The Shady Nook Wurlitzer

The Shady Nook Wurlitzer This page chronicles the evolution of the well-known Wurlitzer known as "The Shady Nook Wurlitzer", taking its name from the restaurant in Cincinnati, OH.

MAY 9, 2026: we are building manifolds for both sides of this chest. What a procedure!
09/05/2026

MAY 9, 2026: we are building manifolds for both sides of this chest. What a procedure!

9 MAY 2026: further work on the bottom boards for the 15” pressure Tuba Mirabilis. New gaskets and through wires, this t...
09/05/2026

9 MAY 2026: further work on the bottom boards for the 15” pressure Tuba Mirabilis. New gaskets and through wires, this thing won’t leak! Originally designed for a 25” pressure Mirabilis, this thing will survive a nuclear blast.

8 MARCH 2026: In progress is a 2-rank chest with an interesting history. It originally came from the brass chamber of W...
08/03/2026

8 MARCH 2026: In progress is a 2-rank chest with an interesting history. It originally came from the brass chamber of Wurlitzer's Opus 534, the lamented great 4/32 Style 285 from Los Angeles' Metropolitan (Paramount) Theatre, originally installed in 1922. We say 'lamented' because this grand Wurlitzer was known to be buried alive behind a very heavy proscenium arch and barely able to be heard (We also have one of the regulators from that chamber!). On it sat a 15" pressure Double English Horn and a 25" pressure Tuba Mirabilis. Of particular note is the thickness of the timber Wurlitzer used for the bottom boards for this rank which we measured at 1'-1/4", no doubt to accommodate the higher 25" pressure.

When the organ was broken up in the early 1960s, this chest found its way to the Residence of Dr Al Erhardt in the LA Hollywood Hills where it was added to Opus 989 - a 3/11 Style 235 from 1925 according to the Wurlitzer Opus List with an added Brass Trumpet and 4th string (a salicional celeste). The Post Horn chest accommodated a Post Horn (reputedly, though we are unsure, the original one from the LA Paramount which, where ever it came from had been revoiced on 10" according to engravings on CC). A Wurlitzer Quintadena from the Style 260 in Grauman's Egyptian Theatre (Opus 505 - 1925) sat in the Mirabilis holes. An additional 6 note direct electric chest was screwed to the side of this chest to accommodate the remaining 6 notes of the quintadena (which was duly relegated to the rubbish bin).

The Erhardt organ was sold to a private individual who had plans to put it in an eatery but those plans never eventuated. The relays remained in the house as they were deemed too difficult to remove given the steepness of the property (we wonder whether they are still there?). Most of that organ, including the console and the chests eventually came to our care. Currently we are bringing this 2 rank chest back to life where it will eventually play another Wurlitzer Post Horn on 15" pressure and Tuba Mirabilis (also on 15" pressure). We're still working on the bottom board actions. Note the scars of battle which we keep given the objective here is one of functional restoration. But we clean them up as best as we can. After all, she is 104 years old.

Anyone know where this manifold came from? It’s not the original.
19/07/2025

Anyone know where this manifold came from? It’s not the original.

JULY 19, 2025: one of two manifolds re-gasketted. This task is quite satisfying. We’ve ensured they lied flat against th...
19/07/2025

JULY 19, 2025: one of two manifolds re-gasketted. This task is quite satisfying. We’ve ensured they lied flat against the chest sides before gasketing, and hope they do their job and seal without any leaks.

JULY 6, 2025: today’s task given the weather kept us away from gardening - Wurlitzer buffer arms - swell shade action. 6...
06/07/2025

JULY 6, 2025: today’s task given the weather kept us away from gardening - Wurlitzer buffer arms - swell shade action. 60 of these now cleaned up, ready for some lovely felt and leather. Before and after…….all our shellacking is hand applied with a rubber.

JUNE 29, 2025: Wurlitzer swell buffer pneumatics: hinges in kangaroo, brackets in woven material, covering in black Cabr...
29/06/2025

JUNE 29, 2025: Wurlitzer swell buffer pneumatics: hinges in kangaroo, brackets in woven material, covering in black Cabrettta, a soft and luxurious material usually used in the manufacture of gloves.

JUNE 29, 2025: These are going to look really smart….. Wurlitzer swell buffer pneumatics. We cleaned these up, applied 1...
29/06/2025

JUNE 29, 2025: These are going to look really smart….. Wurlitzer swell buffer pneumatics. We cleaned these up, applied 10 coats of hand applied shellac and we’re about ready to recover. This is set #1 of 4.

JUNE 8, 2025: We’ve been busy working on offset chests with another 3 completed including this fine piece of late Wurlit...
08/06/2025

JUNE 8, 2025: We’ve been busy working on offset chests with another 3 completed including this fine piece of late Wurlitzer furniture - the 8’ offset to the bottom 12 notes of the Lieblich Flute from opus 2088, first installed in the 1st Baptist Church in Phoenix, AZ in 1929. This chest was completely restored, but we stored it in a part of our shed where it was a little damp. Secondaries and primaries fell off, guide pins rusted and we kicked ourselves for not having noticed sooner. New primaries recovered, regasketted and reshellaced, it turned out to be a gorgeous piece of furniture once again.

APRIL 7, 2025: as the weather turns, and we still yearn for rain, we continue our work on restoring a number of 8’ bass ...
06/04/2025

APRIL 7, 2025: as the weather turns, and we still yearn for rain, we continue our work on restoring a number of 8’ bass flute chests for the project. There’s something satisfying making your own pallet recovering material. Here we have deer and felt.

MARCH 30, 2025: It's been a while since we added photos to this album and here's a rather sorry sight. This chest has be...
30/03/2025

MARCH 30, 2025: It's been a while since we added photos to this album and here's a rather sorry sight. This chest has been awaiting other jobs to be completed in the queue and, finally, we were able to move it onto its wheelable bearers and commence the testing process. We decided to start with the Tibia chest. You might recall from other photos in this album that this chest arrived without its native toe board and bottom board and that we were able to source a replacement toe board and bottom board from another earlier instrument. We started here because we thought this would throw the greatest challenges and it did, like any transplant patient. New channels were made for the primary assembly and they work beautifully. But we were met with 7 dead (or so we thought) magnets when all of them had been tested and re-tested during installation. It transpired that these magnets were still in working order, but were not soldered properly. Our error. In addition, we were too aggressive with the valve setting and many notes just would not exhaust enough to fire. All valves have been readjusted but many of them are leaking and we need to investigate why that is the case. Again, our error. And to top it off, some of the pallets were whimpering because we did not permit sufficient travel and slack between the secondary motor and the pallet lever. Again, our error. On the more positive side, we are making a nett improvement forward. I suppose you live and learn, but that's why you pay a professional mega $$ to get the job done right first time.

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Mount Macedon, VIC

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