When I first got the idea of building a knock off version of the
Wurlitzer Pianino the rational seemed sound.  As you have read, we had
coin pianos out on locations.  They were heavy...  especially the ones
where we had built up the cabinet.  I always had to hire someone to
move them.

I figured that if I could build cabinet pianos, they would not weigh as
much, and essentially one man with a Tommy Gate on his truck could move
one by himself.  I had what was left (very little) of a Pianino that
was reputed to have come out of the Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas
(The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas).  I was never able to confirm
this...  but anyway, I decided with the help of some very talented men,
to make some.

I sent what was left of the piano action to the Wurlitzer plant in
Holly Springs, Mississippi.  They sent me blueprints of the actions they
were building and informed me that they had found the spacing bar in
their jigs and fixtures that ALMOST matched the Pianino spacing.  I
would not have to pay a HEALTHY sum for the set up charge.

They had never in recent history built an action that was designed to
play without a keyboard, so there were lengthy telephone conversations
and exchanges of my crude drawings for their beautiful blueprints about
what I call the rest rail...  underneath the whippens, and the backcheck
rail on the whippens.  We finally worked it all out and they sent me
the sample action.  In the meantime, we built the foundry pattern for
the plate and had one cast.  The prototype (that word always brings on
a case of the shivers) was built and we played the first one.  There
was too much sympathetic vibration in the upper trebles that did not
have dampers, so the production model action would have dampers on all
notes.

An invitation was extended by Lawrence Mann, then head of Wurlitzer's
engineering department to "come on up" to Holly Springs.  I flew to
Memphis, he picked me up and we drove the fifty or so miles south to
Holly Springs.  For the next five days, I spent many, many hours in
the plant.  It was summer...  and in Mississippi that can be worse than
Texas, but the plant was air conditioned except for the finishing rooms
which could not be because of the large drying ovens used for the cases.
Those employees who worked in the finishing rooms came to work earlier,
left earlier than the rest of the crew, and were given extra pay, which
they referred to as "hot pay".

Wurlitzer was already feeling the crunch which was to spell the end to
piano factories all over the country.  As a result, they had automated
as many steps in the plant as possible.  All those wonderful machines
were designed by one man and built right there in the machine shop which
employed six or seven full time machinists.  As far as I was concerned,
I had the run of the factory, and Wurlitzer provided me with a company
car for my use the entire stay.  After I left the plant at night there
was not much to do in Holly Springs.  It is one of those small southern
towns that "roll up the sidewalks" at dusk.  They had the industry
there...  Sunbeam had a plant  and I found out where all that "Clipper"
sandpaper we used came from.  I spent a lot of time in the cemetaries...
looking for graves of Confederate generals.  Holly Springs has the
largest collection of anti-bellum homes in the South.  Grant did not
burn the town, as the story goes, because Mrs. Grant asked him not to.

In a piano factory, it all starts with the back...  the strung back.
After the woodworking is done, the plate is mated to the back.  All
of this is done on an assembly line basis.  The backs now with their
plates go to the stringing department.  They are inclined with the tuning
pins on the bottom and the hitch pins on the top.  Next to each
stringing station is a stack of metal tubes containing piano wire that
is pre-cut for each set of notes on the piano.  The wire is straight,
and the worker places two tuning pins in a mechanical fixture that
automatically lines up the holes in the tuning pin so she can see them.
She chooses a wire of the proper length, inserts the ends in the tunings
pins, presses a foot pedal and the machine winds exactly two and one half
turns of wire on the pin.  She hooks the wire over the hitch pin and
places the pins in the proper holes and taps them in with an air
operated hammer.  Then she goes on to the next and the next, etc.
There is no effort to raise the coils...  that is done at the next
station.  Their hands literally flew stringing those backs.  When they
finished, they tore off a section of a tag attached to every back, and
put that portion in their aprons to be turned in at the end of the day.
"Piece work?"  Well, not exactly, but you had a quota, and anything over
that quota meant extra pay in your envelope at the end of the week.
There was no lollygagging.

The coils were raised and the backs passed to the chipping department
where they used Yamaha electronic tuners to "chip" them.  After this
the backs were stored for two weeks in a warehouse on pallets.  They
wanted to see if anything was going to "let go" or crack BEFORE they
mounted the backs in cases.  At the end of two weeks the backs were
"chipped" again, and they passed to the case assembly department.  All
case parts were on special stands on casters.  They went through the
finish rooms like that.  The sides, top, kick panel...  all of it was
finished together...  so it would match.  These units were rolled to the
case assembly area and the sides, bottom, and keybed were glued up.
This was done by hand, but all the lifting and moving was automatic.
The partially assembled cases were placed on shop trucks...  wooden
platforms with casters for the rest of their journey.  The remaining
case parts, all numbered were shuttled to another area for the final
assembly.

Installation of the piano action, keyboard, etc. came next, and that
is what will come in the next installment of this tale.

Ed