1954 Seeburg 100G Mp3 Conversion

[Pistachio]

Hello,

Attached is a picture of my 1954 Seeburg 100G that I converted to Mp3.  I bought the juke in VERY rough condition for $500 bucks.  It was a real mess and the dome glass was missing along with all of the original speakers, amps etc.  I had to strip the juke down to the wood and start completely over.  I put another $600 bucks into it replacing the glass, animation units, mirrors etc.  The next step was figuring out how to use the original keyboard.  Since I had already made a Mame game cabinet I knew I could use an IPac but I had to do quite of bit of rewiring to get it too work.  I hooked up an old computer and it worked just fine. The next problem was figuring out how to control iTunes via the original keyboard.  What I ended up doing was writing a small program in Winbatch which is a scripting language that is used to control other applications. Basically what it does is grabs the selection keys such as A1, A2 etc and sends it too iTunes in which I have playlists with the same name. The whole thing worked out rather well. 

Since the juke is hooked up to my wireless network some of the selections are internet radio stations.  I didnt want to collect a bunch of Jazz or Reggae so when the user selects those it just connects to one of those 24/7 net radio stations which is a nice feature.

The sound is pretty amazing.  In the juke itself there is one 8" and one 15" speaker but it sounded rather mono so I added two external JBL's on the side.  The computer has 5 channel SoundBlaster PCI type card that outputs to a Yamaha 200 watt analog amp.  I can control the volume, mute etc via a wireless Keyspan remote control.

The illusion is complete as when the user makes a selection the record mech is triggered and it grabs a record and starts playing it!  This was a real engineering problem but I got it too work after learning some basic electronics.

This project was really fun and it was worth the year or so it took me to complete it.

[digitaldj]

SWEET! Excellent Job!
Jukeman

[mccoy178]

Very beautiful.

[Ken Layton]

You bastardized a "G"? Shame on you   Boo! Boo! Hiss!

That model and the "C" model have the most reproduction, NOS, and used parts available out there. You could have easily gotten the correct parts to repair & restore it properly. You've taken a jukebox that could have easily been worth $20,000 and f***ed it up!

[Dermbrian]

Great job!

The question of what to do with vintage and collectible items is worth talking about, but in this case I land on your side.

I applaud the efforts that you put into taking a basket case and turning it into something that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life.  You kept the 'soul' of the jukebox intact (though a lot of hard work and expense) while expanding its capabilities to play the music of 2020 just as well as the music of 50's and 60's.

If you had, instead, taken a jukebox that was in great shape and done something to totally change its character (like making a bar out of a console radio, for instance), I might not feel the same way.  But you 'updated' it wonderfully, IMHO.



Brian

[scylla2]

Very nice work.

Any chance of you posting a few more pics? How about some closeups and interior shots?

[Pistachio]

The record mech.  I could not believe I got this to work..took me a week of disassembly and cleaning.  I had to repaint the plastics, added new 45 decals and bought a new stripper plate and found a better condition chrome record indicator from a C model off ebay.  The light is powered from the 5v line from the computer.  The record mech is AC powered and is controled via Parallax Basic Stamp which is a microprocessor that can be programmed in Basic on the computer.  The stamp fires the solenoid after the user makes a selection which puts the mech into Scan mode.  I have random "pins" on the mech open and when it hits one it fires the solenoid and pulls a record and fake plays it for 2 minutes then puts it back. I just have a piece of felt where the needle once was. Right now its broken because the motor cap blew out.

[Pistachio]

The side of the juke.  Originally it was some kind of decaled veneer that was rather ugly. I sanded it down and just painted it the same color as the record mech.  The pilasters where originally chrome and very pitted so I replaced them with some plastic ones from ebay and added animation cylinders.

[Pistachio]

Another pic of the top of the juke.  I replaced the mirrors, gold foil, dome glass, some program glass, diffussor glass and a bunch of other stuff.  You can see the Keyspan remote sitting on the mech.  I need to find a less noticable spot for it.

[Pistachio]

The Ipac that is wired to the original keyboard.  I had to modify the keyboard switch panel quite a bit in order to get it to work properly. One of the original spring switches is used for the Return key (which basically "sends" the selection to iTunes) that also triggers the Basic Stamp.  You can rewind by pressing the 1 key or move forward by pressing 2 thru 0.  Selections must be made with a letter then number combo or else Homer Simpson starts yelling..

[Ghoward]

You bastardized a "G"? Shame on you

[Pistachio]

I have shown this Seeburg to some of the "purists" on various mailing lists and sites and have gotten flamed several times so I have gotten used to it.  So far it has been a 50% "you have ruined it" and 50% "that is really cool" attitude.  Usually the "really cool" emailers send me off list email to avoid being flamed themselves!

I can totally understand the purists point of view but first of all I didnt ruin anything.  More then likely this basketcase box would have sitten for another unknown number of years and it would have had to have been thrown in the garbage.  So I essense I believe I saved it and gave a new life.  I myself learned quite a bit and had tons of fun and I do not really care what they think.  This jukebox gets so much use and attention that its just amazing.  All of my friends bring over their music and make their own selections so they can listen to their favorite tunes when the come over.  Even my grumpy old Dad thought it was the coolest thing ever.

So the purists can have fun with their 100 scratched up analog record tracks while I blow the doors off the house with 5000 crystal clear 5 channel digital audio meanness! 

[Ken Layton]

You could have easily gotten a rebuilt selection receiver, rebuilt pricing unit, and rebuilt amplifier for this as well as the stereo needles to play modern 45's properly.

My opinion stands----it's ruined!