Wurlitzer

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, pipe organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes. Over time Wurlitzer changed to producing only organs, pianos, and jukeboxes.

The company is no longer in existence. Deutsche Wurlitzer, owner of the Wurlitzer Jukebox and Vending Electronics trademark, was acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.

The firm's violin department, independently directed by Rembert Wurlitzer (1904–63) from 1949, became a leading international center for rare string instruments.

History

Wurlitzer was founded in Cincinnati in 1853 by German Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer (1831–1914) from Schöneck, Saxony. It was directed successively by his sons Howard, Rudolph, and Farny. From importing musical instruments, it turned in the 1880s to manufacturing coin-operated pianos.^[2]

The "Mighty Wurlitzer"  theatre organ was introduced in 1910, followed by the successful coin-operated phonograph, or juke-box (1934–74). In 1909 the company began making harps that were far more durable than European prototypes, and from 1924 to the 1930s eight acclaimed models were available.

The firm's violin department, independently directed by Rembert Wurlitzer (1904–63) from 1949, became a leading international centre for rare string instruments. Among Wurlitzer's electronic instruments, beginning with electric reed organs in 1947, the most important have been the fully electronic organs, especially the two-manual-and-pedals spinet type (from 1971 with synthesizer features) for domestic use.

The Wurlitzer Company came to an end in 1988, when Wurlitzer was bought by the Baldwin Piano Company. Baldwin outsourced their Wurlitzer production and stopped placing the Wurlitzer name on pianos at the end of 2009.

Theatre organs

Perhaps the most famous instruments Wurlitzer built were its pipe organs (from 1914 until 1943), which were installed in theatres, homes, churches, and other venues. It was marketed as "The Mighty Wurlitzer".

Englishman Robert Hope-Jones, considered the inventor of the theatre organ, had developed a concept of the organ as a "one man orchestra" to accompany silent movies. Hope-Jones concept was based on two principles:

• That a pipe organ should be able to imitate the instruments of an orchestra
• That the console should be detachable from the organ.^[3]

Among his sound innovations were a kind of electro-pneumatic action, the Diaphone and the modern Tibia Clausa with its strong 8′ flute tone. The Tibia Clausa eventually became a staple of theater organs. Hope-Jones organs were also noted for such innovations as stopkeys instead of drawknobs and very high wind pressures of 10″ – 50″ to imitate orchestral instruments. He also used a system of unification, which multiplied considerably the number of stops relative to the number of ranks.^[4]

Between 1887 and 1911 his company employed 112 workers at its peak, producing 246 organs.^[5] But shortly after merging his organ business with Wurlitzer, he committed suicide in 1914 in Rochester, New York, frustrated by his new association with the Wurlitzer company, it is said.^[4] Moving the business to their North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory, from 1914 to 1942, Wurlitzer built over 2,243 pipe organs: 30 times the rate of Hope-Jones company, and more theatre organs than the rest of the theatre organ manufacturers combined. A number were shipped overseas, with the largest export market being the United Kingdom.

The largest Wurlitzer organ originally built (in terms of pipes), was the four-manual / 58-rank (set of pipes) instrument at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Music Hall instrument is actually a concert instrument, capable of playing a classical as well as non-classical repertoire. It, along with the organ at the Paramount Theatre in Denver Colorado^[6] are the only Wurlitzer installations still in use that have dual consoles. While Denver's is the typical "master-slave" system, Radio City is the only surviving original Wurlitzer installation to have two identical and completely independent consoles playing the same organ. Both instruments have been substantially altered in more recent years.

