1953 Seeburg "G"

1953 Seeburg
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "G"
100 Selections

Following the tremendous success of Seeburg's M100C of 1952-3 came two nearly identical looking machines both introduced in September 1953 for the 1954 year. I wonder if the complaints that filtered back to the distributors regarding the fragileness of the front of the "C" had any bearing on the "100W" and "HF100G" being built considerably more rugged? Although the "W" had plastic pilasters, the noisy animation was even dropped.

The front of both the "W" and "G" was sturdy chromed metal and resembled the front bumpers of the cars of the day. That 'bumper' could probably hold its ground against the real front bumper of most of today's cars and even light duty trucks. The "G" went one step farther in ruggedness with stainless steel pilasters.

Ironically, those very features of the "C" that irritated jukebox operators of yesterday, (animation behind frosted plastic pilasters with round glass mirrors in the grill) is what drives buyers to seek out the "C" today.

Jukes can get pretty banged up while being drug from one location to another and pushed around in the shop. So a big difference between the "C" and the "W"/"G” was durability. Gone was the exposed wooden front covered only by a decal made from a Polaroid photograph. (You could order replacement decals).

From the earliest days, jukeboxes mimicked the styles of the new cars. So by 1954, with cars no longer having that "Tin Lizzy" look, it was natural for plastic to give way to chromed steel.

The "C" and "W" had basically the same sound system whereas the "G" was Seeburg’s first High Fidelity jukebox. It incorporated an advanced amp and tweeter with a primitive dividing network besides the 15 - inch woofer of the "C" and "W". The "G" did sound better. In fact we've even gone a step farther by adding one transistor. We might call it a "Hybrid".

Someone had already begun rebuilding this particular juke when we got a hold of it. So rather

than tear it down and start from scratch, we've corrected a few technical errors and completely rebuilt the workings.

Practically everything metal that could be removed, had already been chromed. Even the original stainless steel pilasters looked dang nice. We've also done a little cosmetic work to the cabinet. It's just about ready now, but here's the question for you:

If you're interested in this baby let us know if you'd like us to keep it original ($5295) or have us install quiet, colored, revolving cylinders and frosted plastic pilasters? With this upgrade, you get the "prettiness" of the "C" and ruggedness of the "G" for an additional $600 more. Your call.

1980 Seeburg "Phoenix"

1980 Seeburg
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "Phoenix"
160 Selections

This 1980 Seeburg Phoenix is one great jukebox. With it’s disco ball rotating under high intensity spotlights it’s the life of the party. All you need is a dance floor.

1994 Rockola Model "CD-8"

1994 Rockola
CD Jukebox
Model "CD-8"
Over 1500 Selections

A while back I get a call from a fellow who runs a very respectable company in nearby Van Nuys. He says he's got this Rockola CD-8 Bubbler jukebox that he can only remember playing one song on since he bought it some 14 years ago. I'm curious and it's only a couple of miles away.

He meets me in his warehouse and points to it over in a corner, covered in plastic wrap and strapped to a pallet. We unwrap it and lift it off the pallet. It’s beautiful, but dusty. He hands me a key that he's recently gotten from the factory in Torrance, CA.

I open it up and see that there’s still a CD in the play position. He says that must be the one he's been missing all these years. Seems he got it brand new from a local pool table store. It was on the showroom floor playing at the time. He had it delivered, played part of one CD and turned it off.

Shortly afterwards he moved into another home and placed the jukebox in the back of his warehouse never to be played again. I wasn't sure about his story, but the price was right and the unit looked great.

I got it back to the shop and covered it up. Only recently did I get a chance to examine it. The insides were as dusty as the outsides with an extremely fine silt. Then I remembered he ran a wood molding company. Thus it was wood dust.

I covered the player and hit the whole machine with the compressor. Wow! It really did look brand new. But I was still curious if the fellow had only played one CD since 1995. So I punched up the code and asked the computer how many actual CDs it had played. (Keep in mind, this reading can not be cleared). It was just over 3,000 plays. It was manufactured 11-3-94.

But if you remember this was playing in the store when he bought it. Yet 3,000 plays is nothing if you consider that people who rent jukeboxes for weekend parties put 500 plays on one in a few days. We actually rent out this model ourselves through our other company, JUKEBOXES FOR RENT ®.

So here we have a real beauty with barley any mileage on it from an era when jukebox manufacturers weren't cutting corners to save a buck. It was in it's own personal time warp waiting for me to come along and release it.

What's nice about the Rockola reproduction "Bubbler" verses the Wurlitzer "Bubbler" is that even the top section has revolving color wheels. These are glorious in the dim light of a party.

