Saturday, November 20, 2010

1946 Wurlitzer Model 1015 Jukebox



It's a 1946 Wurlitzer "Bubbler"! By now, anyone considering purchasing one of the beauties probably knows enough about their history that it would seem unnecessary for us to attempt to elaborate here. What might set one apart from another would be the quality of workmanship applied during it's reconditioning.

We believe this particular jukebox was originally restored by Glenn Streeter of Antique Apparatus in Sherman Oaks, CA around 1982. That would be many years before he purchased the Rockola Corporation in Chicago.

Glenn did some pretty amazing cabinetry in those days and this one reflects his pride in workmanship. The marbling in the veneer is spectacular even if it doesn't show in the accompanying photos. We exchanged all the nickel castings, which would need constant polishing, with a nice set of chrome ones.

Because we sell jukeboxes worldwide, we frequently don't rebuild the inside "workings" until it’s sold and we know what country it will go to and at what speed it will be playing. Since we custom make records for our customers at any speed and with any music, we need to know what the tracking pressure will need to be.

Of course we might also need to install different gears and or idler wheels as well as step up transformers to accommodate the power (voltage / cycles) of the country when shipping to other parts of the world.

Thus the "innards" of this unit will be fully reconditioned and customized to fit the buyers' needs. This one's already set up for "free play". This is one beautiful jukebox and when we're done with it, it'll sound great and should give another 50 or so years of service.

Although we recondition a ton of jukes every year, the number of 1015s we can do is limited. 1015's are a much different beast and take a lot more time to rebuild.

Should we custom build this one for you?