Bibliography
This page contains descriptions of sources referenced elsewhere in the website, and links where available.
Organ technology
H. Emerson Anderson, Electronic Organ Handbook. Foulsham-Sams Technical Books, 1960.
VIEW PDF (CRASNO)This book describes different organ models by various manufacturers, with a focus on chord organs. This is unusual, because many authors prefer to discuss the most impressive or professional instrument offered. However, Anderson is clearly trying to persuade technicians that organs are not that difficult either to play or to service, and chord organs are certainly a good example of an approachable instrument.
How many of you—whether service technician or prospective owner—have shied away from electronic organs, believing them to be complicated and costly musical instruments? Well, if you have, you’re in for a delightful surprise. The reason for the organ’s overwhelming popularity as a home music instrument in recent years is that anyone—even those with a “tin” ear—can learn to play a simple tune in just a few minutes. […] Have you ever hummed a tune? Sang in a church choir? Chimed in with your contribution to “Auld Lang Syne” at New Year’s? Then you have all the musical background you need.
Thanks to Anderson’s beginner-friendly attitude, this book contains an extremely comprehensive description of the Wurlitzer 4000. The other chapters are also worth reading for those who are interested in organ electronics and oscillators. Every chapter covers a different manufacturer and contains diagrams, schematics, and photos. Explanations are accessible and have plenty of detail for historical analysis.
Richard H. Dorf, “The Wurlitzer Electronic Piano”. Radio-Electronics, December 1954 & January 1955.
DECEMBER 1954 PDF | JANUARY 1955 PDFThis is an extremely detailed article about how reed organs work. Part I is subtitled, “The electrical and mechanical construction of a magnificent musical instrument,” and explains the continuous free reed mechanism of the Wurlitzer 44. Part II is “Tone coloring; the vibrato circuit,” and includes a walkthrough (with schematics) of how the tremolo oscillator works. Part I further contrasts the designs of free reed organs with Wurlitzer’s earlier keyed reeds. Dorf is critical of certain aspects of keyed reed organs—mentioning their “characteristic slow speaking of reeds” and “Rube Goldberg lever system”—but is fairly complimentary of Wurlitzer’s reed organ line in general.
I have often been asked, “What ever happened to the Everett Organtron?” The answer is that Wurlitzer took it over, refined it, and built it into a line of large electronic organ models. The one pictured in Fig. 2, for instance, is a Wurlitzer series 50, a complete manual organ with 32-note radiating pedal clavier, AGO dimensions, and 22 stops. Other more or less elaborate models are made as well.
Robert L. Eby, Electronic Organs. Van Kampen Press, 1953.
VIEW PDFRobert L. Eby was an organist, inventor and entrepreneur. At the time that Electronic Organ was published, Eby was the Technical Director at House of Organs in Hollywood, CA. Later, he opened Artisan Music Hall, an organ showroom that also screened silent films with live organ accompaniment. A short bio in Electronic Organs notes that Eby’s personal home organ was a custom-built “three-manual electronic ‘monster’” containing “nearly 500 tubes”. Eby patented an organ tone generator (3,459,869) in 1965 and a nine-pin plug assembly for converting tube oscillators to solid state (3,531,654) in 1969.
Electronic Organs is billed as “A Complete Catalog, Textbook and Manual”. It has a section for each of the major American organ manufacturers at the time, and a description of each of their product offerings. For such a short book, there is substantial technical detail on tone generators and other electronic circuits. The technical information is accessible, but it does assume that the reader has a musician’s understanding of organ features and functionality. It is also “profusely illustrated,” as the dust cover promises. The photographs and illustrations range from catalog-style glamor shots of organ models to circuit schematics and annotated photos of organ and tone cabinet interiors. There is a diagram showing where to install an Allen organ in a church, and where to install a Baldwin organ in an auditorium. It is an eclectic and engagingly-presented collection of information.
Print advertisements
Harmony House advertorial. Arizona Days & Ways, December 29, 1963, page 6.
PDF OF MAGAZINEThis is a brief advertisement for Harmony House, a Wurlitzer dealer in Phoenix, AZ. It includes a photo of Mrs. Dan Ray playing a 4102 organ at Palo Verde Baptist Church, and a short description of the 4102’s features. Models ending in “02” designated church variants, and this advertisement describes some of the features that made an organ more suitable for churches.