Isn't it time you had a party?

1974 Rockola Model "456"

1974 Rockola
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "456"
160 Selections

"The Sophisticated Jukebox".

At first glance it could easily pass for your folks old Admiral or Magnavox home stereo system. Remember the one that sat stately at one end of the living room?

Well this ain't your Dad's old AM/FM, 5 record, 3 speed changer. It's a 2 speed, 160 to 480 selection "retro" style juke that would just plain smoke that Westinghouse console from back in the day.

The stereo separation and killer sound that emits from this beautiful cabinet are unachievable in conventional jukes unless you connect remote speakers to them. The speakers are an amazing 31-inch apart! If you sit somewhere between 5 and 15 feet in front of this lovely beast, you'll be blown away by the stereo separation.

The rugged Shure M-44 cartridge (we used them in radio stations) sends its signal through a powerful (100 watt) solid state stereo amplifier into two 6-inch mid and high frequency speakers and two 12-inch full range speakers.

Although intended for use in fancy restaurants and classy lounges it came along during a time when jukebox use in exactly those places was waning. Thus not too many of this style were ever sold.

Then once they were retired from service by the jukebox operators, they tended to get banged around a bit. They normally ended up acting as storage since they had a nice flat top. Luckily that surface was a burn and mar proof polyester material. In the end they'd get torn down and stripped for parts that could be used in conventional jukes.

This particular unit has been in the living room of a sweet little ranch house in fashionable Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley of LA since it was new. The minor dings on the cabinet come from helping raise a family over 35 years.

The "innards" are spotless and the playmeter shows an accurate 3500 plays. As a comparison, a typical jukebox rented for a weekend party chalks up 200 to 500 plays in 3 days.

The mechanism is tried, true, dependable and simple. For a few bucks more, we'll throw in a nifty Rockola motorized remote control so you won't have to get up from your easy chair to turn it up or down, on or off or even cancel tunes.

So if you have a comfortable place in your home for the fun of a jukebox and the sophisticated look of a fine piece of furniture, this is it.

1946 Wurlitzer Model "1015" Jukebox

1946 Wurlitzer
78 - RPM Jukebox
Model "1015"
24 Selections
Previously owned by Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson

This is one from our "Celebrity Jukes Collection". This was Burt Reynold's personal jukebox in his home in Florida. It was also in his and Loni Anderson's home together off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and in Loni's home off Mulholland Drive after they split up.

Don Muller (JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ®) saw a 1015 on the set of "Evening Shade" years ago when Dom Deluise introduced him to Burt. But, Loni and Don’s memories are a little fuzzy on whether this is the same one. This could easily be verified by viewing an episode to see if the Wurlitzer decal on the front window of the jukebox on the show is missing the "W" as this one is. The decal on this machine can easily be replaced it if the buyer prefers.

What an amazing history this jukebox has. Owned and loved by Burt Reynolds, the number-one box-office attraction for five straight years (1978-82) and lovely Loni Anderson, the sultry co-star of "WKRP In Cincinnati".

JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® has been servicing this beauty since Burt brought it to Los Angeles in the early 1980's. Photos taken when Don purchased it one year ago show some discolored metal moldings and veneer that is lifting slightly.

We've completely rebuilt the "workings" of the jukebox including the sound system. We've installed updated components that allow this baby to really crank out the sound. The speed is "right on" and it sounds great!

The speed had been changed to 45 - rpm when we bought it, but we've brought it back to it's original 78 - rpm glory. Also in keeping with originality, most exterior cosmetics will be left the same as when Loni owned it. The unit is on permanent free play.

This was part of the private lives of these two beloved superstars and it could very well be sitting in your business, office lobby or home game room. All original papers and digital photos included.

1949 Seeburg "A" Jukebox

1949 Seeburg
78 - RPM Jukebox
Model "A"
100 Selections

First of all this is, hands down, the best sounding 78 rpm jukebox ever made. It had been in development for nearly 8 years. Star Title Strip Company of Pittsburgh had already begun printing the new double strips for the "A" by 1947. Needless to say this is the jukebox that revolutionized the industry.

Here's my take on this jukebox and the record industry and you can correct me if I'm wrong. Before the 1920s phonograph records were engineered to sound good on a crank up Victrola. Remember there were no radio stations until the1920s.

But by the mid 1920s just about all of America could hear music on a radio. Yet no matter how good a 78 rpm record sounded in the control booth of a radio station, it still was going to be heard thru either a tiny speaker in a table radio or a large 15-inch full range one in a floor model.

