Spectacular. I collect vintage radios, phono's, and TV's, and there's no greater thrill than seeing one back in shape and performing once again. It's like time travel. 40 years collecting and it still never gets old!
Beautiful machine, I know how you feel after I did a Wurlitzer 412. My friends couldn't believe how it looked and sounded when completed. Thanks for bringing one of these marvelous 78 players back to life, there is nothing like the nostalgia of this era of jukeboxes with the craftsmanship that we Americans had at that time. I love the warmth and feeling that is in the music as it plays on them. You fellows love your work, I can tell ( it's wonderfully done )
Nice job! I owned a Rhythm King. Bought it as a teenager in 1976 and spent many, many hours after school working on it to bring it back to life. It even had the original crystal cartridge with a label guaranteeing it for one year past the date of manufacture (it was 39 years old at that point). I'm impressed with your grille restoration. I do have to say though that the original grilles were routed around the edges of the design, which added an extra perception of depth. The front surface of the grillework was stained and the routed edges were painted black. There was no Photoshop back in the day, so I was never able to restore the foil background. Also, you didn't mention it but there was a big bulbous piece of silver painted wood that screwed into the center of the speaker - probably to diffuse or deflect the sound. Also, there should be a zig-zag coin slide on the right side of the window area underneath the coin mechanism. Mine had the zig-zag thing and the glass frontspiece, but not the pins that should have been in the middle. The purpose of it was to display the last handful of coins deposited so the club owner could see if someone was putting slugs in the machine. The pins held the coins in view. Probably a hard item to find nowadays. Man, I loved that machine. Unfortunately circumstances made it desirable to sell mine 30 years ago. Thanks for the memories, and may your Rhythm King bring you and your generations to come tons of enjoyment!
I find it funny those very old jukeboxes did not play a vast selection of albums. You had better really like those x amount of songs as that was what you were limited to. What a great machine - it looks fantastic. I hope it is well insured, in case anything were to happen to it - like say if I silently broke into your house and sort of borrowed (stole) it............
I'm sure you know but for other readers - they sell normal steel looking needles that are tipped with sapphires that can play 400 times per needle. I'm not sure what type of cartridge or needle this jukebox uses, but that might be helpful to someone.
Awesome guys just awesome excellent job in the restoration. Next time for the grill work maybe take the file from your computer on to a thumb drive and Staples should be able to print out the full picture. Just a suggestion. 👍
Hi : Many people can repair and restore the vintage radios and retro audio sets, but very very little who can clean it from inside and outside to be glossy and shiney, is that right ?
I've been listening to the story of this on 'Our American Stories'. What a beautiful job you've done on that jukebox! And I can only imagine what it was like in real time to hear it play music for the first time in 80 years! What a moment! Thank you so much for sharing you story!