The largest consoles that were built by Wurlitzer are a few 5-Manual consoles. Theatre organs with 5 or more manuals are extremely rare, and fewer than six of these were manufactured by Wurlitzer. Some of these include:

• Opus 1351, (28 ranks), originally installed in the Michigan Theatre, now an office building in Detroit. The organ was removed in 1956 and is now installed in a private residence in Racine, Wisconsin. Six additional ranks were added, to make it a 32-rank.^[7]
• Opus 1587, (21 ranks), originally installed in the Marbro Theatre in Chicago. It's now installed at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island.^[8]
• Opus 1942, originally installed in the Paradise Theatre, in Chicago.^[9]
• Opus 2129, now installed in a private residence in Salt Lake City.^[9]
• Opus 1571, originally built as a 4-manual instrument; it was expanded to a 5-manual and is part of the Place de la Musique collection, at the Jasper Sanfilippo residence.^[10]

Wurlitzer organs still in their original locations (although perhaps altered) include:

Another example of the large-scale Mighty Wurlitzer can be found in the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum. The large four-manual, 16-rank Mighty Wurlitzer Style 250 special was purchased by Werner Ferdinand von Siemens in 1929 and installed in the Siemens Concert Hall in August of that year. At the end of World War II the organ and the concert hall became property of the German state. The Mighty Wurlitzer survived the war, but was seriously damaged in 1962 by a fire, which was caused by a careless cigarette. From February 1963 to December 1963 Marvin E Merchant, a Berlin-stationed G.I., repaired the organ at his own expense. In 1982 it was given to the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, where it was restored completely and installed in the museum by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker GmbH & Co. in 1984. In the Musical Instruments Museum of this institute, where the organ is still located today, it is played every Saturday at 12:00 pm (noon).^[13]

In the 1950s, the American Theatre Organ Enthusiasts (ATOE) was formed to preserve remaining theatre organs, including those by other builders, such as Morton, Möller, Kimball, Marr and Colton, Barton, and Kilgen. The ATOE is now known as the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS).^[14] There is a similar society in the UK known as the Cinema Organ Society.^[15]

See Wurlitzers in the United Kingdom for details in the United Kingdom.

Wurlitzer Style Designations

from The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, an illustrated history by David L. Junchen, edited by Jeff Weiler

