9. History: The story behind the Electro 2 instruments
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The first electric piano released by Wurlitzer was the model
100, which came to the market in 1954. It was an instant suc-
cess. The Wurlitzer Company realized the instrument's po-
tential in music education and offered many special
educational models. Miessner's basic design was the backbone
of the product, but one problem remained: It was very diffi-
cult to keep a 100-series electric piano in tune, and this prob-
lem definitely needed to be solved.
The tuning artifact that plagued early Wurlitzer electric pian-
os wasn't solved until the release of the 200 series in 1968.
The Wurlitzer 200 was constructed better mechanically and
is the model most known on the rock scene. It became a huge
success and was produced until 1982.
The Wurlitzer sampled by Clavia's is a model 200A. Unfortunately, there is no record of the year it was
built.
On a Wurlitzer 200A, you have a Volume con-
trol and a Tremolo knob. The Wurly has an
internal amplifier and two built-in speakers.
A peekaboo look inside a Wurly 200A. The Wurly has its own built-in pre-
amplifier and two speakers facing the player.
The metal reeds in a Wurly. Here you can see the electrostatic design where
two metal plates are connected via a capacitor and a load resistor. When the
reed vibrates, a voltage applied across a load resistor will produce a signal that
generates a musical tone. This tone is fed through the internal amplification
to the instrument's line output. Note the dampers that reside above the reeds.
On the high-pitched notes, there's no need for dampers.
From this angle, you can see the piano-style mechanics with felt-covered ham-
mers that Wurlitzer electric pianos featured.
