So, sixteen hours later and $50 spent I have a Wurlitzer 200A.
The fuller story is this…
I have a show booked on March 23. It was booked back in January, and at the time my band was indeed free. However, since then, my drummer had to bow out due to a history paper he had to give that day in South Carolina and my guitarist is now in New York producing Josh Joplin’s new record. I debated internally for some time about whether I could just do the show without a lead guitarist, meanwhile running through the list of drummers who have played with us before who might be able to help out. But one is about to have a baby any day now, and the other will be back on the road with Michelle Malone by then. Meanwhile, I couldn’t get a response back from my bass player and keyboard player about what sort of rehearsal schedule they could manage.
I began to enter crisis mode. I had an epiphany. So I went out Saturday night to see some friends of mine who are in a band called chain poets. I took them each a CD of the songs that would be played during my set, and asked them if they would be interested in backing me for that show. They seemed excited and agreed. So we’ll start rehearsing soon. It should make for an interesting show, and will, if all goes well, include an ELO cover no one has heard either band do before.
So, I came home from that at 3am. I laid down to try and sleep, and then woke at 5am to leave for Orlando to get the Wurly. It was an eight hour trip down, I slept off and on for about two hours early on. We got there without incident. He works at Lockheed, and judging from the heroic oil painting of him on the foyer he was previously in the air force. His wife immediately disappeared when we arrived, I suppose to go protect her baby from the weird looking interlopers. I bought the Wurly. He had it in his garage (which was immaculate). I don’t think he really had a clue what it was he was selling, although by the end I think he had begun to suspect something was up. He had an offer before me from some guy in Texas who was willing to pay $300 to ship the item (that he was paying $50 for) out his way. But the guy decided to sell it to me, the guy who was willing to drive down immediately from Atlanta to Orlando and buy his $50 electric piano and then drive back home. When we were leaving he actually said, “I guess this is sort of a deal, huh?” I replied, calmly, “yeah, it’s a pretty good deal.”
Yeah. Just today one sold on eBay for close to $800. It’s a pretty good deal.
We finally made it home at midnight. Before I went to bed I hooked the thing up just to test it out again. When I played it at his house I could tell there were some keys out of tune, which I had expected would be the case. But it has a singular new problem, of which I cannot determine the seriousness as of yet. There are about 30 keys (on a keyboard of 64?) that permanently sustain. Which means, if the volume is up or the vibrato is up they begin to slowly feedback. I’m hoping there’s a simple fix for this, but I’m still waiting to find out. The lower keys do make the speakers rattle, which is something I am beginning to suspect must be a common problem.
But still, it sounds beautiful.
I know there are some of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, so here are a few really common examples of this particular Wurly in action:
“I Am the Walrus” by the Beatles
“You’re My Best Friend” by Queen
“One” by Aimee Mann (the song that begins the movie Magnolia)
If that doesn’t clear it up I can offer other examples.