Wurlitzer weird faults.

I have a stack of repairs piling up but I think I am on the top side of them. I have had a run of very odd faults which were the result of someone "having a go" at mending them at some point. The customer sometimes forgets to mention this until I find a red wire which goes where a blue wire should go etc. "Oh yeah my mate down the pub had a go at mending it.  He took a part away with him and was then abducted by aliens so we never got it back. Was it important?"
Star fault of the week was on a Wurlitzer Tarrock.

These machines are not hugely popular even though they have a mechanism almost identical to a Lyric, which is fine.  The reason for this is because many people feel a jukebox should look more like a fairground than your Granny's old blanket box.  But anyway.... 

The person who "had a go" at mending this was reputed to have many years experience with jukeboxes.  So you'd think that he would know what the Cancel button looks like.  What with it being a button you press, which cancels the record.  Almost like a BUTTON. So why he replaced the push button for cancelling the records with...a FUSE holder is anyone's guess.  Which is why the button was no longer a button but rather a short circuit through a fuse, which was WHY the record instantly rejected when you tried to play a record on the machine. Very creative.

 

Weird fault two was on a Rock-Ola 1455 which was "working fine" up until last week.  Which doesn't account for why the wiring was wrong.  Very odd.

 

Fault number three was less baffling but unusual.

This is a Wurlitzer One More Time but made for the USA market. The lady owner imported it to the UK and used a voltage adaptor she has used many times on her International travels for making cups of tea etc.  I was a bit baffled why the machine instantly blew fuses on the amp when it was switched on until I realised that instead of 110Volt coming out of this adaptor there was actually 170V and it had fried the transformer.  Not the owners fault.  More bad luck than anything.

 

And if I ever get a few days free I will eventually get round to the Rock-Ola 403 I just bought. Busy busy busy.

 

 

 

 

 

AMI J completed

I finished the AMI ages ago but I haven't updated the blog for some time.  Anyway, here it is. It looks good to me.

Wurlitzer Lyric E (1963)

I FINALLY got the chrome back for the Lyric. They do a great job but it is really inconvenient waiting 2 months for it.  How come when you see these "Restoration" programmes they get the chrome done in a week.
Anyway I have put it all back together and it looks great.  Now I just have to get it going.

Wurlitzer Carillon FINISHED!

The Carillon is finally finished. I think it came out very nice after all the work.

Wurlitzer Carillon

In the final stages now of finishing the Carillon. I have the amp and chrome so need to get it all assembled and going. The front looks good with the 'glass' I designed but there was a mechanical problem with the selector unit I hadn't seen before. Something must have jammed the solenoid disc which is turned by a toothed plastic wheel and it ripped the teeth off.  But I have repaired it so it should work fine.

Wurlitzer Carillon and AMI J

Work is progressing on the Carillon and AMI.  They are both big projects but I keep nibbling away at them between callout repairs and other faults on machines that come in for repairs. The cashbox side of the Carillion was a challenge. I couldn't get the coin reject lever off no matter how I tried. So eventually I cut the veneer with a hole in it to fit over the lever and then applied the veneer to the box with the lever still in place. Given that I used Evostick and it is a One Shot process, it certainly concentrates the mind for a few seconds!
Anyway it turned out nicely along with the front grill piece which I rebuilt with new slats across the front, veneered in the same wood as the sides.
So all I need now is the amp, so I can get the machine  up and running, and the front metal pieces so I can reassemble the front of the jukebox.

The AMI J is also coming along. I made a new wiring loom for the lighting circuit (AMI mains wiring is notorious for rotting) and put back as many parts as I can before the chrome comes back. I need to concentrate on the actual mechanism now before the chrome comes back.

 

Carillon and Ami J

The Carillon has now two sides with new wood veneer. The third side with the cashbox and reject button is slightly more tricky but it will look great when it is done.  A new front glass has been designed and is on order but can't be assembled until the chrome parts come back.

The Ami J chassis took a bit of head scratching trying to get a nice finish. No matter what I did it came out mottled, until I swapped paint brands and it came up with a brilliant high gloss finish.

Now I can put some of the wiring and metalwork back and make a bit of room.

Wurlitzer Carillon continued.

