ALLEN TC 1 and GYROS FOR SALE & OLD WURLITZER (ID PLEASE)

[dw154515]

Hello forum,

Located in downtown Indianapolis, IN.

I know this is a long shot, but I (the church I play for) have 2 Gyro cabinets and a TC-1 they would like to sell, as well as an older Wurlitzer (which I need ID'd, please...). I know this is a difficult task, seemingly, but I thought I'd pitch the sell here first before "parting them out" on eBay.

The Allen organ is in great shape and played flawlessly until it was recently replaced by an MOS-1 632.

One of the Gyro's is missing the speakers (pictured) - they were damaged during removal, unfortunately, and I'm afraid they will have to be completely re-coned in order to be used.

The other Gyro is in perfect shape.

Please see the attached pictures.

We'd like, for the sake of continuity, to sell the whole Allen organ to one buyer (best offer) but will be selling as parts on eBay if there are no takers.

The Wurlitzer, well, I just need some info on. I've never played it and I have been told "it works" but I haven't had the chance to try it for myself but will within the next few days.

Any suggestions on how to proceed would also be welcome.

Thank you, all.

[paulj0557]

[ below is a compilation of notes I took over time. Hopefully it won't read too mixed up]

Note before reading on, it's a 1966 Wurlitzer model 4520 and any and every part is available from the people who made the organ- Former Wurlitzer factory employees bought out all of the inventory from Wurlitzer when they closed the plant in the 1980's. The parts are very inexpensive. I suggest that you be very sure a person with good intentions gets the Wurlitzer regardless of how much you sell it for. It could fetch $600-$800 to someone really seeking one out and cost isn't a big issue to them as much as getting a good example. You might also get this much if there is a little competition between two or more bidders. You should refer the Ebayer's to this thread so they can a better idea about the particulars of the organ's design, etc. Morelock's Wurlitzer Parts can be found online. They are located in Mississippi. They will rebuild the two amplifiers in the 4520 for less than $200 total for both and the shipping is covered in that $200 if you are in the lower 48 States. It's an insanely low price for a complete rebuild! The amps remove from the organ in about 15 minutes using only a screw driver. Mark cables when you unplug. The reason for amplifier failure stems from failing electrolytic capacitors. They replace all of these in the amp. They will also ask you to test the condition of the speakers ( easy test procedure) because if they are problematic they too can cause amp failure. Wehn you call Morelock's Janice will call you back. You can also email them.
If the pedals are intermittent ( some play and some don't) this could be due to broken or mis-aligned glass reed switches on the face of the actual pedal. Magnets attached to the pedals are what forces the reed switch to make contact and sound the note. They charge $1.50 ea. for these glass reed switches. Usually the rubber grommets fail due to age.
As far as keys not sounding, be sure the organ is at room temperature. A cold Wurlitzer 4500 series can be stubborn! The missing notes here and there ( as opposed to ALL A's or all c#, etc.) can be simple contact dirt. It can take up to a couple of weeks of steady playing to bring back notes. I had 13 notes out on my upper manual and 5 out on my lower. They all came back from playing except the A#, which I had to slightly turn the tuning coil to bring back ( then adjusted it back)...Morelock's is who you should call:-)


The Wurlitzer is a 4520 and sounds great playing all kinds of organ styles, an excellent Wurlitzer gospel sound, can you say revival?!.., but the most wonderful music to come out of a Wurlitzer electronic theater organ (ETO) is the ballads and standards of the 20's and 30's. As seen here played by Dick Smith below ( the organ sounds terrific with Dick's external Leslie 145's and Conn Pipes, the 4500 series organs ( which the last 2 digits are cabinet style) have a built in Spectratone rotary system, two 12" speakers running in stereo and are crossed over and oscillated for the lower frequencies in perfect sync with the 2- 4" Spectratone speakers. The organ also has a pair of 6X9's in stereo, another stationary 5" speaker on the right, and a Jensen horn on the left. These 4500 series organs were introduced in 1964 as a straight cabinet theater organ. Wurlitzer didn't make a horseshoe cabinet organ since the pipe organ days and it is very odd that they didn't offer the 4520 right out of the gate ( no pun intended) in 64'. They came out in 1966. The 4500,4502, 4520 console models, and 4300 spinet models are mirror images of each other internally, but the spinets have less keys and pedals and do not have the 5" speaker on the right and the Jensen horn on the left.
This 4500/4300 series of organs were designed using a real Wurlitzer theater organ and they hit the famous 'woody' Wurlitzer tibia tone right on the money! As far as playing 1920's and 1930's popular music goes, the Wurlitzer 4520 is hard to beat. It might not have as many tabs as a Conn or Rodgers, but it is extremely maximized with the tabs it does have. It has coupling of every major voice in 16',8',4', and 2', and mutations where they count. The Kitura and the strings are so up front and so tactile that as soon as you hear them you know exactly why an analog electronic organ is so desirable to play- it's alive!
Upon disassembling a Wurlitzer 4300 spinet I marveled at the quality of construction. Every nut, bolt, piece of wood ( hardwood cabinet BTW), wire,speaker,transistor, capacitor is absolutely the best you will find in a production anything, let alone an organ. I use the multi-layered plywood strip with the polished steel guide pins for the keys as a 'back scratcher'. lol
The tone generator system is not transistor individual oscillators like you find on Conn, Rodgers, and some Gulbransens, but there is not the lack of ensemble that you would expect from it's transistor divider design.

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And how about the vibrato!
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[dw154515]

Hey, thanks for the input. I will need to spend a little time with the instrument to see what sort of shape it's in.

The last I heard, it "worked" but I don't know when that was.

Thank you for all the input. Most helpful!