Jonas Wurlitzer
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SPECIFICATION

Pipe organs differ greatly in sound based on what type of pipes are included in it. Specific to theatre organs in particular are also the addition of different sound effects, called "traps" which were originally used while these instruments were used to accompany silent films. The specification of this instrument is listed below.

RANKS (12)

Percussions (7)

Traps (23)

16' Tuba Horn 85 notes (15" wind)
16' Concert Flute 97 notes (10" wind)
16' Open Diapason (Diaphonic) 85 notes (10" wind)
8' English Post Horn (English Horn) 61 notes (10" wind)
8' Tibia Clausa 85 notes (15" wind)
8' Orchestral Oboe 61 notes (10" wind)
​8' Kinura 61 notes (10" wind)
8' Clarinet 61 notes (10" wind)
8' Viol d' Orchestra 85 notes (10" wind)
8' Viol Celeste 73 notes (10" wind)
8' Salicional 73 notes (10" wind)
8' Vox Humana 61 notes (6" wind)
​Xylophone   |   37 Notes
Glockenspiel   |   30 Notes
Chrystoglott   |   49 Notes
Cathedral Chimes   |   25 Notes
Baby Grand Piano   |   88 Notes
Marimba Harp   |   49 Notes
Sleigh Bells   |   25 Notes
Bass Drum
Kettle Drum
Snare Drum
Tom Tom
Crash Cymbal
Tap Cymbal
Roll Cymbal
Jazz Cymbal
Triangle
Tambourine
Castanets
Chinese Block
Horses Hooves
Fire Gong
Bird Whistle
Steam Boat Whistle
Auto Horn
Telephone Bell
Surf
Sand Block
Hi Hat
Slide Whistle
Wind Chimes

Console Spec - ​Wurlitzer Style 230 SP

Pedal

Accompaniment

Great

Solo

32 Acoustic Bass
16 Tuba Profunda
16 Diaphone
16 Bourdon
8 English Horn
8 Harmonic Tuba
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa
8 Clarinet
8 Cello 2 rks
8 Salicional
8 Concert Flute
_____________________________
16 Piano
8 Piano
Bass Drum
Kettle Drum
Crash Cymbal
Cymbal
Jazz Cymbal
Triangle
ACC Accomp to Pedal
GREAT Great to Pedal
GREAT Great Octave to Pedal
SOLO Solo to Pedal
8 English Horn
8 Harmonic Tuba
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa
8 Clarinet
8 Viol d' Orchestre
8 Viol Celeste
8 Salicional
8 Concert Flute
8 Vox Humana
4 Octave
4 Piccolo
4 Viol
4 Octave Celeste
4 Salicional
4 Flute
​4 Vox Humana
_____________________________
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Piccolo
8 Piano
 Harp Sub Octave
Harp
Chrysoglott
Snare Drum
Tamabourine
Castanets
Chinese Block
Tom Tom
Cymbal
Jazz Cymbal
Sand Block
ACC Octave
SOLO Solo to Accomp
16 English Horn (Ten C)
16 Tuba Profunda
16 Diaphone
16 Tibia Clausa (Ten C)
16 Clarinet (Ten C)
16 Orchestral Oboe (Ten C)
16 
Contra Viol Celeste 2 rks (Ten C)
16 Salicional (Ten C)
16 Bourdon
16 Vox Humana (Ten C)
8 English Horn

8 Harmonic Tuba
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa
8 Clarinet
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Kinura
8 Viol Celeste 2 rks
8 Salicional
8 Concert Flute
​8 Vox Humana
​5 1/3 Fifth
_____________________________
4 Octave

4 Piccolo
4 Octave Celeste 2 rks
4 Salicional
4 Flute
​4 Vox Humana
3 1/5 Tenth (Tibia)
2 2/3 Twelfth (Tibia)
2 2/3 Twelfth
2 Piccolo (Tibia)
​2 ​​Fifteenth
2 Piccolo
1 Fife
8 Piano
4 Piano
Harp Sub Octave
Harp

Xylophone
Glockenspiel
Chrysoglott
GREAT Sub Octave
GREAT Unison Off
GREAT Octave
SOLO Solo Sub Great
​SOLO Solo to Great
16 English Horn (Ten C)
16 Tuba Profunda
16 Diaphone
16 Tibia Clausa (Ten C)
16 Clarinet (Ten C)
16 Orchestral Oboe (Ten C)
16 String Ensemble 3 rks
16 Vox Humana (Ten C)
​8 English Horn

