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Old 05-28-2011, 07:37 PM
JCFitz JCFitz is offline
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Why not jukeboxes?

I know there are discussion groups on the internet for jukeboxes but several members have mentioned they owned jukeboxes in threads on other subjects.Other than that they're rarely mentioned. I think they fit here as the "hifi audio guys" wouldn't be caught dead putting their records on them.

Well I have jukes too and I don't mind playing my records on them. As a starter I'll list the jukeboxes I have:

Seeburg 222-working
Seeburg C-under restoration
Seeburg R-works but needs restoration
Rockola 490-1 Supersound 2-working
Wurlitzer 2150-partially working
Wurlitzer 1400-needs restoration

Other jukes I have but plan to sell after they're done are:

Seeburg LPC1-almost finished
(2) Seeburg LPC480s
Rowe/AMI JAL
Seeburg SS160

Jukes I've owned and sold :

Wurlitzer 24-Hated to sell it but hospital bills were coming in the mail. Sounded fantastic playing 78s.
Wurlitzer 2510
Mills Do Re Me
Seeburg PFEAU1-The one that says Discoteque on the upper marquee
Seeburg STD3 Sunstar-boss has this one
Rockola 490 Supersound

and lastly one of my faves and I'll never sell it: Seeburg HSC1 or Home Stereo console
Plays 1 side or both of up to 50 full size LPs. The sides are selected by a telephone dial. The LPs are played vertically just like all Seeburg jukeboxes from the M100A on up do. They track at 2.5 grams with the same Pickering magnetic the 1967 and later 45 rpm jukes use.Oh my I can hear the audio guys squealing like little girls that I'm running a plow through my records....hahaha. The speakers are in their own separate boxes inside of the console.It's a 6 ft long beautiful pecan cabinet.

Last edited by JCFitz; 05-28-2011 at 08:00 PM.
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Old 05-28-2011, 07:49 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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I have a Rock-Ola 488 (1982) that works, but I think it could benefit from going through the caps in the amp, as the tone switches respond "unevenly."

I also have a '62 Seeburg DS-160, last with the tube amp and visible mechanism. It's okay cosmetically - I don't plan on restoring the chrome as that's gotten too expensive. I totally recapped everything a few years ago and am very close to having it functional, but I had to store it away over two years ago. I may end up selling it when I get organized again - I haven't made up my mind yet. One thing I did was disassemble the keyboard to glue a few broken keys back together, and the little springs went everywhere. No clue how I'm going to put that Humpty Dumpty together again!
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Old 05-28-2011, 08:22 PM
JCFitz JCFitz is offline
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Originally Posted by AUdubon5425 View Post
I have a Rock-Ola 488 (1982) that works, but I think it could benefit from going through the caps in the amp, as the tone switches respond "unevenly."

I also have a '62 Seeburg DS-160, last with the tube amp and visible mechanism. It's okay cosmetically - I don't plan on restoring the chrome as that's gotten too expensive. I totally recapped everything a few years ago and am very close to having it functional, but I had to store it away over two years ago. I may end up selling it when I get organized again - I haven't made up my mind yet. One thing I did was disassemble the keyboard to glue a few broken keys back together, and the little springs went everywhere. No clue how I'm going to put that Humpty Dumpty together again!
Hmm. on the DS160 I suspect your talking about the little brass springs that the keys pivot on as the actual keyboard selector unit unbolts from underneath as a unit like my 222.They ain't fun once they all fall out.I've been told that a trick to stop the keys from falling out when the selector unit was removed is to put a strip of masking tape across them. I suspect you could take out the chrome holding the keys and assemble everything upside down using the masking tape to hold everything until it was reassembled.

They finally put metal retainers to hold the keys in so they didn't fall out when the selector unit was removed on the non-visible LPC1 and up.

I get to have similar fun as I want my 222 rechromed when I get the funds together and get to take the keyboard and all of the trim off.Sure is expensive.
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Old 05-28-2011, 08:48 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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Yeah, all the chrome shops (and there were dozens) seemed to fade away - I guess EPA regulations got tight. Many were little more than backyard-type operations.

