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MMD > Archives > February 2007 > 2007.02.17 > 14Prev  Next


Wurlitzer Organ Pitch & Tuning Organ Bells
By Bill Finch

> We have read and heard that it is impossible or undesirable to try
> to drag a band organ to standard pitch; that they are what they are
> and that's how they were made.

I have a Wurlitzer 145B and it is quite happy to play at concert
(A=440) pitch.  All pipes speak well and the tuning slides are not at
an end position.  A=440 was first used by the Paris conservatory in
1812 and finally adapted as an international standard in 1939.  A=440
was the US standard since 1925.

This particular 145B was built in 1928. Its ability to play in standard
pitch was probably accidental.

When I tune an unknown organ I usually tune it to standard pitch and if
some pipes won't speak well I'll try those pipes at another pitch and
if they speak well then I'll use that pitch as a basis for retuning the
whole organ.

A=440 chromatic bells can be re plumbed in half steps to match an off
pitch chromatic organ.  The organ is then re tuned to that standard.
If you have a non chromatic Wurlitzer organ with Wurlitzer bells then
just tune the organ to the bell pitch.

Retuning bell bars is a fool's errand.  Good luck.  It's possible to
sharpen the tone but you really need to devise new mounting dimensions
so that the mount points coincide with nodal points.  Otherwise the
bells sound clunky rather than ringy.

But I get carried away...
Bill Finch


(Message sent Sat 17 Feb 2007, 22:14:39 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.)

Key Words in Subject:  Bells, Organ, Pitch, Tuning, Wurlitzer

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