The beautiful Wurlitzer grand was purchased about 20 years ago under Peter’s direction. It is very well maintained and dynamically responsive, with a warm sound. The touch was surprisingly heavy; that became less surprising when I learned that later Wurlitzers were manufactured by the Baldwin company.

I'd never performed on a Wurlitzer before. The company’s main claim to fame is the giant theater organs that were among the most advanced electronic instruments of their time. But they also made pianos, mostly entry-level spinets and consoles....plus (the Wikipedia article was a revelation) jukeboxes, coin-operated player pianos (a precursor to jukeboxes), high-end radios, kitchen appliances, carnival rides, and (during WW2) bomb proximity fuses.

While conversion of civilian factories to military production during wartime is not unusual, military procurement was also the source of the company‘s initial financial success; the company was “was an early American defense contractor, being a major supplier of musical instruments to the U.S. military during the American Civil War and Spanish–American War” (per Wikipedia).