Look what I found in the dump! (Wurlitzer American) *

Someone had placed this beside one of the dumpsters in the recycle yard. I asked about it and they told me they don't recycle electronics so take it if I wanted. Wurlitzer American with a Milwaukee tax plate and heavy as a fridge No idea if it works. It had been rained on so I am gonna let it dry out good before even looking inside.

 

Very cool! Keep us posted on the progress.

 

Way cool!!

 

Worth restoring. And worth love. Cool and beautiful! I like, in fact I love!

 

And since it was from Milwaukee, it needs at least one drinking song in it. Beer related if you please.

 

Bet it sports a Shure M44C

 

It may have a Sonotone present, being that this is a late model US built Wurlitzer. May have an M 44-C. If you have the Sonotone, you can install the Shure and a preamp and be good to go, I would hunt down the manual for the Americana. And the Jukebox-List email list is friendly and helpful. Best wishes on it's restoration.

 

Congrats! What an awesome thing to get for free.

 

A beauty!

 

I agree with member "McLover" above and one of the first things that I would do is get a copy of the original manual for this jukebox. I have always been very apprehensive to buy an old Wurlitzer jukebox, as I've been warned by so many that know jukeboxes that they are the hardest to find parts for. With the one photo that you provided, along with the knowledge that it sat in the rain, I would try to find a nearby jukebox repair person to look it over well, before you attempt to plug it in. I realize that you have nothing in it, except getting it from the dumpster to your house, but all the same, that baby could light up like a firecracker and it could possibly start a fire or cause other damage to your home.

If you feel daring, open it up and take a few photos of the inside of it for us and maybe we can let you know if it looks complete or not and if it's even worthy of any type of restoration. If this jukebox is not complete (especially if it's a Wurlitzer), you may want to take that thing right back to where you found it and realize why it was at the dumpster in the first place!

 

Chris C knows his way around jukeboxes well. US Built late model Wurlitzers are a little bit more difficult on parts availability, and I'd put them in the middle on mechanism and electronic complexity, between a simple AMI/Rowe or Rock-Ola and a more complex Seeburg or NSM jukebox. However, the Americanas sounded very nice when in good working order. And if this is complete and all there, I'd call it a worthwhile project.

 

I'd put it in the middle of my living room !!

 

As would I! But after careful electronic and mechanical overhaul, and proper cosmetic restoration.

 

You could always make a lamp out of it.

 

I'm gonna have a friend look at it and if it looks like it is incomplete or too costly to repair I plan to replace the lights inside it with new ones so it lights up when you hit a switch. Also could hook a CD player into the inside with speakers so that music comes on when the switch is hit. Similar to how I did a restomod on this 1929 Philco Model 76 cabinet I found at a yard sale a few years back. It is AM/FM with a remote now ....and flowers

 

I was going to suggest just this! Either work up a mini mac server or grab one of those old cd changers and work something up! It would be nice if you could get it working with records, but its so cool, just gut it and work up a digital source! I bet somewhere on the web there are the plans for wiring those buttons into a board that would control a cd player. I'm sure there must have a been a period when jukes worked that way --- buttons controlling a cd changer. You could probably buy the guts from one of those and install it.

 

Ironic that you would say that, as I had a radio friend of mine recently, who asked me to come over to his house and see if I could fix his nonworking Rockola jukebox, which he had been lighting up to light that area of his finished basement. I could not fix it, but I discovered that he had two motors (one for the turntable and one for the magazine (the gizmo that spins the records around) that were near burning up. I believe that my visit saved him from a eventual meltdown, which could have led to a fire! There are a LOT of things that can eventually burn out on older jukeboxes, especially if it's set for free play and the plunger stays down on the solenoid assembly and no selections are made, which is a sure fire way to start trouble!

 

Coolest gizmo ever here ….



Just buy a Seeburg 3W1 wallbox and an iPod converter kit, hook it all up to your stereo and have F-U-N!!!

 

Fantastic find!

 

Don't butcher antique radios because you want FM or Bluetooth. Good survivors are fewer. Restore them properly or pass them on to someone who will.

 

Definitely a fine example of American modern design. A real classic and worth the effort to restore it.