You know you are getting old when:

[tonyb]

The Harley gone, my beard followed a few weeks later, and with a few shekels in my pocket, there was another itch to scratch. The Wurlitzer 1015, known as: One More Time, a magnificent jukebox. It has proved to be a novelty that has never worn off, I have owned it for more than 25 years.
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How much maintenance and repair does the jukebox require?

Many years ago a friend’s wife asked if I could be of some help in finding a pinball machine for his birthday. Another friend was acquainted with a person in the “amusement device” biz. (This was when video games were replacing pinball machines in arcades and the like.) The upshot is that I scored a machine free of charge.

The friend’s wife became of necessity something of a pinball machine mechanic. Lotsa stuff to break and wear out on those things, which goes some way toward explaining why they were largely supplanted by video games. The video games had the additional advantage of taking up considerably less floor space.

I can’t recall when I last saw a jukebox anywhere other than in a museum or a private collection. Same with pinball machines.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Somehow motorcycles today don't quite project a badass image when they're festooned with big plastic saddlebags, have seats that look like Barcaloungers, and have a milk crate with a small, yappy dog in it strapped to the rear fender.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That's two words.

When one of the german idiot-car drivers cuts the corner, you will see only "country".

But many german motorbikers kill themselves by the evil combination "higher age" plus "higher speed". Usually, they end by touching down on the pavement, behind the gardrail and often on the next tree...
When the fate is merciful, they only brake their legs, pelvis, ribs and shoulders altogether.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A jukebox is pretty simple from an electronic point of view -- it's just a big amplifier, and anybody who knows basic theory and how to solder can fiix one, especially the ones that use tubes. The mechanical elements, however, are a lot more complicated -- the record-changing mechanism has a lot of fussy little rubber parts that harden and dry up with age, and grease points that dry up and sieze. And the coin mechanism is full of relays and solenoids and electro-mechanical elements that can really mess you up.

I've never owned a jukebox as such, but I do have a couple of scavenged jukebox amps buried out in my garage. I used to use one of them to replace the burned out audio stage in an old TV set -- it could make the walls shake, even when I didn't want them to.

 

[GHT]

How much maintenance and repair does the jukebox require?

It just keeps on going round and round and round.

 

[tonyb]

... The mechanical elements, however, are a lot more complicated -- the record-changing mechanism has a lot of fussy little rubber parts that harden and dry up with age, and grease points that dry up and sieze. And the coin mechanism is full of relays and solenoids and electro-mechanical elements that can really mess you up.

...

Those are the lines I was thinking along as well. Lotsa little parts shuttling the records around and all the stuff associated with the coin-op.

But GHT says his has given him a quarter century of trouble-free service. I’m guessing the machine is 70 years old, more or less. (Please jump in at any time, GHT.) What was its condition when he acquired it? Rebuilt? A solid unrestored original?

I’m guessing the average old jukebox now residing in a private residence doesn’t see anything near the amount of use it saw back when it was in a diner or a bowling alley or a tavern.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The real killer in old amusement machines is nicotine buildup -- that disgusting yellow guck that accumulates inside any device that's been in a place where it was exposed to constant cigarette and cigar smoke. I've gotten sick from handling radios or TV sets that lived in bars, and I know better now never to touch one. Aside from the whole poison thing, the nicotine can get into mechanical parts and really grunge them up -- I'd hate to think about what the guts of a jukebox record changer look like after twenty or thirty years of bar smoke.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

We had great fun as kids and young adults riding trail bikes, but that type of incident is the reason I have only ridden a motorcycle on the road twice in my whole life. Even if you’re a capable enough rider not to kill yourself, some fool will gladly do it for you.

They used to teach us defensive driving. On a bike you have to be doubly defensive.
People don't even see you!
With texting, you better double down on double.
Well, what the hell is THIS idiot going to do?

There are a lot of ladies astride the iron pony these days. It didn't used to be that way at all, unless they were snuggled up tight behind you to your spine.

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[Hat and Rehat]

Somehow motorcycles today don't quite project a badass image when they're festooned with big plastic saddlebags, have seats that look like Barcaloungers, and have a milk crate with a small, yappy dog in it strapped to the rear fender.

