. If you are hearing distortion, popping or crackling, then this is found […]

Sticking keys are a common issue on Hohner Clavinets that haven’t been serviced or have been well used. It can be a number of things: Something is stuck down there: Whether its a penny or a guitar pick, small thin objects can sometimes fall in between parts of your Clavinet and cause the keys to […]

The Clavinet switches on the left hand side of a D6 or E7 control the sound, but what do they mean? Brilliant, Treble, Mid, and Soft are high-pass EQ filters. When one is engaged it brings out more higher frequencies in the signal of the Clavinet. But what do the letters mean? The switches C/D […]

Assuming the jack cable is plugged in (believe me it happens more than you’d think!), this could be one of several reasons, most of which are very simple fixes: The battery is dead Hohner Clavinet’s use a 9V Battery to power the internal pre-amp. The most common reason it won’t power on is because the […]

Over time the pickups in Rhodes pianos are prone to failure, especially if your Rhodes has suffered damp or water damage. There is also a certain batch of pickups in late Mark I and Mark II pianos which have a white sleeve around them. Unfortunately these pickups are notorious for failing. In any case, the […]

Should you tune your Clavinet yourself? Absolutely yes! And in fact, we suggest you should. Because the Clavinet has strings that are under similar tension to a guitar, they can go out of tune quite quickly, expecially when played frequently or there are changes in temperature and humidity (i.e. its been in the back of […]

In almost all cases, this is because the headphones that you have are stereo headphones whereas the signal coming out of the headphone output of a Wurlitzer piano is mono. This means that (usually) only the left (tip) side of the headphones will be heard as there is no collection to the right (ring). Solution […]

Vintage instruments can often be noisy. But there’s something about a Hohner Clavinet that when it starts to become noisy, it really goes for it. Whether it’s hum or a type of static, here are a few things that you can take a look at: Electrical interference: Hohner Clavinets are very sensitive to noise interference […]

Electric pianos are wonderful, but one thing we’ve always found slightly lacking is the sustain pedals. Sadly they sometimes they feel like an afterthought. Now granted, the Wurlitzer pedal is certainly a better design than the Rhodes piano, but, sometimes they just don’t work properly. Whether the pedal isn’t working at all, allowing all notes […]

This is related to our post about popping and crackling as it is usually the same issue. By far the most common is that there is debris caught between the reed and the reed bar, causing it to ground slightly. The next most likely culprit is a reed that is misaligned slightly and causing the […]

If you have a Wurlitzer 200 or 200A model, you may have noticed that the very top five notes (G#6-C7) do not dampen and freely sustain. This is because there are no dampers on these top five notes. It is completely normal and nothing to worry about. On these top notes there is a small […]

This is related to our post about whining and distortion in Wurlitzers too as it is usually the same issue. By far the most common is that there is debris caught between the reed and the reed bar, causing it to ground slightly. This can either sound like several things: It can be very unsettling […]

What makes Wurlitzers special in the electric piano world is that they have a built in amplifier that generates the sound. This means that the electronics are a major part of servicing these instruments. Because of the power this draws Wurlitzers are connected to mains electricity and have live voltage running through it. This means […]

One of the limitations of the Rhodes is when the pedal is down and when a key is repeatedly played the note can often deaden or ‘choke’. this is because when the tine is struck by the hammer the tine vibrates in a up and down motion, and when the hammer strikes the tine at […]

Understanding the process: Out of the ‘big 3’ vintage electric pianos (Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Clavinet), the tuning method on a Wurlitzer piano is the most unique. Wurlitzers are like Rhodes in the sense that the tuning usually last a very long time. Where they differ is that the process of tuning a note is much […]

Yes! Adjusting the keys, or key leveling as we call it, is the process of adjusting the key heights and depth (called key-dip) of the white and black keys of the piano. It is the same process as with a regular piano – we use paper shims or punchings to set the correct height of […]

This is often to do with the solder or ‘lead’ that is applied to the reeds to adjust the tuning. It often happens in the tenor register in the F F# G range below middle C. The solution is usually to replace the solder on the reed. If not this then it could be the […]

You can adjust the intensity but not the rate, you’ll need a tremolo pedal for that. On the circuit board is an adjustment for vibrato (strictly speaking ‘tremolo’). Be careful to unplug everything and switch all the power off before you adjust as you can easily get an electric shock from the circuitry of a […]

The difference between these two Wurlitzers is that the 200A is a newer model designed to solve some of the issues that were present in the 200, notably noise and hum. The Model 200s were prone to crackling and noise in the electronics, and a new preamp system was implemented in the newer 200A design […]

essentially not a huge amount, they are both the same instrument with the same type of action mechanism and tines, but the differences are the year they were built, and some components inside which create a different tone quality. Harold Rhodes’s company collaborated with Fender, which helped manufacture the pianos from the era of 1970 […]