So after a great deal of grinding, undercoating, spraying and muttering under my breath I finally got the mechanism back together. The problem with taking this thing apart is making sure everything is in the right position so, one day, it will all work again. The gripper arm is a science all its own.

Next, dismantle and service the selector drum. Nice and easy. I've done dozens of these and this one is all complete and not in bad shape.

Wurlitzer Carillon

The mech is out of the Carillon, so it is now to work, dismantling right down to its component parts, cleaning everything up and putting it back together again.

Lyric E and Wurlitzer Carillon.

The Lyric has all the associated parts ready for reassembly when the chrome comes back. Selector drum serviced, amp serviced, keyboard serviced, new wheels, top frame painted, back door painted, metalwork painted, tone arm and safety guard painted, carousel cleaned etc.

The next big lump of work is on a Wurlitzer Carillon which requires a complete stripdown to the base plate, veneer, and....everything.  It is going to be.....hem...a challenge!  But ultimately very satisfying if I don't encounter some horrors on the way.  Well...more than the obvious ones that is.

Wurlitzer Lyric E (1963) and AMI J.

Lyric E (1963 version) before remoing the mech and dismantling the whole keyboard for rechroming. 



Lyric E minus mechanism, top cross piece, front window trim, and keyboard assembly.


I have several jukeboxes completely in bits awaiting chrome. It is interesting taking them apart, because you usually find some archeology, mainly in the form of American coins but the Lyric E was rattling with Irish coins and what looks like Greek coins, so that tells you a little of its history. It is in from Ireland for restoration (makes sense). And maybe someone went on holiday to Greece and found the coins were the same size as a 5p (one shilling).
The chrome on the AMI is a monster project. There is a huge part of the front end which needs to be polished or chromed so when it comes back and gets reassembled it will be extremely satisfying. One of my favourite processes in restoring jukeboxes is putting all the shiny chrome parts back on.
At the moment, however, my world is a mass of parts, drawings, and sticky-notes reminding me what I need to buy, order, or do next.

AMI J200 totally stripped down with the mech on  stand behind.

All the other bits minus the metalwork for chroming etc.





North Pole Jukebox

I just helped a guy mend his jukebox at the North Pole.  Well. O.K. it wasn't The North Pole, but rather a town called North Pole in Alaska!  Yes..ALASKA!  :)
He was hung out to dry by the people he bought it off and got no help from them at all so when he asked for help it was an intriguing challenge.
The machine is a Wurlitzer Classic 2000, which is the new CD version of a W2000.  Actually that isn't technically true. Jukebox nerds will be interested to know that the top chrome piece of a Classic 2000 is actually a copy of the chrome from a 2100 (which is why when they were first launched it was called a Classic 2100.  So now you know.)
Anyway it was doing strange things, so he sent me a video of what it was doing and I came to the conclusion it was something to do with the cam that raises the clamp arm.  When he looked inside and sent me a photo of the gearbox I could see that one of them was seriously mangled.
All credit to him, he then managed to get the gear unit out of the jukebox, which is a job even I haven't done after 10 years of working with One More Time jukeboxes.  I think when you are living in the middle of Alaska you have to be somewhat resourceful or you get eaten by bears or something.  Anyway he did a brilliant job and sent me the complete gear unit with mangled cam.

As it turned out, rather than taking it all apart and changing the plastic cam, I had an exact unit taken from a scrapped hideaway unit so I sent that to him.

After a few days of head scratching and studying his photos he managed to get it all back together and now it is working!  Great job!

Busy busy.

Why does everyone wait until a week before Christmas to have their jukebox fixed?  Anyway, apart from the usual chaos I managed to finish the W2500 which came out very well. That whole assembly of the rails on the front is a bit of a nightmare, getting it all back together but the end result was very pleasing.

I also have a few smaller jukeboxes that I am doing for myself plus customers machines in for repair.  But the recent highlight is to find, at the house of a recent callout for a totally different mcahine...a BLUE Wurlitzer One More Time.  This is probably the rarest of any production model made my Wurlitzer in recent times.  It was made specially for the Chris Rea "Blue Jukebox" tour.  Numbers vary, depending on who is buying or selling but I am pretty confident that when it was first made, it was announced by Wurlitzer that there were only six of them.  It was good to see one close up because I just thought it was like a red or black one, but blue instead. However, it is quite a bit different.  The arch and pillasters are not the usual colour and the logo in the middle is actually blue instead of red.  So it is rather unique.