8 Harmonic Tuba
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa
8 Clarinet
8 Orchestral Oboe
8 Kinura
8 String Ensemble 3 rks
​8 Vox Humana
_____________________________
4 Piccolo
4 String Ensemble 3 rks
2 2/3 Twelfth (Tibia)
2 Piccolo (Tibia)
1 3/5 Tierce (Tibia)
8 Piano
Harp Sub Octave

Xylophone
Glockenspiel
Chrysoglott
Sleigh Bells
Cathedral Chimes
SOLO Solo Sub Octave
SOLO Unison Off
SOLO Solo Octave
​
Picture
General swell control toggle switches

Accompaniment
Second Touches

Great Pizzicato

General

Tremulants

8 English Horn
8 Harmonic Tuba
8 Diaphonic Diapason
8 Tibia Clausa
8 Clarinet
4 Piccolo (Tibia)
8 Piano
Harp Sub Octave
Octave Glockenspiel
Cathedral Chimes
Triangle
Tramps to 2nd Touch
Great Octave Accomp
Solo to Accomp
​Solo to Accomp Pizzicato
16 English Horn
Solo to Great
Celeste Off
Harp Reit.
Xylo / Glock Reit. Mandolin
Great Sost. OFF Piano Sustain ON
Main (Diapason - Concert Flute - Clarinet - VDO - Viol Cel.- Salicional)
Solo (Orch. Oboe - Kinura)
Vox Humana
Tibia Clausa
​Tuba Horn
​English Horn

Swell Pedals

Piano Pedals

Main
Solo
General
(with kick switch for Great Sostenuto & Piano Sustain)
Crescendo
Left:
​1st Touch - Kettle Drum
​2nd Touch - Bass Drum & Crash Cymbal

Right:
​Roll Cymbal

The Blowers

The organ runs on air and 12 volts DC to power magnets which allow a series of pneumatics to operate, ultimately blowing air through a pipe or making a striker hit a bar (in the case of a xylophone or marimba). To generate the massive amounts of air (which is called wind in organ language), the organ is equipped with two 5 h.p. Spencer Orgoblo Blowers. Serial No. 21375 (left) was sold to the Wurlitzer factory in 1928 and Serial No. 16304 (right) is estimated to be built in 1924 based on records located of close serial numbers. The photo below was taken before the blower room was insulated and walled off from the rest of the basement. It is the best view of what is inside the now, rather compact room.
Picture
Click here to view a start up video.

The Relay

Originally, organs would have had a relay room filled with large pieces of equipment which functioned as an early computer. The relay system would tell which pipe to speak at what time. They would also have a large board of springs and copper channeling. This board, called a setter board would allow organists to preset different combinations of sounds to be assigned to buttons on the console, called pistons. The system of setting sounds and pushing buttons to recall sounds is called a combination action. Both the relay and combination action is combined on this organ in a single computerized system called Uniflex. The photo below is taken of some of the console boards. The system consists of one computer in the music room which runs the software, two interface boards (one in the console and one in the chamber) and a variety of input and output boards. The computer and interface boards communicate over a high speed network and can be accessed by an app for tuning.
Picture
Picture

The Room

Picture
The organ actually takes up four rooms in the house - the music room (listening area), tone chute (sound mixing), chamber (where the pipes live) and blower room. Sound is mixed in the tone chute, located in the basement and travels up to the first floor through a set of brass grills in the floor. The brass grills originally came out of a Stop & Shop store on Washington Street in Chicago:
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The Stop & Shop loop location went out of business in 1983 and the building later demolished. This made it possible for my friend Gib Petzke and his partner Alden Stockebrand to purchase the grills from Architectural Artifacts for their home installation, also in Chicago. When Gib and Alden moved to Milwaukee, the organ and grills made the trip north. After the passing of Alden in 2010, the organ was removed and parted out, including the grills, which were sold to DTOS member Rob Riley. Rob split the two panels in half, creating four sections (they are quite heavy). Pins and screws were fabricated to hold the pieces together. Unless you know what you are looking for, it is hard to tell this was done. Rob never ended up installing the grills and later sold them back to Gib where he would store them for a potential future project. When that didn't materialize, Gib sold them to me in the summer of 2019. There were installed in our Elkhorn Residence during construction in 2020.
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  • Specification
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