Style	Size	Notes
1	2/4	16’ Flute, 8’ Trumpet, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Salicional, Chimes, Xylophone, Clockenspiel, Traps, Piano console. Later became Style 135
2	2/6	Piano console
3	2/7	Later became Style 185
4	2/8	Style 3 + 8’ Oboe Horn
5	2/9	Later became Style 210
6	3/13	16’ Tuba, 16’ Horn Diapason, 16’ Clarinet, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Concert Flute, 8’ Vox Humana, Style 185 Percussions + Electric Belles. Playing straight on 37-note Solo manual : 4’ Tibia Clausa, 4’ Brass Trumpet, 4’ Orchestral Oboe, 4’ Kinura, 4’ Celestina, 4’ Oboe Horn.
35	3/15	32’ diaphonic Diapason, 16’ Tuba, 16’ Flute, 8’ Clarinet, 8’ Solo String, 8’ Saxophone, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Vox Humana, Style 6 Percussions + Marimba. Playing straight on 37-note Solo manual : 4’ Tibia Clausa, 4’ Brass Trumpet, 4’ Orchestral Oboe, 4’ Kinura, 4’ Quintadena, 4’ Oboe Horn.
40	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Open Diapason, Chimes, Straight console.
100	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Vox Humana, Chimes. Later became Style 115
105	2/3	Style 100 with Piano console. Later became Style 120
108	2/3	Style 105 + Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Snare and Bass Drums, Cymbal. Later became Style 125
109	2/3	Style 108 + Traps. Later became Style 130
110	2/3	Style 105 + Bass and Snare Drums, Cymbal.
115	2/3	Later version of Style 100
120	2/3	Later version of Style 105
125	2/3	Later version of Style 108
130	2/3	Later version of Style 109
135	2/4	Style 109 + 8’ Trumpet
140	2/4	Style 135 with curved console instead of piano console. Later version of Style B
150	2/5	Style 140+ 8’ Tibia Clausa
160	2/6	Style 135 + 4’ Voix Celeste, 16’ Diaphone. Some examples have Violes d’Orchestre instead of Salicional.
165	2/6	Style 150 + 16’ Diaphone, Chrysoglott. Later version of Style D
170	2/5	16’ Flute, 16’ Diaphone, 8’ Trumpet, 8’Vox Humana, 8’ Dulciana, Style 109 Percussions
175	2/7	Style 165 + 4’ Celeste. Contains Violins instead of Salicionals. Later version of Style E
185	2/7	16’ Tuba, 16’ Diaphone, 16’ Flute, 8’ Clarinet, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, Chimes, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Sleigh belles, Traps. Later version of Style 3
190	2/8	Style 175 + 8’ Clarinet
200	2/8	Style 190 + 16’ Tuba, Sleigh bells. Later version of Style F. Divided chambers were standard in this and larger models.
205	2/10	Later version of HNP
210	2/9	Style 185 + 8’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Orchestral Oboe
215	2/10	Style 210 + 8’ Kinura, Marimba. Early models omit marimba.
216	2/10	Style 210 + 8’ English Horn, Marimba
220	3/10
225	3/11	Style 200 + 8’ Kinura, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Salicional, Marimba
230	3/11	Style 215 + 8’ Salicional
235	3/11	Style 215 + 8’ Salicional, Piano. Some examples have Solo scale Tibias.
235NP	3/11	Style 235 without Piano
240	3/13	Style 230 + 8’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Brass Trumpet
250	3/15	Style 260 without Piano and 32’ Diaphone
260	3/15	32’ Diaphonic Diapason, 16’ Tuba, 16’ Flute, 16’ Tiba Clausa, 8’ Brass Trumpet, 8’ Saxophone, 8’ Clarinet, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Kinura, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Solo String, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Quintadena, Style 235 Percussions. Early models omitted Saxophone.
270	4/21	32’ Diaphonic Diapason, 16’ Tuba, 16’ Flute, 16’ Tiba Clausa, 16’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Tuba Mirabilis, 8’ English Horn, 8’ Brass Trumpet, 8’ Clarinet, 8’ Kinura, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Saxophone, 8’ Gamba, 8’ Gamba Celeste, 8’ Solo String, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Dulciana, 4’ Unda Maris, 8’ Quintadena, Stryle 230 Percussions
280	4/
285	4/32	32’ Diaphonic Diapason, 16’ Tuba Mirabilis, 16’ Tuba, 16’ English Horn, 16’ Tiba Clausa, 16’ Solo String, 16’ Clarinet, 16’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Brass Trumpet, 8’ Open Diapason, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Kinura, 8’ Gamba, 8’ Gamba Celeste, 8’ Saxophone, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Krumet, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Quintadena, 8’ Concert Flute, 8’ Vox Humana, 4’ Harmonic Flute, Style 260 Percussions + Master Xylophone, additional traps. Echo chamber : 16’ Flute, 8’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Gamba, 8’ Gamba Celeste, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Vox Humana, Chimes.
B	2/4	Later became Style 140
Balaban 1	3/11	Style 225 + Piano, Vibraphone, Solo String instead of Salicional
Balaban 1A	3/11	Style Balaban 1 without Piano
Balaban 2	3/14	16’ Tuba, 16’ Large Metal Diaphone, 16’ Tibia Clausa, 16’ Flute, 8’ Brass Trumpet, 8’ Clarinet, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Kinura, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Quintadena, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Oboe Horn, Style Balaban 1A Percussions.
