How to replace a Wurlitzer electronic piano reed
Reeds (on the right) installed on a Wurlitzer 200A.
Replacing a reed on your Wurlitzer electronic piano is not difficult, but there are a few important things to keep in mind for the best results.
The reed needs to be as close to perfectly centered in the ‘comb-shaped’ pickup as possible.
The reed has a bit of wiggle room on the reed screw, and where the reed sits (favoring forwards or backwards) impacts the intonation.
The tightness of the reed screw matters. A loose reed screw will affect pitch. On the other hand, over-tightening the screw can break it.
There are different sized reeds for the different models of Wurlitzer electronic pianos, as well as the different registers of your piano.
For the best sound, the solder ‘pyramid’ on the tip of the reed should be a symmetrical. Buying a pre-tuned reed is a good way to obtain a reed with a high-quality solder pyramid, but you can also achieve this yourself with practice.
If you know all of the above key points, you can install a reed just like a pro. If you need a refresher on how to center, position, tighten and select your reed, please read on.
Why would I need to replace a Wurlitzer reed?
A missing note in a Wurlitzer electronic piano is commonly caused by a broken reed. Replacing the reed itself is straightforward, but properly positioning the reed and setting the screw tension will ensure good intonation, volume, and sustain.
In other situations, a note might sound dead or dull when struck by the hammer. Dull notes can happen for a few reasons, but one cause is a failing reed. Reeds have a finite lifespan, because they are continuously being hit by the hammer as the keyboard is played.
Reeds in a 140 are installed just like a 200/200A
If a note begins to have an extremely bizarre pitch out of the blue, the reed is probably a few hammer hits away from breaking.
Choosing the correct Wurlitzer reed for your keyboard
We will leave an in depth explanation of reed sizes and how the vary by model for another article. However, it is important to know that there are different generations of reeds which are incompatible with the others. In general, the 112, 120/700, early 140 and later 140/200 models all have different reeds. Equally important: there are six registers per keyboard, and each register has its own reed sets. So, when ordering replacement reeds, be sure to specify the model of your own electronic piano and the note number that you need.
If you have a Wurlitzer 140B, 200, or 200A, new reeds are obtainable. Unfortunately, new reeds for the Wurlitzer 112, 120, 700 and 140 are not currently being produced. The only option is to install an old reed, which was likely harvested from a different keyboard.
But early Wurlitzers are too cool to be stripped for parts. We are compiling a list of people who are interested in early Wurlitzer reeds. Once we have enough interest, we may be able to produce relatively affordable reeds for early Wurlitzers. If you’d like to be updated on this project, join the Wurlitzer 700 Club.
How to center a Wurlitzer reed
A comb-shaped pickup runs the length of of your electronic piano, and the reeds protrude into each notch in the pickup. The tolerance between the pickup and the reed is very narrow, so it is easy to accidentally install the reed incorrectly, so that it is touching the pickup or too close to one side.
If your reed is touching the pickup, this will short out the pickup and cut the sound entirely. A short could additionally create a transient voltage that could harm your amplifier. Some early 140/140A, for instance, require an additional resistor at the input to prevent shorts from blowing the first transistor stage. (Eventually, Wurlitzer started adding this resistor in the factory, so it may already be present if you have a later model.)
If the reed is so close that it briefly contacts the pickup when struck by the hammer, you will hear loud popping sounds.
If the reed favors one side of the pickup, it may play very loudly, or have uneven resonance.
If the reed is centered perfectly, it will sound great!
Positioning the reed: forwards or backwards
Reed screws in a Wulitzer 207
The reed screw goes through a hole in the reed that is just slightly larger than the gauge of the screw. This gives the reed some play on where it exactly it is mounted when the screw is fully tightened.
If the reed is extended further away from the harp (and closer to the pickup), the note will be lower in pitch. Conversely, if the reed is pulled all the way back toward the harp (and away from the pickup), the note will be sharper in pitch. The positioning of the reed alone will give you an overall swing of about 8 cents. Higher notes get more play with the reed screw, while lower notes may only have around 2 cents of adjustment.
How tight should the reed screw be?
The tighness of the reed screw will affect the pitch of the reed. Tightness is not a good way to tune your reed, but it is a good indicator of whether your reed screw is tight enough. If the reed is too loose, the note will sound lower in pitch. You should tighten the reed until the pitch no longer goes up. However, be careful not to over tighten and risk snapping the reed screw head.
If you do break your reed screw, we have a limited amount of NOS reed screws. We obtained these reed screws at the liquidation of Morelock’s Organ Service, and they are indirectly one of the reasons why we have the Tropical Fish Document Archive. Learn more about the story here.
The solder pyramid & reed tuning
The reeds in a Wurlitzer electronic piano get smaller as they go up in pitch (to the right). More material equals lower pitch. This is easy to visualize if you imagine a xylophone.
Since it is more difficult to perfectly size and tune hard steel to perfect pitch, solder is added to the end of the reed. Solder is composed of softer models like tin, silver, and copper, so it can be manipulated in order to fine-tune the reed’s pitch.
Further Reading
Browse all of our articles on restoring vintage gear. Or, click on an image below.
