Personal music players may be portable, but none have the panache of a classic jukebox.
Repairing and restoring antique jukeboxes is a big industry and an excellent and rewarding hobby. Many of the jukeboxes that were produced during the 1940s and 1950s, and even into the 1960s, are worth a great deal of money. If you can find one in any condition and bring it back to its original luster, you can turn a profit as well as restore a classic piece of artwork and Americana.
Record Selection Problems
Many of the earliest jukeboxes used electronic tubes to power the speakers and create the signal, as well as to power the record selection process. If you find that your jukebox will play a record or two and then stop, needing to be turned off or unplugged and restarted before it will continue to operate, you may need to replace the tubes or the pulse amplifier tube, depending on how the jukebox was designed. Alternately, the power supply for the record selection may be overheating and shutting down.
Coin vs. Battery Operated
Jukeboxes were intended to play music on demand based on the input of money by a customer, but this function has been overridden in many jukeboxes that are in private use, since no one wants to pay to hear a song every time. When the battery systems that override the coin operated systems fail, the jukeboxes will go back to being coin operated, which is an annoying inconvenience. In most cases you will need to reset some of the electrical settings or replace the battery if this occurs.
Restoring Outside Housing
Depending on the material that your jukebox is made of, you will need to look at the original finish as well as the materials used in order to determine properly restore it. Stain can be sanded off of wood and refinished, and metal can be sanded and repainted with the proper spray lacquers. For more intricate finishing elements such as chrome and neon tubing, it may be necessary to have replacement parts custom made by working with local artisans.
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