"New" Wurlitzer 4502

[Bob Pierce]

I have finally found an instrument to get me back into playing again, a beautiful Wurlitzer 4502 from a church. It needed some serious cleaning and new belts for the Spectratone, but I now have it working 100%. I am amazed at the depth/fullness and variety of sounds this organ is capable of, especially given that it is based on the same "heart" as a 60s combo organ. (!!! - pleasant surprise)

Eventually I plan to hook it up to a Leslie 145 and 147 that I have left over from my Hammond days of old. I also want to experiment with adding Conn pipes. The hope is that with the various outboard equipment the sound will be able to overcome the "lock-step" tuning inherent to transistor-divider organs, at least to some degree. More on that later...

For now I just have one question that I'm hoping someone may have experience with. The pedals on model 4502 connected via 3 amphenol connectors, one 4-pin, one 11-pin and one 12-pin. On mine a couple pins were broken and I repaired them with JB Weld (rather than have to resolder that many pins - I hate soldering Amphenols!) But now I'm a little leery of them, as the sockets are pretty stiff - would hate for the repaired pins to break again, as I'm not even sure I could source a 12-pin Amphenol. So I was thinking maybe some dielectric grease would help make them easier to plug and unplug, and reduce the risk of breakage. Has anyone ever tried lubing Amphenols with dielectric grease? Is this a bad idea for some reason I haven't thought of?

Once I get the 4502 in the house and set up I'll post some pics in my profile. This really is a wonderful-sounding organ and I'm so delighted to be playing again. Any other Wurlitzer fans out there please feel free to chime in and share what you like about these old analog Wurlies.

[jkrusel]

I have finally found an instrument to get me back into playing again, a beautiful Wurlitzer 4502 from a church. It needed some serious cleaning and new belts for the Spectratone, but I now have it working 100%. I am amazed at the depth/fullness and variety of sounds this organ is capable of, especially given that it is based on the same "heart" as a 60s combo organ. (!!! - pleasant surprise)

Eventually I plan to hook it up to a Leslie 145 and 147 that I have left over from my Hammond days of old. I also want to experiment with adding Conn pipes. The hope is that with the various outboard equipment the sound will be able to overcome the "lock-step" tuning inherent to transistor-divider organs, at least to some degree. More on that later...

For now I just have one question that I'm hoping someone may have experience with. The pedals on model 4502 connected via 3 amphenol connectors, one 4-pin, one 11-pin and one 12-pin. On mine a couple pins were broken and I repaired them with JB Weld (rather than have to resolder that many pins - I hate soldering Amphenols!) But now I'm a little leery of them, as the sockets are pretty stiff - would hate for the repaired pins to break again, as I'm not even sure I could source a 12-pin Amphenol. So I was thinking maybe some dielectric grease would help make them easier to plug and unplug, and reduce the risk of breakage. Has anyone ever tried lubing Amphenols with dielectric grease? Is this a bad idea for some reason I haven't thought of?

Once I get the 4502 in the house and set up I'll post some pics in my profile. This really is a wonderful-sounding organ and I'm so delighted to be playing again. Any other Wurlitzer fans out there please feel free to chime in and share what you like about these old analog Wurlies.

Bob, welcome to the forum!

This is a nice Wurly you have! The pedal plugs are tight for a reason, they are not intended to be used much and they need to provide a good connection. That said, I see no reason why you can't lubricate them with a little regular silicone grease to make them easier to use, but I'd still try to minimize how often you plug them in and out. It will also help protect against corrosion.

Then leave them alone!

Be very careful taking out and re-inserting the pedal clavier. It uses glass magnetic reed switches that can be damaged during removal/replacement.

[Bob Pierce]

Thanks Jerry! Good advice about the pedal contacts, I see your point about how they need to be tight. And you're right, ideally this would be a "set it and forget it" scenario, where I would plug them in and then leave them for however many years. But, until I get the whole setup rigged I'm afraid I'll be shifting the organ quite a bit. I can't wait to hear it through the Leslies and Conn pipes.

So I think I'll probably just apply a tiny bit of lube on the "iffy" pins, just to ease the pressure a little, and let it go at that. Thanks again for the advice.

[toodles]

You are right that the 12 pin connectors are difficult to find, although Leed's Radio has the plug available. If that is broken on yours, I'd get a replacement while you still can. http://leedsradio.com/parts-connectors.html Part is Amphenol 86-CP12. (Amphenol sold this to Wire-Pro Inc. a while back, and now it is part of Cooper Industries. Same part numbers).

Ultimately, if things are bad enough, you can replace all 6 connectors (male & female), and move connections around to get to 27--you could use 2 11 pins, which are generally available, and a 5 pin. The 2 11's could be accidentally swapped, but you could paint them to show position.

The choice of these connectors might have been because of high voltage--Wurlitzer used neon lights to lock-out pedals and control the sustain. I would avoid using a different style because of the voltage.

By the way, these plugs are and should be very tight. They are designed that way.

[rohrlover]

The 2 11's could be accidentally swapped, but you could paint them to show position.

What I have done when there are two identical connectors that could get crossed - I install them so one male and one female are on one side, and vice versa. That way you just can't connect them wrong!

