Wurlitzer Piano

The Wurlitzer electric piano was marketed and manufactured by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, located at Cornith, Mississippi. The Wurlitzer electric piano was one instrument from the series of electro-mechanical string-less pianos. The Wurlitzer called this instrument the 'Electronic Piano'; however, musicians usually described it as an electric piano. The basic principle of the Wurlitzer piano was developed in America by Ben F Meissner in the mid 1930s. He placed electromagnetic pickups on each string inside an ordinary piano. To make the tone more powerful, he put reeds inside the piano, which blew air into the piano. Wurlitzer realized that this instrument had great potentials to sell in the market. They developed this instrument further and came up with an electric version of the piano. They placed a hammer, covered with felt, inside the piano. The hammer strikes the metallic reeds to produce vibrations, which result in a rich and fat tone. These tones are picked up by a pickup system, which then converts the tone into electric energy. The electrical energy was released in the form of an audio tone out of the built-in speakers, which were kept in front of the piano. This piano was very light, and to add to its plus points, it had built in speakers, because of which this piano was much easier to carry and transport. The first electric piano was released in the 1950s. The first album using Wurlitzer piano was made in 1956 by Sun ray and the Demons. The Wurlitzer 100, one of the models of the electric piano, was replaced by its improved version, called the Wurlitzer 200. The advantage of this piano was that it could easily fit in with guitar based bands and, thus, was more popular for pop and rock music.