Eventually Paul Galvin introduced in 1930 Motorola radios for cars. Now the recording engineer was up against the dilemma of trying to make tunes sound good coming from small and large home radios and those tiny little oval speakers in dashboards.

Although Americans invented jukeboxes at the turn of the 20th century, their sound systems were quite primitive until into the 1930s. But by the 1940s jukes were becoming a powerful force for demonstrating new music to the public.

Even with a limited array of artists on a handful of labels, the public's appetite became insatiable. Jukeboxes were showing up at bars, lounges, restaurants, U.S.O. halls and even drug stores.

It didn't take long for record companies to realize the marketing possibilities of "jukes". Where better to hear your favorite new artist's newest hit but on a jukebox.

All the public had to do is hear a tune sound great on a jukebox for them to go out and buy the record. It didn't matter what it sounded like after they bought it. The sale was done and the jukebox did it!

With improved jukebox amplifiers and cartridges, recording engineers worked hand in hand with the industry leaders in developing records that sounded good on jukes.

From the beginning, jukes were made large so a customer walking into an establishment would spot it immediately. The big cabinets made for excellent acoustic devises or speaker enclosures.

Now record companies could engineer records with a standard in mind. That of sounding good coming out of a 15-inch jukebox speaker. The jukebox became their best salesmen.

To continue with my theory, it just stands to reason that this marriage of recording engineers and jukebox manufacturers would be at it's peak, at least for 78 rpm, in the years before and just after 45 rpm came along in 1949. Thus I believe tunes produced between 1940 and 1959 were intended to sound their best emitted from a jukebox.

(Motown records of the 60s and Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recordings were intended to sound their best in mono car radios.)

To hear the original 78 rpm RCA version of Elvis Presley's monster 1956 hit "Don't Be Cruel" or even Glen Miller's "In the Mood" on a Seeburg "A" can be breath taking. You'd be blown away by the fullness of sound coming from the little black Pickering cartridge through a 16 watt push-pull tube type amplifier out a 15-inch full range speaker inside a massive wooden cabinet. All the components were "tuned" with each other.

It's how '40s big band and early rock and roll was meant to sound. It's absolutely amazing and no other means of reproduction comes any where near matching it. As far as I'm concerned, the M-100 A is the best sounding 78 rpm jukebox in the world.

On a side note: Seeburg took essentially the same amp, cartridge and 15-inch speaker and installed it in the worlds first 45 rpm jukebox, the M-100 B in 1951. Although the only difference was the speed of the record and the size of the cabinet, the "B" only sounds half as good as the "A".

Remember, the faster the record spins, the better it sounds. So L.P. versions of early Rock and Roll at 33 1/3 rpm leave a lot to be desired compared to a 78 rpm juke. "Rock Around the Clock" was produced before "HI-FI" came along. By the way I'm a radio engineer with a "First-Class" ticket, the highest broadcast license the FCC issues.

Here's another side story: Shortly after starting JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® in Phoenix AZ, a guy calls me and asks if I buy 78 rpm jukes. He had 25 "A"s in a shed behind his hair saloon in Mesa (a city outside Phoenix). He wanted to jump on the bandwagon of making tons of coins from jukeboxes, so he invested in 25 brand new "A"s at the end of 1948.

He placed the first one in a little Italian restaurant on 7th street near downtown Phoenix called the Blue Grotto. By 1951 the Seeburg "B" model playing the new 45 rpm records came along and made his "A"s obsolete.

He never placed another one on location again. So in 1971 I bought them all including the one from the Blue Grotto for $25 each. I should be shot, huh?

So you should buy this wonderful music machine and breakout the old Rock and Roll 78s. Does anybody still know how to "Bop"? You should hear Gene Vincent’s "Be-Bop-A-Lula" on an "A". And what’s also cool about an "A" is you can hear "Woman Love" on the other side without flipping the record over.

1957 Rockola Model "1455"

1957 Rockola
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "1455"
200 Selections

Compact, cute and colorful.

This was Rockola's first foray into 200 selection jukeboxes and offered Seeburg's V/VL models of previous years some decent competition. It was considerably smaller and lighter which was achieved by using its Ferris wheel record basket configuration.

Even it's sound was competitive with other jukes of the time through the use of a huge 15-inch speaker in conjunction with a small high frequency horn. (AMI was the first to use a horn in it's great sounding F model of 1954.)

The 200 tune title strips in the 1455 are displayed at a slight angle in increments of 40 in a 5 sided rotating drum.

This particular unit is from the personal collection of a very talented Southern California

jukebox operator. And although one to always be trying technical experiments with jukes on his route, this one seemed to have escaped his trials.