Even on a soft touring bike, as long as you aren't hiding behind a fairing, you can picture yourself as Marlon Brando or Steve McQueen (depending on your birth date). The motor between your legs and wind in your face (I almost said hair) feel just the same.
So do the bugs in your teeth.

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[GHT]

But GHT says his has given him a quarter century of trouble-free service. I’m guessing the machine is 70 years old, more or less. (Please jump in at any time, GHT.) What was its condition when he acquired it? Rebuilt? A solid unrestored original?

You are right it gets played once or twice a week for half an hour or so. It was restored and I was given a few spares at the time, a couple of drive belts and a box of valves, none of which has been needed.

The real killer in old amusement machines is nicotine buildup -- that disgusting yellow guck that accumulates inside any device that's been in a place where it was exposed to constant cigarette and cigar smoke. I've gotten sick from handling radios or TV sets that lived in bars, and I know better now never to touch one. Aside from the whole poison thing, the nicotine can get into mechanical parts and really grunge them up -- I'd hate to think about what the guts of a jukebox record changer look like after twenty or thirty years of bar smoke.

The Whitehall Theatre in London, famous for it's trouser dropping farces, was bought, or maybe leased, by the British comedy actor, Sir Brian Rix. Assessing the theatre's refurbishment with the company manager, assigned to do the work, Rix said his choice of colour would be the antique gold over the access door from theatre to dressing room.

"That, Sir Brian," said the manager, "is decades of nicotine build up."

 

[Woodtroll]

They used to teach us defensive driving. On a bike you have to be doubly defensive.
People don't even see you!
With texting, you better double down on double.
Well, what the hell is THIS idiot going to do?

Yes, exactly.

 

[tonyb]

You are right it gets played once or twice a week for half an hour or so. It was restored and I was given a few spares at the time, a couple of drive belts and a box of valves, none of which has been needed.
...

I did a little research into the mighty Wurlitzer 1015, which had me wondering if the “One More Time” you alluded to earlier means it’s of somewhat more recent manufacture than the original 78 rpm record-playing models introduced in 1946. I see online that there are versions which play 45’s and others which play CD’s. None of ’em come cheap.

 

[GHT]

You are right about the price. The original model did play 78's, but didn't have the capability of playing either side. The selection mechanism is fascinating to watch. Mine is a later model that plays 45's. It has a carousel for holding the records and as the carousel rotates so the selector can pick up the record of choice and twist it either way before placing it on the turntable, this allows for both sides of a record to be played. I wasn't aware that there's a CD version.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There were special 78rpm pressings designed for jukebox-only use that had the same selection on each side. Twice the wear per disc!

 

[tonyb]

There were special 78rpm pressings designed for jukebox-only use that had the same selection on each side. Twice the wear per disc!

I read that as well. And there were (are?) later 78 pressings with later music — mostly rock ’n’ roll. So you can listen to Elvis and Jerry Lee on your early post-War Wurlitzer 1015 or Rock-Ola 1422 or whatever.

Another piece of trivia I picked up today ...

The Rock-Ola jukebox is named for the company’s founder, one David Rockola. He was mob-connected at one time but wriggled loose by turning state’s evidence. Some suggest that the name of his product went some way toward popularizing the name “rock ’n’ roll” for the genre that would emerge some couple-three decades after he got into the jukebox-building business. (I remain skeptical if not quite dismissive.) I read that he inserted the hyphen so that his name would more likely be pronounced correctly.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Boswell Sisters had a popular record in 1934 of a song called "Rock and Roll," which seems to have been its earliest musical usage -- the song dealt with the "rockin' rollin' rhythm of the sea."

The record was reissued by Columbia around 1946, so the phrase was still common enough in circulation by the time of the "rock and roll era."

 

[3fingers]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe had a song during the war that had rock in the title. I just can't remember the whole title right now.

 

[tonyb]

... the song dealt with the "rockin' rollin' rhythm of the sea."
...

Uh huh. That’s what they all say.

“Just in here playin’ sailor, Ma.”

 

[Trenchfriend]

When you remember the good old 175/70 R13" tyres. The normal thing, back in th 90s.

I forgot it, but my father's Kia Venga indeed got 205/50 R17" tyres. 50% side-profile tyres!

But that explains the sympathic sporty handling.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

There were special 78rpm pressings designed for jukebox-only use that had the same selection on each side. Twice the wear per disc!

And 8 times the weight.

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