New Vs. Old Vs. New. Thoughts?

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I have, and gig with, a Wurli 200, a Rhodes suitcase and a Hammond/Leslie. I recently purchased a "Clonewheel' (Roland VK-8) and am really happy not to haul my Hammond any longer. I am thinking about swapping the Wurlitzer and the Rhodes out for something more portable/giggable. Here's the backstory....

I was playing a gig Friday night. The band asked me to start a song that I normally don't. No biggie. I am playing away, when out of nowhere, SNAPCRAKLEPOPWOWEEKAZOO!!! My Wurlitzer starts making some really terrible sounds! I swing over and continue playing along on my vk8 and finish the gig.

I get the Wurlitzer home and inspect it. One of the reeds was so close to the pickup that it shorted out. This happened 2 hours into the gig. The Wurli didn't get jarred by anything between when it was playing fine, and when it was shorting out. And only 2 weeks prior I was checking some tuning, and verified that every reed screw was adequately tight. I have had notes on my Rhodes mysteriously go out of tune in the middle of a show too. Plus, these muthas are heavy, fragile and take time to setup.

For these types of reasons that are typically associated with this vintage gear, I am considering getting into more modern gear. I have a hard time owning pieces that I have to worry about moving to a gig because of something like this.
I cant afford to buy new gear without selling the old. I feel that in terms of cash value, the wurli/rhodes are probably near their cap. I don't think they will be worth considerably more in 20 years. They are taken better care of now than they ever have been, and VV is making new ones.

So, In 15 years am I really going to kick myself in the butt for selling my wurli and rhodes to get a Nord? Thoughts?
 
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That really does sound great. My personal preference is to stay away from modular gear. I discovered that the issue in the Wurli was a reed that had broken.
 
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Robert, vintage is cool and romantic, but not always practical. Sort of like driving a 1954 Studebaker to work every day.

About a year ago I went to what I had previoisly considered the "dark side" and bought a fully weighted Nord 73 for the EP's and acoustic pianos. I kick myself for not having done it sooner. The pianos are super clean, and Nord includes a nice set of effects on all their instruments to tailor your sounds. You'll want to keep your organ. I use a separate Hammond clone wheel with Ventilator so don't use the Nord for organ.

And none of us are getting any younger. Weight is a consideration when schlepping vintage, unless you have a whole squad of roadies.

Do it. You're on the right track.
 
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Deja Vu as I too had the same dilemma several years ago owning a Rhodes & B3 /122 Leslie. When starting to gig out I realized the Rhodes was limiting me, so after selling the Rhodes I went with a used Roland RD700 GX to cover more bases (Rhodes,Wurly, Acoustic, etc & while it had Organ voicing w drawbars, the weighted & concert size keys didn't lend themselves to anything more than "chording." on organ voices. So biting the bullet I sold the B3 / Leslie & decided on the Hammond SK2 clone. As much as I liked the Nord CD2, the extra $$ & lack of additional voices on the Nord were the deciding factor, as well as if the gig was tight on space I could get by wth just the SK2 using 1 keyboard for piano & the other for organ. I found that using a Neo Ventilator really didn't add much & sold that too. I love vintage, but both space & weight transporting was an issue.
 

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