1953 Seeburg 100 Selectomatic G Jukebox
Record carousel with tone arm, clutch and parts better left to the true jukebox repairman
Final challenge in taking apart the main mechanism to transport was to uncouple the pin box
Don't ask
Ah, tubes !
Speaker from which those beautiful , warm sounds emanate
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No, we're not talking CD jukeboxes or digital jukeboxes- we're talking about the original analog record-playing jukeboxes from the 40s, 50s and early 1960s. When Jukeboxes were a work of art very intricately woven together with m a n y moving and n o n- moving parts. Only a handful of active non-arthritic seniors well into their 70s, 80s or even nineties may be still around who can work on these beauties. When I bought my 1953 Seeburg 100 selectomatic G s o m e 20 years ago it was still not a problem to find repair men. Advance forward 20 years with machines like mine sitting around with little play and no oil while the remaining oil in them was hardening, preventing movement of parts- we have a problem. Today as the few remaining- or I should say SURVIVING -jukebox repair men will tell you, jukebox repair is a lost art with just about all the former repairmen either having passed or retired. Those remaining usually are too far away or unable to travel. So , like in my case, to get by old jukebox f r i e n d working again it will mean learning some of the ropes myself to at least be able to disassemble the beast (affectionately) to mail or personally travel with to the nearest elder repairman ( no women that i ve heard of) miles away . If there's ever a chance in hell of getting this baby to work again It will involve being able to take apart and transport the key (30 pound) mechanism t o said last of the 'local' repair men in San Jose CA area. Forget transporting the entire jukeboxes which w e i g h well over 350 lbs.
When looking for a repair person - make that man- for your vintage jukebox don't even consider it being anybody under 70. Just like the Jukebox themselves now in 70s or 80s or 90s, the profession of jukebox repairman is truly a lost art with nobody under 60( at least that we've met) taking up the profession- and I call it a profession because it's a pretty complicated business one doesn't learn overnight. That of vintage jukebox repair.
MY JUKEBOX JOURNEYNow semi-retired, I finally had time to listen to the Jukebox I bought some 20 years ago but ,low and behold, it's not playing! It was working 5 years ago when I last tried it. but as noted when they sit around the old oil hardens and gunks up the thing so the parts won't move. But I need to hear those d u l s e t tones again and those beautiful doo- wop and rock and roll vintage sounds again is only the sound on a vintage jukebox .
The times have changed I learned quickly. It's not 1950 or even 1960. Or even 2005 , about the time I bought this jukebox when there were still a handful of jukebox repairman around.
I'm quickly learning after a few phone calls that there may not be a single jukebox repairman in the Bay Area of California. I found an old dated list of jukebox repair men around the country. But in trying to call them most of the lines were dead probably just like the people that used to be on the other end of the lines, sorry to say. I did reach a guy in Schenectady New York who wanted me to mail him certain jukebox parts with a large deposit. And I did find one guy in California, Dr jukebox, still operating out of the Sacramento area but who talked a good game butthead no intention of traveling the 120 miles south to my place in Pleasant Hill , California, plus he tells me he's booked up for 8 months. And then I just about gave up of ever hearing my beautiful jukebox playing again. But give up? No not me. If I could find someone affordable to get my 1963 Chrysler Imperial running again after a fire destroyed the entire engine assembly why couldn't I find somebody to fix this 'simple' jukebox?
Being that there were no real jukebox guys that I could find in the Bay Area I accepted an offer from Frank to fix it man from Petaluma. A s p r y 65-year-old He was able to come out last week and actually get the tonearm 'd e g u n k e d,' if you will, so it could play one record, and demo interview with Jerry Lee Lewis from around 1958. But that was it. Couldn't get the tone arm to move down the carousel to play any of the other records. Even Jerry Lee Lewis gets old if you have to play the same thing over and over. I said Thank you to Frank after paying him him a small Ransom, but at least there was a sign of Hope.
Then, I got another lead from a guy who wasn't really a vintage jukebox repairman but did more modern CD jukebox repairs but was willing to take a look at it. This guy was a total failure even though he thought he knew more than I think he did, denying my problem was a clutch issue which everybody else felt it was. At least he didn't charge me and I said thank you and goodbye to Jay.
Then, on Sunday April 19th just as Jay was leaving after failing to bring more life to my jukebox buddy, I received an email lead on perhaps the last REAL jukebox repairman in the Bay Area who yesterday walked me through taking the key mechanism apart and extracting it from the main jukebox body. It's sitting in the backseat of my car wrapped in a blanket like a newborn baby waiting to come into its own. I will drive it down to santa Clara CA tomorrow and leave it with Dan the Jukebox man, as I will call him, probably my last hope at least locally. Plus his Price is Right.
My jukebox JourneyTo be continued
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