[Lucien Nunes]

I am not sure why you are avoiding soldering these. One way to strengthen broken pins on Amphenol 86-series plugs is to remove the cable, desolder or drill through any solder / residue inside the pin, thread a stout tinned copper wire through the middle and solder to the tip and base of the pin, leaving a small stub within the hole in the phenolic moulding on which to resolder the cable. I see no reason not to grease the pins, provided they is not allowed to collect dust before being mated with the console.

Lucien

[Bob Pierce]

Thank you all for these excellent ideas. I will definitely look into leedsradio.com - I knew where I could find 4-pin and 11-pin connectors, but I figured the 12-pin was a lost cause at this point.

[Guest]

Here's a 4502 on Craigslist free to a good home near Tulsa. Not yours, right?
http://tulsa.craigslist.org/msg/3794211355.html

[Bob Pierce]

Here's a 4502 on Craigslist free to a good home near Tulsa. Not yours, right?
http://tulsa.craigslist.org/msg/3794211355.html

Funny, I saw that one when I was googling around for information on model 4502. But when I saw it, it was $800 OBO - and included a Leslie 145! Obviously it didn't take long for someone to snake that Leslie.

I actually paid $100 for mine - which is probably $100 too much given the work it needed. But it was a fundraiser for their church's youth program, so I didn't mind. :-) Still good cheap fun either way.

[Guest]

Funny, I saw that one when I was googling around for information on model 4502. But when I saw it, it was $800 OBO - and included a Leslie 145! Obviously it didn't take long for someone to snake that Leslie.

I actually paid $100 for mine - which is probably $100 too much given the work it needed. But it was a fundraiser for their church's youth program, so I didn't mind. :-) Still good cheap fun either way.

Absolutely, fun either way! By the way, is the Wurlitzer 4502 voiced more classical/ church as compared to a 4500 model?

[afuller5]

Hi Medley,

I used to play a 4502 at church. It has no traps (drums) on it. The String Bass 8' in the pedal is replaced by an Octave 8'. I believe all the other stops are the same. The stop tabs are all white; that is, no red or yellow tabs. The volume controls, vibrato, and spectra-tone are still black. The sustain tabs/rockers are maroon. The cabinet is slightly different and includes a locking cover.

I think that's about it.

I hope this helps.

Allen

Absolutely, fun either way! By the way, is the Wurlitzer 4502 voiced more classical/ church as compared to a 4500 model?

[Bob Pierce]

Allen is quite right as far as I know (never having seen/played/owned a straight 4500). But from what I could glean online, models 4500, 4502, and 4520 are all essentially the same organ; just packaged in "Home," "Church," and "Theatre/Horseshoe" cabinets respectively. I do know that he's right in that the main difference is in the percussions: for example model 4520 had a toy counter, which was also made available later on model 4500 TC (for "Toy Counter") and 4500 TCR (for "Toy Counter" plus "Rhythym", apparently a built-in version of Wurlitzer's "Swingin' Rhythym" unit.)

I will say that this 4502 lags behind the analog Allens I've played in terms of stop variety and tonal resources. However, I'm continually impressed with what it's capable of - Wurlitzer managed to do a lot with the basic Transistor-Divider architecture on this one. For example, there are 16', 4', and 2' couplers that couple to several of the 8' pitches (as well as an ingenious "8' Off" tab), effectively providing many more stops than the basic specification would suggest. So from what I have found so far, it is possible to get a very pleasing (if somwhat basic) church tone from the instrument. I'm really looking forward to seeing what it will sound like when I get the Leslies and Conn pipes hooked up!

I appreciate the ongoing discussion.

[Bob Pierce]

By the way, is the Wurlitzer 4502 voiced more classical/ church as compared to a 4500 model?

Just thought to add the following. This video is one of the main reasons I decided to go for it, on the 4502. Of course I've heard the old adage that the most important stop on any organ is the space where it's housed (which you'll see in this case starting at about 0:46), but I was struck by the pipe-like quality here. (Again, for what it is - I would love to have a big Allen or Rodgers, but alas space does not permit.)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_zb-G219yjc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ursa]

Bob, back when I bought my 4300--the spinet version of the 4500--it was the couplers that made it so irresistible. In a showroom full of new and used organs, the great sound of the 4300 utterly laid waste to every other spinet on the floor. I have had the amps re-capped, the expression pedal and Spectra-Tone rebuilt, and a new reverb tank installed in mine. Looking forward to at least another 20 great years from my Wurli!

I've long wondered what my 4300 would sound like thru a Leslie and/or Conn pipes. Keep us posted!

[afuller5]

Hi all,

I thoroughly enjoyed playing the Wurlitzer 4502 at church. For its era, I think it was a great sounding organ. The 4502 suited our worship style, which is mainly hymns.

However, I do have one small complaint about it. The Upper-to-Upper 2' coupler "folded back" on the highest octave. I can understand doing this on the high C. But to me the whole octave was a bit much. I am used to a 1' pitched folding back, but not the 2' pitches. One of my favorite softer registrations is Flute 8', 2'. When playing this higher, it would suddenly become Flute 8', 4'. Also, I like the Flute 16'. 2' played an octave higher. This would become Flute 16', 4'.

Like I said, overall, I the instrument was great. I think it very well designed.

Until later,
Allen