Balaban 3	3/15	Style 250 + Vibraphone, Salicional instead of Solo String
Balaban 4	3/19	Style Balaban 3 + 8’ English Horn, 8’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Tibia CLausa, 8’ Krumet
Chapel	2/3	Straight console
Church	2/	A catch-all désignation for several sizes of organs.
C2	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Open Diapason. Straight console.
C3	2/4	Style C2 + 8’ Dulciana. Straight console.
C4	2/5	Style C3 + 8’ Oboe Horn. Straight console.
D	2/6	Later became Style 165
DA	2/6	Style D without 16’ Diaphone
E	2/7	Later became Style 175
F	2/8	Later became Style 200
Fox Special	4/36	32’ Diaphonic Diapason, 16’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Open Diapason, 16’ Tibia Clausa (3 ranks), 16’ Concert Flute, 8’ Lieblich Flute, 4’ Harmonic Flute, 8’ Vox Humana (4 ranks), 16’ English Horn, 16’ Tuba Mirabilis, 8’ Solo Trumpet, 8’ Trumpet, 16’ Tuba Horn, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 8’ Kinura, 8’ Musette, 8’ Krumet, 8’ Saxophone, 16’ Clarinet, 8’ French Horn, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Quintadena, 8’ Dulciana, 16’ Solo String, 8’ Strings (2 ranks), 8’ Salicional, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Gamba, 8’ Gamba Celeste, Piano, Marimba (2), Xylophone (3), Chrysoglott (2), Glockenspiel, Sleigh Bells, Solo Chimes, tuned Tympani, duplicate Trap assemblies, several unique percussions.
G	2/10	A British désignation used in lieu of Style HNP
H	2/10	Style 210 + 8’ Kinura, Piano. Some examples have Violins instead of Violes.
HNP	2/10	Style H without Piano
House	2/	A catch-all désignation for several sizes of organs
J	2/	Piano console with player as standard equipment. Earlier examples have 4 ranks, later ones have 5.
L	2/6	Piano console
M	2/
N	2/
Publix 1	4/20	Style 250 + 8’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Dulciana, Solo Vox Humana, 8’ Solo String, 8’ Tuba Mirabilis, Piano, Master Xylophone. Later examples include Vibraphone.
Publix 2	4/
Publix 3	4/
Publix 4	4/26	Style Publix 1 + 16’ English Horn, 16’ Bombarde, 16’ Horn Diapason, 16’ Gamba, 8’ Gamba Celeste, 8’ Krumet, 8’ Open Diapason.
R5	2/6	16’ Flute, 8’ Open Diapason, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes.
R13	2/6	16’ Flute, 8’ Trumpet, 8’ Open Diapason, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Vox Humana, 4’ Vox Celeste, Chimes
R14	2/9	16’ Flute, 16’ Diaphone, 8’ Tuba, 8’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Salicional, 4’ Vox Celeste, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes, Chrysoglott.
R15	2/10	Style R14 + 8’ Clarinet, Xylophone, Glockenspiel
R16	3/10	Style R14 + 8’ Clarinet
R20	3/12	Style R20 + 8’ Brass Trumpet, 8’ Orchestral Oboe, 16’ Tuba
R25	3/14
RJ2	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Oboe Horn
RJ4	2/4	Style RJ2 + 8’ Open Diapason
RJ6	2/6	Style RJ4 + 8’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Vox Humana
RJ8	2/6	Style RJ4 + 8’ Vox Humana, 4’ Voix Celeste
RJ10	2/7	Style RJ8 + 16’ Tibia Clausa
RJ11	2/7	Style RJ10 + Chimes, Chrysoglott, Xylophone
RJ12	2/7	Style RJ11 + Glockenspiel, Bass and Snare Drums, Cymbal, tambourine, Castanets.
Scheme 5	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Open Diapason, 8’ Dulciana
Scheme 6	2/3	16’ Flute, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Salicional
Scheme 7	2/3	Scheme 5 + couplers.
Scheme 10	2/5	Scheme 5 + 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Salicional. Another Document says 2/4.
Scheme 11	2/4	16’ Flute, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Open Diapason, 8’ Aeoline.
Scheme 20	2/5	Scheme 10 + Chimes, couplers.
Scheme 21	2/5	Scheme 11 + 8’ Salicional, 16’ Diaphone, Chimes.
Scheme 22	2/5
Scheme 25	2/6
Scheme 30	2/6	Scheme 20 + 8’ Oboe Horn. Another document says 2/5.
Scheme 31	2/6	16’ Diaphone, 16’ Flute, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Voix Celeste, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes.
Scheme 32	2/6
Scheme 33	2/6
Scheme 35	2/7	16’ Diaphone, 16’ Flute, 8’ Tuba, 8’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Salicional, 4’ Voix Celeste, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes, Chrysoglott.
Scheme 40	2/7	16’ Diaphone, 16’ Flute, 16’ Tibia Clausa, 8’ Tuba, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes.
Scheme 41	2/7
Scheme 50	2/8
Scheme 51	2/8	Scheme 40 + 4’ Voix Celeste
Scheme 60	?/8
Scheme 61	3/9	16’ Diaphone, 16’ Tibia Clausa, 16’ Flute, 8’ Aeoline, 8’ Tuba, 8’ Horn Diapason, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Voix Celeste, 8’ Vox Humana, Chimes, Chrysoglott. Another document says 3/8
Scheme 65	3/9
Scheme 75	3/10
Scheme 90	3/11
V	2/8	16’ Tuba, 16’ Diaphone, 16’ Flute, 8’ Viole d’Orchestre, 8’ Viole Celeste, 8’ Oboe Horn, 8’ Vox Humana, 8’ Dulciana, Chimes, Piano console.

