Wurlitzer C153?

[Susan Kline]

Dear Rob and list,

Coincidence: I worked on what sounds exactly like one of these only
yesterday, only it was called a Samick SG-150C. Noises, poor damping in the
bass section, little pits from needles all over the bass hammers, that still
sounded brittle, plus the bracket between the treble and bass sections that
holds the sostenuto rail was put in too far to the left, so it colided with
a backcheck when the soft pedal was used, completely jamming the top note of
the bass section. The sostenuto rail was misadjusted as well, and grabbed at
the damper tabs.

I'll keep steam in mind as an option for the bass hammers if the hapless new
owner (this was warranty work) expresses dismay later on. Thanks for the apt
description.

At 10:20 PM 2/18/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Gordon,
>
>	If this is a recent vintage piano, it is a Samick (Korean) product,
>made for the Baldwin Co. who owns Wurlitzer. (follow all that?)
> I have been servicing mny of these instruments, and while the
>initial impressions are average, with time and proper preparation,
>quite a respectable instrument can evolve. The 153 is a 5'1" piano, I
>find the bottom octave to be quite hollow sounding, a function of the
>thick strings and short speaking length. The C173 (5' 7") is better
>in this regard, as one would expect. A recent problem I have found in
>the new instruments are *extremely* hard hammers, so hard that the
>factory needle marks are still visible in the hammer felt. No
>subsequent needling affects the voicing, only steam seems to
>penetrate the hammers enough that the needles will finally start to
>manipulate the felt.
>	An early problem with the Samick-produced D.H. Baldwin
> (precursor to the Wurlitzer line)were noisy actions and poor damper
>muting, involving many hours of regulation, easing and aligning. The
>new Wurlitzers seem better in these regards, although re-seating the
>bi-chords in the bass section is still de rigeur.
>	All in all, these instruments are better then they were 5 years ago,
>with the 5'7" grands actually turning into fairly respectable pianos,
>time will tell on how they stand up.
>
>Hope this babbling has helped...
>Regards,
>Rob Kiddell
>R.P.T., P.T.G.
>C.A.P.T. Student
>Edmonton, Canada
>http://www.planet.eon.net/~atonal/atonal.html
>
>

Susan Kline
skline@proaxis.com
P.O. Box 1651,
Philomath, OR 97370
(541) 929-3971