It’s in amazingly nice, original condition. The top part of the side of the cabinet is all original, which by now would’ve been painted over 5 times. The bottom half is not originl, but in good shape. This is one sweet little juke.

1978 Seeburg Model "Disco" Jukebox

1978 Seeburg
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "Disco"
160 Selections

This jukebox might just be the best sounding and loudest 45 - rpm stereo jukebox ever made. Unlike most jukeboxes with only cone speakers, the Disco also has horns. Extremely efficient, horns are capable of reproducing amazing highs. You'll hear sounds from your records you never heard before. It's killer amplifier will blow your socks off. With the Disco's unique shape and great colors it makes a stand out in any home.

The Seeburg Disco was the last juke made by Seeburg before the Stern pinball/video game company bought it in 1980.

1952 Seeburg Model "C" Jukebox

1952 Seeburg
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "C"
"Happy Days" style
100 Selections

By 1949, Seeburg had been instrumental in getting RCA to create 45 rpm records. Seeburg wanted to reduce the size of jukeboxes, to fit in small establishments like diners, while offering more selections than the bulkier 78 - rpm units. Of course when the first 45 rpm jukebox was introduced in October of 1950 it was a Seeburg. This was the model "B" and it’s successor in 1952, the “BL”.

The model M100 "C" was introduced in May of 1952 for the 1953 year. It was a "B", glorified with frosty white pilasters and revolving color wheels, but it took the world by storm. It turned out to be Seeburgs’ biggest seller.

The Family "C".

This wonderful jukebox has been entertaining friends and family in the home of Don Muller, owner of JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ®, since his shop rebuilt it back around 1980. Many a party was held with this beauty as the main attraction cranking out good old Rock and Roll. Freshly reconditioned, it's ready to start a new life entertaining new friends. Maybe even you and your friends?

The original cartridge has been updated with the later version Thorpe for great sound through the original 15-inch speaker. A newer model mechanism motor runs smoothly under the original mechanism cover. A rugged new motor runs the chain to drive the color wheel assemblies. New mirrors installed behind the mechanism. All coin equipment (including cash bag) in and working with a "free play" button installed to avoid burning up the latch bar solenoid.

Standing sentry in front of the speaker are the 100% original thick round mirror grill tubes, not the thin ones they make today or the metal plumbing pipes. Covering the speaker is real speaker cloth not some pretty fabric from a linen store. Speaker cloth doesn't restrict the sound the way fabric does.

As big as JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® already was at the time this machine was rebuilt, nearly all reproduction parts were either made "in house" or exclusively for the company. One prominent item was the pilasters protecting the color wheels. And protecting is exactly what these pilasters do. They were hand made on a custom built wooden form using several heating strips to bend the General Electric Herculite plastic. You couldn't even kick these baby in. Never fear of children damaging the front of this gem.

Through the years we've seen all sorts of refurbishing jobs that time has taken a toll on. "C" pilasters were one thing but also on Seeburg "B" and "C" models the methods of covering the original wood cabinet went from contact paper and vinyl sheets that would shrink or loose glue to veneer that would get all nicked up.

Between 1978 and 1985, the craftsmen at JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® applied Formica brand laminate on many of the cabinets they did. Even three decades later these jukeboxes look exactly like they did the day they were sold. Formica can really take a beating.

In fact this is one of those Formica cabinets that actually did take a beating during the infamous 1994 Northridge earthquake in California’s beautiful San Fernando Valley. (See close up of said nick.) Aside from this flaw, this is one beautiful, good working, great sounding jukebox.

Once again, let's picture it in your entertainment area. Maybe even with a small dance floor in front of it? Where do you want to hang the disco ball? And chaser lights around the dance floor? Can't forget them! Oh, and then you'll want a strobe light somewhere.

1973 Wurlitzer
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "1050 Nostalgic"
100 Selections

I've got a lot to say about this baby and Wurlitzer on a whole. I'll start back in 1969-70 with the model "3400 Statesman". This was a good looking, good sounding jukebox with a lot of problems with the numerous micro switches. I believe this is the machine that brought Wurlitzer to its knees in America.

In 1973 a big time Louisiana jukebox operator offered to sell me 25 of these machines for $40 each. Even though he warned me of the problems, I jumped at the deal. They turned out to be pure lemons.

He had told me he purchased 400 of them and they broke down so frequently that Wurlitzer had sent a mechanic to stay in a motel in the area.

By 1972 Wurlitzer had the problems worked out with the model "3600 Superstar", but it was too late for Wurlitzer's reputation. They made basically 6 more models in the USA before closing down the North Tonawanda plant in New York around 1975.