Something's stuck in my DS-160's mechanism - the record sets down, starts to play for a second, then gets put back in the magazine. I worked with an old Seeburg tech at my last job and he said to degrease & pressure wash the mechanism at a car wash. I plan on doing that when it's accessible again. Cosmetically, I want to replace the cracked top glass if I keep it, but that's probably as far as I'll go.
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Old 05-28-2011, 08:56 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JCFitz View Post
Seeburg PFEAU1-The one that says Discoteque on the upper marquee
I had a half-dozen boxes that pretty much amounted to parts sets - the seller saw me coming on those! One was a PFEAU1 (Elektra?) Discotheque that hadn't run since 1976 - there were still 10-15 records in it from back then.

Also had a Rowe R-74 Classic that had the wrong mechanism and title boards laying in it. Also, two Seeburg LS-3's that could have made one functioning box, and two Rock-Ola 474 Sybaris - another two to make one deal. I needed my garage/workshop back and sold them all to some woman who said she was going to convert them to Ipod or something.
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Old 05-28-2011, 11:07 PM
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radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
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I would love to own an old jukebox; but, two things prevent that from happening:

1. Lack of space.
2. Lack of money.
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Old 05-29-2011, 12:15 AM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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Yes, why not jukeboxes, indeed?

I have a Rowe/AMI MM-5 from 1971. I bought a service manual, new needle, and a replacement lock for the cash box (after I had to drill out the original one). It was last used in the mid or late 1980's, at a bar owned by the father of the friend I got it from. It is on my list of things to restore/fix.

Its audio amplifier uses tubes, four or six of them if I remember right. I will probably need to replace all the electrolytics in the amp, the usual stuff.
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Old 05-29-2011, 07:27 AM
JCFitz JCFitz is offline
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Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
I would love to own an old jukebox; but, two things prevent that from happening:

1. Lack of space.
2. Lack of money.
Well lack of space is a problem. Lack of money shouldn't be if you had the space. I've picked up late 60s-80s boxes non visible mech nonworking jukes for less than $100. Some jukes have a pretty small footprint too. My Seeburg 222 is less wide and deep than your typical color console tv from the late 60s-70s and my Rockola 490-1 is not far behind in lack of floor space taken up and the latter juke can be found in that less than $100 range.

If you can repair an old tv you can repair a juke too except for maybe a control computer problem in the 80s vintage ones. The worst thing is if you need to get them up steps. They're as heavy as refrigerators.

Call me crazy but I live in a single wide mobile home(trailer trash...lol) and in the living room alone I have 3 jukeboxes and the HSC1 console. The HSC1 console doubles as the stand for the 42" plasma tv.Had 4 in the living room until I had to sell the Wurlitzer 24A to raise cash for hospital bills.

I still have a fairly open floor and a recliner and full size sofa as normal furniture in the living room....lol.
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Old 05-29-2011, 05:15 PM
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KentTeffeteller KentTeffeteller is offline
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With a lot of record collectors, they don't want their collectable 45 singles scarred up as it reduces value. I use reissue singles or slightly condition challenged but plays well in my transmitter site Seeburg AY 160. I really want a good cheap 1970's machine like a Rock-Ola or AMI-Rowe for my grandmother. PM if anyone knows of one for little near or in East TN. Seeburgs OK as well.
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Old 05-29-2011, 07:12 PM
JCFitz JCFitz is offline
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Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller View Post
With a lot of record collectors, they don't want their collectable 45 singles scarred up as it reduces value. I use reissue singles or slightly condition challenged but plays well in my transmitter site Seeburg AY 160. I really want a good cheap 1970's machine like a Rock-Ola or AMI-Rowe for my grandmother. PM if anyone knows of one for little near or in East TN. Seeburgs OK as well.
Well Rockola and AMI-Rowe are exactly the ones that make little swirl marks on 45s. Seeburgs properly adjusted don't mark them up at all from what I've seen on my Seeburgs.The main problem with Seeburgs is the needles are getting pricey and the replacements are inferior to the originals which Pickering(now Stanton) no longer makes. You can't just stick another more modern. cartridge in when you've got a special double sided cartridge that plugs in a socket.