A world of jukebox parts.

My jukebox world seems to be mainly one of bits recently. The Lyric is in bits waiting for chrome as I slowly dismantle the mech down to its base plate.  It is an interesting but complicated business, a lot harder than an upright mechanism, which is why hardly anyone will ever bother to do it. The W2500 is in bits waiting metalwork as I slowly service each part ready to put back together.  The Tele-disc is waiting for the amp.  And the Rock-Ola regis is in bits waiting for metal polishing and....one day I will get round to working on it. But when the metalwork does come back, the reassambly is the fun part because everything looks so pristine.

Lyric flat mech, being stripped to its bones for repainting.

W2500 base plate freshly painted and waiting reassembly.

Wurlitzer 2500

I have been nibbling away at a W2500 for restoration inbetween doing up a Lyric F and saving the planet etc.  I stripped it to its cabinet and sent the metalwork away for polishing and chrome.  The estimated time for doing the metalwork is 3 months!  They certainly don't seem to be having problems with a recession.  3 months wait!

I also found a mysterious lever on the Tele-disc which hinges up.  I wonder if that is for the lid? 

I have found that the whole mechanism tilts upwards on hinges at the back but you have to clamp the mechanism down to a frame underneath first.  Whatever method was used is now missing but I have made a couple of clamps and can lift it up. Underneath is a totally useless compressed air strut like on a hatch back door so I am having to prop it up with a piece of wood to work on it.

Amusing anecdote of the week:  I went to a callout for a Rock-ola which sounded like a simple problem with a microswitch on the cam.  When I got there things were not doing what I expected. "Tell me what happened exactly," I asked.  "Oh it is hard to remember," he said.  "It was seven years ago."

Charming! 

Wurlitzer Tele-Disc

I have an interesting new juke just in for repair.  A Wurlitzer Tele-Disc made in 1983.  The smoked perspex dome actually gives it a 60s look but it is very impressive and a lot bigger than I thought when looking at pictures.  The mechanics are the same as the electronic vinyl jukeboxes of the period so that doesn't hold any fears but I wonder how the lid is supposed to be held up? No support struts.  Plus the electronics is hidden underneath somewhere. 

I also got to play with a Wurlitzer 2000 this week.  I have had the privelege of restoring two of them but it was several years ago so I haven't seen one close up for some time.  I still think they are impressive but those page turners are very unreliable.  In fact they became such a problem that in later models the operators replaced them with an ugly static title rack which was so large it covered most of the visible mechanism.

Wurlitzer 1100

I finally got the gear assembly back in place and the whole mechanism in the box. But the gearing is the least of my problems. Because it was adapted to 45 rpm the tone arm settings are completely wrong and there seems to have been some creative adjusting taken place to allow it to play 45s in the first place.  I now have to work out what is missing and what was never the way it is now.
The W1100 must have been a wonderful machine when it was new and all tuned up. The mechanism is as robust as a steam engine and about as dangerous if you get your fingers in amongst it all.

Wurlitzer Lyric F almost done.

Painted the base plate. Dismantled and serviced the selector drum and keyboard. Grill and speakers painted and then the whole thing reassembled with the fully serviced amp. Just need to make a cashbox door and give it a full test and it is done.

Wurlitzer Lyric F

The arch is now all cleaned up and fitted with a new cartridge.  The cabinet is clean and painted and the carousel has been dismantled and cleaned.

Wurlitzer Lyric F

I am doing a full refurbishment of a Wurlitzer Lyic F.  I have done three of these in the last few months so it is quite relaxing.  It is all in one piece and doesn't need rechroming so it is just a case of stripping everything down and make it it clean, repainting it and servicing the various mechanical parts, selector drum, keyboard etc.

It looks a bit mildewy and full of muck but they all do when I get them so that doesn't bother me at all. When you see the end result you will see how nicely it comes out. So first thing to do is break it down.  The arch comes off...

And the carousel. 

That'll keep me quiet for a day or so.