Wurlitzer Spectra-Tone advertisement. House & Garden, June 1962, page 4.
PDF OF MAGAZINE This advertisement is for a “Wurlitzer 2-in-1 Organ with Spectra-Tone Vibrato."
Now the pleasure of making music yourself becomes even more exciting. Spectra-Tone Vibrato brings a richness and fullness to home organ music never experienced before—the kind of “first” you expect from Wurlitzer.
It is not clear which model of organ it is, although the “2-in1” meant that it could be “played with chord buttons or in the conventional manner with two keyboards and 13 foot pedals.”
Wurlitzer Theatre Organ advertisement. Theatre Organ Bombarde, December 1969, inside cover.
This full-page advertisement is found in Vol. 11 No. 6 (December 1969) of Theatre Organ Bombarde. It depicts a large electronic organ with stop tablets arranged in a theater-style horseshoe. The model number is not listed but it appears to be a transistor divider model. The advertisement reads in part:
The modern Theatre Console Organ that combines the grandeur of yesterday with the electronic wizardry of today. […] To achieve its big, rich and electrifying tone, Wurlitzer harmonically “photographed” voices of the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ to serve as a standard. […] Then, to crown the accomplishment, we incorporated the famous Wurlitzer Multi-Matic Percussion® section with exclusive Ssh-Boom® that requires no special playing techniques, Pizzicato Touch that was found only on larger pipe organs, Chimes and Slide Control…and dozens of other features that no organ can offer.
The full issue of the journal can be read here.
Product brochures
Wurlitzer 445 with Syntha-Solo dealer brochure
This dealer brochure, digitized by Norm’s Organs, provides an interesting perspective on the 445. Because it was written for dealers, it includes both information about the organ and suggested sales pitches. “Sell Play Today features,” it suggests. “Sell fun…plus completeness […] Sell value […] Sell style […] Sell Wurlitzer.” The first section of the brochure defines the target customer as the “first-time organ buyer.”
When you tell your customers, “You are the star,” they just may not believe you—but they’ll believe themselves the minute they sit down to play SYNTHA-SOLO!
The back cover of the brochure lists “Selling/learning aids”, including “New 4-color leaflets”—the product specification sheets that are present in the archive. These are offered as an alternative to “FUN-STYLED consumer brochures,” and are billed as “[g]reat for low-cost mailers.”
This is interesting because the sheets were found in different parts of the archive. First, we found a spiral-bound catalog of specification sheets. We also found a few loose pages that had clearly never been spiral bound. Finally, a few pages were stapled inside of service manuals. Wurlitzer clearly used these specification sheets as reference and sales tools in different contexts.
Wurlitzer 4700 Concert Organ brochure
VIEW PDF (EXTERNAL LINK)The 4700 was Wurlitzer’s flagship transistor organ: two 61-key manuals providing 96 pitches, 120 W across three amplifiers, eight speakers, A.G.O. pedalboard, and elegant church organ styling. This brochure extremely informative about what features Wurlitzer considered critical for a top-of-the-line classical organ in the 1960s. It is also a work of art with beautiful midcentury design, hand-painted illustrations, and a vibrant color palette of reds and yellows. Read it at your peril, because it will absolutely make you want to start the hunt for a 4700 of your own.
Wurlitzer 625/625T Total Tone brochure
This 12-page brochure advertising Wurlitzer 625 and 625T organs has been digitized by Norm’s Organs. The 625/625T are theater-style IC divider organs containing two manuals and an Orbit synthesizer. The brochure is an extremely useful source because it explains many Wurlitzer features, such as Total Tone, Dancing Chords, and Pedal Memory. It also contains plenty of photos showing both Antique White and Sable Cherry colorways, in addition to a two-page full-color photo that clearly depicts all stop tablets and controls.
Promo albums
Wurlitzer 805 demonstration tape (1974)
This 18-minute promotional cassette, digitized by Norm’s Organs, provides a walkthrough of the features of the Wurlitzer 805.
Glenn Derringer, Wurlitzer Swingin’ Rhythm (1968)
In this album, organist Glenn Derringer plays an unspecified Wurlitzer organ using the Wurlitzer Swingin’ Rhythm as accompaniment. Derringer’s Swingin’ Rhythm settings are listed on the back cover, so that listeners can play along at home. The album can be heard here.