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Our jukebox
Seeburg AY160
1961
here it is in all its broken down glory!
Yup, those are index cards with the song titles
written on them taped to the inside of the top glass.
the selector picks up and plays the records but there is no
sound. The previous owner said it works but one speaker is
blown and his son hooked up other speakers. Well , yeah the
speakers are disconnected, but the tubes all light up! So rather
than see him put it in the gargbage I take it.
There is a Bruce Springsteen picture sleeve in the machine,
:-) I have no problem letting 'mom' keep all her 'priceless' 45's :-)
I got lots of late 50's and early 60's for this baby!
So at this point I know nothing about a jukebox except how to
put in money and push the buttons.
Everybody who is anybody in juke restoration is on the Internet and
this becomes my means for information and parts. Everyone was
extreemly helpful except a guy in Ga. After I ask a few questions
that obviously reveal I have not done this before, he is quick
to tell me I can't tackle the job of rebuilding the unit myself.
Maybe he wants me to send the units to him for rebuilding?
he did not ask me If I have an electronics technician degree
and has no idea that I worked in the electronics field as a
tech over 10 years.
So.. Next I got a service manual and breif myself on the operation
As you can see above this juke was taken right off a route and sold
to a unsuspecting homeowner.it has never been cleaned and is still
loaded with grease all over and nicotine stains from life in a bar.
the machine will pick up a few records and then won't select also
about half way through the first song there is considerable
volume loss.
Through a few e-mails I soon learn that the most common problem
is the old paper capacitors need replacment.
Re-capping the selector section and amp is a tedious job, but
anyone with a minimal (and possibly even none) education in
electronics can do it.
The above shows the amp with the input and pre amp sections
re-capped. Vern Tisdale supplied the parts, every cap is labled
and can be easily matched with the parts list. You can pretty
much figure which old caps are replaced with new ones, but
following the schematic is the correct way for positive identification.
I even found some mis-wiring in the amp which I corrected.
So with the re-capped sections back in the unit we are
moovin' and groovin' in the garage
|
<<< BEFORE
the mech was the most
tedious to cleaning
AFTER>>>
|
|
After the mech and inside was cleaned the mech was lubed
according to the specifications in the manual.
Obviously this is not a grade 1 restoration, I did not take the
mech apart and readjust everything. This is certainly not
for the faint of heart and experience goes along way here.
I made a few minor adjustments and that was it
don't fix what ain't broke!
The finishing touches were:
cleaning and polishing the outside of the box
Installing a NOS cartridge fitted with 2 diamond stylus'
painting and installing a NOS coin door.
installing the upper name tray with 'seeburg insert'
upper 'feature selection tray' lower selection tray.
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thanks to :
Bill Butterfield - original service manual
Vern Tisdale - Capacitor kits for Selector and Amp sections.
excellent packaging and instructions!
Ken Arnold - repro parts
Captian Calin - used parts
John Durfee - used parts
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