In 1909, they bought the distressed deKleist firm in North Tonawanda, NY, which had been making mechanical music machines. The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company was incorporated in 1890 and operated a manufacturing plant in Cincinnati. The Wurlitzer Company got its start in Cincinnati, OH in 1956 when Rudolph Wurlitzer, a German immigrant, started importing German musical instruments for sale in the USA. The drum and top sections were built by us from photos of original units. The center section is an original Wurlitzer part donated by a museum member. Today, it plays behind a reproduced façade. At Idora it was played behind an ornate front façade, from the previous German organ, but Jake was not interested in the façade at their asking price, so he bought it less the façade, which w as later destroyed in a fire. Jake purchased it from Idora in the early 1980's. favorite this post Feb 6 Nord Electro 6 HP 73-Key Hammer Action Keyboard WITH V2 Music Stand 2,845. favorite this post Feb 12 Roland VR-09 V-combo keyboard. In 1916 the selling price was $1500.īuilt about 1919, its location is unknown until it was in use at Idora Park in Youngstown, OH. Wurlitzer Organ Model-4300 250 (nhm > Hillsborough,NH ) pic hide this posting restore restore this posting. In good condition, the current value is in the $20,000 range. This model WURLITZER is equipped with two tracker frames which allow it to play continuously, since while one is rewinding the other plays. The vacuum and compressed air are supplied by wood and leather bellow pumps driven by a crankshaft, which is turned by the electric motor mounted on tope of the organ. The punched holes are "read" by a vacuum control system that in turn opens valves allowing the compressed air to enter the selected pipes and play the music. The music is contained on a paper roll with holes punched in it, designated by Wurlizter as style 150, similar to a player piano roll. The DeBence Music Museum has one of each of three other models of Wurlitzer band organs. Wurlitzer made many other models of Band Organs and there are surviving examples of most of them. As far as we know there are only 3 of this model presently in use in public. We don't really know how many are still in existence, but it must be a small number by now. This model was made from 1977 - 1980 in DeKalb, Illinois and sold originally for 26,000. Skip ahead here to hear actual examples from this instrument.
WURLITZER ORGAN MODELS 2845 FULL
There were about 169 of this particular model built, the first one in 1916, with the last one in 1936. The Wurlitzer 950 covers the range from full cathedral organ to funky to space-age synth to Pink Floyd/ELP. This model became the standard by which Merry Go Round organs were judged. (Some keys play more than one pipe.) It is equipped with a glockenspiel (the row of small bells on the lower front of the machine). It is a 54 key organ, which plays 46 notes, actuates 6 stops and plays 2 drums and a cymbal. This is a Wurlizter Model 153 Duplex Orchestral Band Organ, built about 1919 by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in North Tonawanda, New York.