Band Organs

After the United States Government imposed high import tariffs on street and fairground organ importation from 1892,^[16] Wurlitzer began producing mechanical organs. Most were small barrel organs, playing from a pinned barrel and powered by either steam or cranked by hand. Many of these organs have cases finished in dark (and sometimes black) wood, with gold incised designs, not unlike those of the European manufacturers of barrel organs.

As parts were not subject to import tariffs, almost all Wurlitzer band organs are in some way or another based on or latterly copied from a design by a European manufacturer. For example: the style 105 (and style 104) were copied from a Gerbruder Bruder barrel organ; the style 146 (the only difference being that the portions of the façade covering the drum wings were removed); the style 157 was copied from a Gavioli special style of organ (only 2 or 3 of this style of organ is known to exist; the former organ at Dorney Park was one, but it was destroyed in a fire); and the style 165 is copied from the Gerbruder Bruder "Elite Apollo Orchester".

As demand for organs grew from the fairground operators, Wurlitzer was approached by Eugene de Kleist, an-ex employee of Limonaire Frères and the founder of the North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory. After De Kliest developed the Tonophone for the company, which after winning a gold medal at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, Wurlitzer invested in his company.

After buying De Kliest out of the business in 1908, they changed the name of the factory to the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. This allowed the company to invest in new technology, resulting in the adoption of electric motors, and the music source was changed from pinned barrels to perforated paper rolls similar to a player piano roll. Some larger organs such as the style 157 and style 165 have duplex roll frames, on which one roll plays while the other rewinds, allowing for continuous music. Each paper roll contained about 10 songs, but during the Great Depression, this was changed to 6 longer songs to save money on arranging.

The only substantial changes between these organs and the originals they were based upon is that the Wurlitzer models is that they operated on Wurlitzer's unique roll scale. These included the 46-note style 125 roll (used by styles 104, 105, 125, and smaller organs that saw less production), the wider 46-note 150 roll (used by styles 146, 153, and other less common mid-size styles), or the still wider 75-note 165 roll (used by styles 157, 165, and larger special organ models). Due to Wurlitzer's success and domination of the market, many smaller American manufacturers adopted scales similar to Wurlitzer's, but to little effect.

The production of Wurlitzer organs ceased in 1942, the last organ to leave the factory being a style 165 organ in a 157 case (done because Wurlitzer had an extra 157 case remaining in the factory and the owner didn't mind the change). During the Great Depression leading up to the end of production, various cost-cutting measures were made, such as the substitution of brass horn and trumpet pipes for ones made of wood (though arguably, the brass pipes produced a shrill and unpleasant sound, thus causing the change to the mellower wooden sound).

Some orchestrions made by the company can be found at Clark's Trading Post, Lincoln, New Hampshire, USA, the Music Hall, Nevada City, Montana, USA, and the Jasper Sanfilippo Collection at Victorian Palace, Barrington Hills, Illinois, USA. The company's patents, trademarks and assets were acquired by the Baldwin Piano Company with their purchase of the keyboard division of Wurlitzer in 1988.

See List of Wurlitzer Band Organs for detail list of models.

Nickelodeons

Wurlitzer, starting around 1900 throough approx 1935 produced nickelodeon pianos, or coin pianos, which are electric operated player pianos that take coins to operate, like a Jukebox.