I don't know who could sell one to you cheap but they're out there. I'd try asking on the jukebox list. I don't have the link handy but if you google it you'll find it.I know they're tough to find for reasonable prices on craigslist because people automatically think a jukebox is worth a lot of money but 70s jukeboxes really aren't worth a lot and eventually they come down to earth or someone will come along with one for a reasonable price.
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Old 05-29-2011, 10:04 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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I have to admit - I have some 45's in my Rock-Ola 488 that are real nice originals, some others were my Father's and played a lot over the last 40-55 years. I adjusted the tonearm weight as light as I could go on it - maybe a couple of grams. It's running a Shure M44 cartridge and I don't think it's doing any harm to them. When I bought the box there were some records in there that had some brush marks on them. After 20+ years in a restaurant lounge I guess that's to be expected.
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Old 05-29-2011, 11:20 PM
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Eric H Eric H is offline
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I've got a couple Seeburgs.
An M100B that's been in the family since 1964 and a Q100 SH that I picked up earlier this year.

The Q100 has an SHFA1 amp (should be an SHFA2 but they are similar) I've recapped this miserable beast and it still sounds terrible.

It's the most convoluted Amp I've ever seen and hard to troubleshoot (for me at least) and it uses odd and expensive output tubes.
I'm seriously thinking about replacing it with a Stereo 6V6 P-P amp from a Magnavox of the same vintage, it'd require a few mods to the Amp like changing it to a 5U4 rectifier (to retain the B+ shutoff) and adding a Preamp for the magnetic cartridge but I bet it'd sound terrific!
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Old 05-30-2011, 12:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AUdubon5425 View Post
I have to admit - I have some 45's in my Rock-Ola 488 that are real nice originals, some others were my Father's and played a lot over the last 40-55 years. I adjusted the tonearm weight as light as I could go on it - maybe a couple of grams. It's running a Shure M44 cartridge and I don't think it's doing any harm to them. When I bought the box there were some records in there that had some brush marks on them. After 20+ years in a restaurant lounge I guess that's to be expected.
The wear issue concerns me a bit, but in reality I probably have CD copies (or even MP3 downloads) of most of my 45s, and a lot of mine were themselves bought in the 39-cent (and later, 49-cent and 59-cent) record bins common in drug stores in the 1970's. Those bin records were, of course, taken from jukeboxes...

Before I do put any of my "good" and/or un-upgraded 45s in the jukebox once I get it working and tuned, I would at least first play them on my good turntable and make uncompressed digital copies of each.
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Old 05-31-2011, 05:25 PM
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Chad Hauris Chad Hauris is offline
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I work with a business which does jukebox repair...we have done just about all of the Wurlitzers from the 1100-3600 plus a lot of Rockolas and a few Seeburgs and Rowes. We are now working on an AMI Continental 2.

The ones I own are a Rockola 456 console style, A Seeburg LS-2 plus an early 50's Rockola model 1438 which still needs repair. At our shop we have a Rowe MM-5 and an AMI JAK-200.

At the auction where I bought my Rockola 456 there were a lot of Rockola Sybaris's and early 70's Seeburgs selling for $10.00 each. I would have bought more but I didn't have the truck or trailer at the time.

I have always liked jukeboxes...for one thing they are built to be commercial duty for constant operation and built to be repaired unlike a lot of consumer equipment.

On several of the Wurlitzers we have done an upgrade from a Cobra or ceramic cartridge to a magnetic and got a great improvement in sound quality.
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Old 06-02-2011, 09:31 PM
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Wish I had a juke box....
I once almost had a AMI 45 juke box that I thought was nifty. It was frozen in time, with changer in mid cycle. It was still showing original prices of 10 cents, 15 cents, and, 20 cents on the large front window.
That's the one I'd love to have, Red tone arm, and, I think it was a model 200.
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