Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis Played a Wurlitzer Spinet!?!?!?

I'm about to start 'fangirling' over here pretty soon, guys.
The King Himself.....And Johnny Cash........And Carl Perkins....And Jerry Lee Lewis.
All gathered around......A Wurlitzer Spinet. (Not sure of what Model, but I've seen that sheet music rack design before on a Wurlitzer.) Which, in turn, would mean that Sun Records had bought this Piano to use for their sessions....which would mean that this piano could most likely be heard on dozens of recordings made up until about 1957. Look.
http://sadmanstonguerockabillybar.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/million-dollar-quartet.jpg
And The Wurlitzer Spinet Sheet Music Rack: http://www.chicagopianos.com/11212010_update/Wurlitzer-577934.jpg
And, they released an entire Album....that Spinet's actually on that Album. I find that pretty amazing. Honestly....if it's good enough for the King, it's good enough for me. Of course, there are pianos out there that sound better.....but when the King of Rock and Roll is playing the type of piano you have, That right there is pretty amazing.

Wurli - Get a grip!

Buh....my Spinet's touch isn't that good....I don't think I can 'get a grip.'
All jokes aside, I might be over-reacting a little bit.......but hey, it's ELVIS.

Spinets are amazing, upright pianos are amazing, and rock n' roll/blues is amazing. I saw that thread you linked before about ray charles playing a spinet on atlantic. Some of my absolute favorite records/dudes jammed these budget pianos! I got one myself a couple months ago, and have honestly fallen back in love with piano (always have to play digital pianos/keyboards for gigs...blegh!)

wurlifan isn't this a spinet too? the King (thank you very mush)

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/36/49/d6/3649d62ad092625ab5fe0f70889a4ff1.jpg

I played an old Kohler & Campbell spinet at a nursing home this evening. It was wayyyy out of tune, but actually sounded and played pretty good. Thing is, those elderly residents actually think I can play pretty well; at least it put a smile on their face.

Rick

Wurli,

That quartet pic. looks like a rehearsal/promo photo to me.

No offense, but I am finding it hard to believe that they didn't have a better piano to record with - again, no offense meant.

Commonly known as the Million Dollar Quartet.

And yeah, that's probably the piano that was used.

Check out the Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Dollar_Quartet

Well there you go. It looks like it could be the piano that was used.

Anyone know where we could find some of those recordings online?

Just hit 'play song.' http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Crazy+Arms/4Klw32?src=5 You can find a whole bunch of good music on there.
Such a Tinny Sound....yet so awesome at the same time.
And......pardon me, but why do you find it so Shocking that a Spinet was actually used? These instruments were in their prime back in the 50s. People didn't care about the tone, as long as they had a piano in the recording studio for people to work with, they were making money. No offense, but they weren't considered bad instruments back then.....they were considered professional studio worthy.

Jolly, don't you have a Gulbransen Spinet? They made some good spinets. Very nice design from the ones I've seen.

Ah haw haw haw, a yus sir, that's a Spinet. Might be a console.

I got the opportunity to play a Kohler and Campbell Grand. Very nice, 1940s american made piano. I played a Baldwin Spinet the other day with a good tone....but it was so out of tune that If I played an F in the left hand, it sounded like something completely different in the right.

There's still a Wurlitzer spinet on a dolly at Sun Records Memphis minus the music rack. It's old enough to be the original. Only Sam knows for sure and he ain't talking. In the day, rock and roll musicians used whatever piano happened to be in the studio - and were often out of tune as many of the recordings reveal.

Wurli,

I love your enthusiasm!

But, I just gotta ask - Do you know the difference between a spinet and a console?

There were many independent studios sprang up in the '50's. I tuned the pianos of some of them that survived into the '60's. The pianos were always more of an afterthought, to put it nicely.

We must remember the sounds of those days. I just listened to some older country recordings. Some of them very well in tune and well voiced but still a small upright sound. They only used the treble half of the keyboard anyway.

Abbey Rd. still keeps the uprights used by the Beatles in the '60's. They are still used occasionally, even though there has always been an excellent Concert piano available in the same studio since it opened as an orchestral recording studio.
One upright was put in there originally a few years before by a well known singalong and ragtime pianist for her recordings. It was kept very bright and slightly out of tune for her. Although people ask to see this as the Beatles piano, it is still affectionately known to the staff as the "Mrs. Mills" piano.

There are still studios where the house piano is a small upright. They rent a fine concert piano only when required. Space is often a consideration.

Often recording engineers can make a piano sound better than it has any right to. But the old upright sound is still needed and valued.

Interesting post…

Just goes to show that a fine concert grand ain’t the only game in town.

Rick

Concert grands sound too clean for rock and blues. They are far more at home in classical and jazz

the million dollar quartet..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygPShCglZgM

No, I've got a big 'un. I need to measure it, but it's either a 52" or a 54".

Was a little concerned about it, as it's sitting in a big (20x30) room with a wood heater and we don't always turn the A/C on in that room, but my tech assured me the piano was rock solid and built for a day when homes did not have climate control...in fact, I think his actual words were something about the cracks in the walls of some of those old homes being big enough to throw a cat through...piano has done well...