They produced various models of nickelodeons, such as the early Wurlitzer Mandolin Quartette, which was Wurlitzer's alternative to the Regina Sublima Piano. This has a reiterating piano with mandolin attachment, along with an accompanying piano. Later, they introduced the Wurlitzer A.P.P roll, which was a universal roll to be used on all Wurlitzer nickelodeons produced after then. Models such as the B(X), C(X), D(X) and I(X) use this roll.

Wurlitzer also produced for these an automatic roll changer system, so when a roll finished rewinding, another was put on in a carousel like system. Every model with an 'X' at the end indicated that it has a roll changer.

Jukeboxes

The Wurlitzer was the iconic jukebox of the Big Band era, to the extent that Wurlitzer came in some places to be a generic name for any jukebox. Wurlitzer's success was due to a first rate marketing department (headed by future Indiana Senator Homer Capehart), the reliable Simplex record changer, and the designs of engineer Paul Fuller who created many cabinet styles in the "lightup" design idiom. Although Wurlitzer ceded the crown of industry leader to rival Seeburg in the 1950s, Fuller's designs are so emblematic of jukeboxes in general that 1940s era Wurlitzers are often used to invoke the Rock n' Roll period in films and television.

Jukeboxes bearing the Wurlitzer name are still in production. The more recent models are able to play CDs, as well as new special edition units with iPod connectivity.

Electric pianos

From 1955 to 1982 the company also produced the Wurlitzer electric piano series, an electrically amplified piano variant.

Acoustic pianos

Wurlitzer also built a full line of Upright and Grand Pianos. In 1935, they were one of the first manufacturers to offer the Spinet Piano to the mass market. This 36 inch high piano was an instant sensation. The spinet came at an opportune time, when many Americans couldn't afford a full Upright or Baby Grand. Wurlitzer also excelled in piano design. They developed their "Pentagonal Soundboard", "Tone crafted hammers", and other unique innovations to help their pianos produce a richer, fuller tone.

Electric guitars

The Wurlitzer brand was applied to several lines of electric guitars during the 1960s. The first family of solid body electric guitars and basses were manufactured by the Holman Company of Neodosha, Kansas, USA from late 1965 until 1967. Models included the Cougar, Wildcat and Gemini, all of which had different body shapes. The majority of the Kansas made instruments were guitars, with only a handful of basses being manufactured.^[17]

The second family of guitars debuted in 1967, and were manufactured in Italy by the Welson company, and were semi-hollow in construction.^[17]

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wurlitzer.

official sites

• Wurlitzer Jukeboxes
• Deutsche-Wurlitzer USA

archive sites

• Wurlitzer Band Organs
• Wurlitzer Guitar history

directory search

• Wurlitzer at the Open Directory Project

v t e Theatre Organs Theatre Organ Builders Austin Balcom & Vaughan Barton Christie Compton Conacher Estey Geneva Hillgreen-Lane Hill, Norman & Beard Hope-Jones Kilgen Kimball Link Marr & Colton Midmer-Losh Möller Morton Page Reuter Robert Morton E. M. Skinner Welte-Mignon Wicks Wurlitzer Allen (digital) Rodgers (digital) Walker (digital) Notable Artists Bernie Anderson, Jr. Ena Baga William Baines Ronald Binge Rod Blackmore Oswell Blakeston Gaylord Carter Buddy Cole Jesse Crawford Reginald Dixon Martin Ellis Horace Finch Graham W. Jackson, Sr. Dennis James Stan Kann Phil Kelsall Arnold Loxam Leonard MacClain Sandy MacPherson Al Melgard Gerald Moore Dave Nicholas Korla Pandit Richard Purvis Bob Ralston Rosa Rio Dudley Savage Richard Simonton Fela Sowande Carl Stalling Walt Strony Firmin Swinnen Sidney Torch Oliver Wallace Pearl White George Wright Jess Yates Organizations American Theatre Organ Society Cinema Organ Society Theatre Organ Society International