Dear list, Back in the mid 60's I worked for dealer who handled WurliTzer, Mason & Hamlin, Knabe, and the cheaperoos Aeolian spinets under different names like Bradbury, Stuyvesant. I must have tuned hundreds of those little WurliTzers like 1117's, 1119's, 1200's, 2030's . WurliTzer defined their quality on the type of hammer they used, The 1117 and 1119's had no reinforcing at all on the hammers, the 1200's had outer reinforcing and the 2030's had inner and outer reinforcing. During that era they all had solid spruce sb's as well as the calibrated element and hexagonal sb's. We used to think that the little Wurlis were pretty good little pianos. The Baldwin dealer up the street called them WurliT i zers, (spelling correct). When I tune one of these same pianos some 30 years later I am continually taken back by how thin and tinny like the tone is. Am I hearing different now or did they sound like that back then to except I was used to it. Would I recommend to a client to change something in the design if I were going to refurbish one of these. I think not. What I found out was that the Baldwin (Agrosonics), what we called them, were the superior piano, at least the ones from the 60's. It is strange how my perspectives have changed through the years. Back then tuning a Mason & Hamlin, new, was just a job. Today I would fight for the chance. Back then tuning a Knabe was ho-hum and today it is a pleasure. Back then tuning a Bradbury was a bummer and today it is a BUMMER. Some things never change. The Bradburys model designation was a H for the spinet, I forget the console model designation. We used to think it was named after the president of Aeolian-American or was it Winter whose first name was Heller. I wonder of he was a.......? James Grebe R.P.T. from St. Louis pianoman@inlink.com "Only my best is good enough"
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