One of those decent working machines happened to be the model "1050". This was sort of a salute to Wurlitzer's hey day of flashy "Bubblers" designed by Paul Fuller in the '40s.

It was a nice looking, good working unit but didn't necessarily sell very well. By 1977 after JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® relocated to West Los Angeles, I was offered 10 of these units brand new in the crate for $1600 each.

By now Wurlitzer had sold the rights to build the "1050" in Mexico. It was called the "Soñata". This was an extremely bad reproduction of the "1050", made cheaply and assembled poorly. Personally they're "junk" to me.

Some unscrupulous sellers would swap the front glass that shown the "Soñata" name with one that said Wurlitzer in an attempt to pawn them off to unsuspecting buyers.
At this same time an Arizona restaurant chain, Googie's, approached JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® to install nostalgic looking jukeboxes in their many locations.

Although I offered them the Wurlitzer's, they opted for the new "Soñatas". I had the first 3 drop shipped to Phoenix where it took me an entire day to make one of them work out of the three. The buyer cancelled the remaining order. Enough said about the "Soñata" here.

Back to the "1050". At this time JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® was making a rather sizable splash in its new digs in Los Angeles. Numerous print articles and radio interviews brought us to the attention of the producers of a local TV program featuring Regis Philbin.

I brought a "1050" on his show and told Regis this was going to be a machine that would increase in value dramatically in the next few years to at least $5,000. I was offering that one for $3500.

A day or so later a lady comes into JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® and wants to buy a jukebox for her celebrity husband, but it has to be a good investment. I sell her the "1050". Some day I'll have to tell you the story of that Christmas Eve delivery.

Later I ran across 2 real nice "1050’s" in Tucson, AZ, one of which I took home for myself. Then the bottom fell out for the "1050" with Wurlitzer's introduction in 1988-89 of the "O.M.T." (One More Time) built in Germany.

This was a sweet reproduction of the famous 1015 of 1946. All of a sudden the "1050" lost its value and although a few were offered to JUKEBOXES UNLIMITED ® , none were purchased. In fact I sold my own and the other one right away.

Now we come up to present. In all our years in business, I believe we've only had 3 "1050" go through the company. In comparison, we've probably sold 300 or 400 of the Seeburg model "C". Off hand, I’d say "1050's" are awful dang rare.

The one we have now was purchased brand new for a home in fashionable Encino, CA. It is absolutely immaculate. Cabinet parts that would normally show wear are like new. This machine has never had a coin run through it and the clean cash bag reflects it.

The playmeter reads 004259 and there's no doubt those are the true numbers. It's one thing to find one of these for sale at a lower price, but to find one as immaculate as this is a rare find.

If you're like the celebrity back in 1978, looking for an investment jukebox that will, at the same time, give you years of enjoyment, this is the unit. We don't think you’ll find a cleaner, better working "1050" anywhere. And tell us this isn't a beauty? - Don

1958 Rockola Model "1465" Jukebox

1958 Rockola
45 - RPM Jukebox
Model "1465"
200 Selections

Once Seeburg came out with a 200 selection jukebox in 1955 all the other manufacturersfollowed suit with one of their own in 1957. This 1958 Rockola went one better than Seeburg with its light, compact cabinet taking up less of the valuable space in diners.

Employing the same tried and true mechanism Rockola had begun using back in 1952 this is one nice little juke. AMI actually used the same principle on its 1946 model "A". The 1465 also employs a rotating title strip drum like the Seeburg's.

The fact that we have way to many jukes is forcing us to sell some of the duplicates and ones that will require extra time to rebuild. Thus we’ll be selling this cutie in an "AS-IS" working state.

What's nice about this unit is that just about anybody can do the necessary work to bring it up to snuff and it could be a fun project for just about anyone.

It's been staying in the home of a British couple in Santa Monica for about 25 years. They were sad to see it go, but their new home was going to be smaller.

1992 NSM Model "The Performer Classic"

1992 NSM
CD Jukebox
Model "Performer Classic"
Over 2,500 Selections

Here's a great machine if your looking for good looks and a great sounding jukebox for your place. 100 CD's played through a solid state high power amplifier into 2 bass and 2 high/mid range speakers. Over 2,500 tunes at the touch of a button. You can even control this juke from across the room with its wireless remote control unit.

All the CD's are stored in a dust free atmosphere inside the world's fastest CD changer. You can even put your own CD covers and their list of songs for people to recognize and choose their selections. You can watch this jukebox work through the big front window. Kids love to watch it work through the glass.