Ferguson 773-To juke or not to juke, that is the question

[Turvey]

Inspired by The Rat Rod and http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=112421.0 I scoured eBay and found a suitable donor radio for a possible conversion.





Apologies for the poor phone pics.

As you can possible see it's a bit rough and in the top left hand front corner there is a bit of damage caused I think by shipping. Thanks UPS 

So I've stripped it all out..............eventually. As you might see in the back view the whole inside working has either moved in transit or not been put back together properly after a previous owner had some work done. I assume they've had work done unless Taiwan was making components for Ferguson in 1938? 

But now I'm starting to think it's maybe a shame to cannibalise a bit of history just for my own selfish needs    I did think that i could get an 8 inch touchscreen in the hole created by the dial though.  But them what to do with the row of 11 small holes and 5 big holes underneath?

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for you all at a later stage 

[gilby4runner]

But now I'm starting to think it's maybe a shame to cannibalise a bit of history just for my own selfish needs.   Its up to personal preference.  It convereted a 1959 Seeburg and had the same thoughts.  I needed a complete overhaul and replacement amps. It would have cost at least 1500 to get it up and going.  I convereted it to play from my pc and later my ipod.  It looks original but is updated for my needs.  If this is something that you will get a lot of use from and enjoy then do it.  Its not like you are ripping apart a restored model.  As far as the knobs.. you could replace them with an original looking knob and have the touch screen as the only modern exterior piece.  Classic and modern all in one.  Good luck with the project!

[BobA]

You could use some metal work to cover the holes.   Chrome car bits seem to be popular or you could just fabricate a plain grill with a screen or matching fabric or both.    I think you would get alot more enjoyment out of the radio as an touch screen juke then by restoring it.   Restoring it is usually very expensive.   If you do pull the old bits out look for an antique radio club or group who would put the bits to good use. Good luck on your project.  

[NiN^_^NiN]

I can see this being a good touchscreen juke

What you can do is restore as much as possible and keep most of it the way it is so it could be converted back.

I can see a 7" touchscreen behind the screen with the glass taken out and the frame left in place.

The 5 holes could have arcade buttons installed I remember someone on here used arcade buttons then made them very steampunk-ish/vintage style to suit their design I forget the user but you could do that and restore the rest and then you wouldn't have to cannibalise it

[Turvey]

Think I'm going to go down the 'restore the woodwork as much as possible and juke it but keep it looking as original as possible' route  

Started cleaning it last night. Man this thing is filthy inside and stinks!!! This is after a couple of washes with hot water and washing up liquid.



Second bucket of water...



I've seriously thought about taking a small pressure washer to the inside to see if that will clean it properly but I'm frightened it might ruin it  

Close-up of the damage caused by dropping it en-route...



Plenty of room for the old screen-less laptop I have in mind and for the Microsoft 2.1 Speaker System that I also have.





I like the idea of covering the holes with some kind of car related chrome work but living in the UK may seriously limit my chances of finding something suitable at the right price. So another idea is to somehow mount all the original buttons on a frame/bit of wood and just have them as decoration? I'm missing one big knob (ooer missus) so I'm could leave the middle hole empty and install a button to start/shut down the computer in there instead.

For anyone who's interested here's a pic of the whole workings. Undid 4 wood screws and with a little gentle persuasion it slid out.



And underneath you can see where someone has fitted a whole lot of new electrical stuff which is way above me  



In wanting to keep this looking as original as possible I don't want to make any holes bigger than they are so it could be returned to original condition if need be. I'm thinking a 7 inch touch-screen will fit in there perfectly right enough   Any leads for decent priced touchscreens in the UK?

Close-up of the front dial. The marking are on the actual glass and what I'm thinking is I'll try and remove the glass, clean it up and scan it in with a bit of black card behind it and use that image as a screen saver if/when it's all complete  



Getting a bit ahead of myself now but I was thinking about changing the start-up sound to the very end bit of the Ramones track Rock and Roll Radio-the bit where the DJ says 'This is Rock and Roll Radio, stay tuned for more Rock and Roll'  

But that's way in the future So just for now has anyone tried the Rustins range of strippers and restorers? I'm looking for something to strip all the old varnish of and start again from scratch.

[Meph]

Turvey, you have a nice cabinet there that can be restored nicely but you might want to think about your monitor placement.  If you look in my signature at my Philco build you will see the sloped top.  Once my touchscreen is mounted its pretty much at a perfect angle for visibility.  If you have an ELO touchscreen already then you probably have noticed the limited visibility angles on it.  The cabinet you have will probably force you to bend down to have an acceptable viewing angle for it.  Its just something to consider.  Either way have fun with it.  My post has details of some of the stuff I used to refinish my cabinet.  I will be updating it with my almost finished pictures this weekend also.  Good luck with yours.

[drventure]

First off, great find! I say Juke It! Seriously. I mean, sure you "could" get the radio portion back in operation, but then, well, you'd have an am/fm radio. Yippee. Meh.

Meph's right about the screen and vertical front though. I've got an old Majestic cab from, I believe, the late 20's. It was already gutted (no radio, speakers, knobs, etc), so there was absolutely no question for me.

BUT... it's got a straight vertical front like yours...

My first thought is to knock the top off and make it's clamshell, such that you can lift the top and the screen raises up from UNDER the top to the perfect viewing angle.

The only downside to that approach is that then you can't ever really put anything ON TOP of the unit (cause you'll always have to lift the top up to use the touchscreen).

So I'm still pondering (and collecting parts).

For the buttons and knobs. Keep them ALL and hook em up to an IPAC or mouse hacks (I'm using 3 usb mice with scroll wheels to enable the 3 knobs I've got to actually do something). Connect them up to play predefined playlists or something like that.

Looking forward to see where you go with it!

[Meph]

Ya know what would be BADASS??  Cut out the top of the cabinet so your monitor sits flush with the top of the cabinet but can be raised to angle upward for use like Drventure said.  Then in the front of the cabinet mount a normal LCD with a wide viewing angle.  Your top touchscreen would be your control unit and the lower LCD would be for displaying Karaoke and Music Videos

[Turvey]

OK, you've convinced me! Juke it  

I'm still cleaning the inside of the cabinet........................it STINKS!! What is it?

I can see where you're coming regarding the angle of the screen but can see two problems regarding changing the top.

1. My woodwork skills(or rather LACK of woodwork skills  ) I know my limits and doing that is way beyond what I could do.

2. I'm still wanting to try and keep the cabinet as original as possible and be able to reverse the process in the future if need be.

So, what I'm thinking is somehow hinge the screen at the top so it the bottom can be pulled out to a more suitable angle.

Still not decided whether to go touchscreen or push button   I've been using SKG Jukebox and it has the look and feel I like but I don't know how well it would work with buttons.

Regarding screens, is eBay the only option for me in the UK? I've seen a few on there but they're usually over £100/$160  

Ya know what would be BADASS??  Cut out the top of the cabinet so your monitor sits flush with the top of the cabinet but can be raised to angle upward for use like Drventure said.  Then in the front of the cabinet mount a normal LCD with a wide viewing angle.  Your top touchscreen would be your control unit and the lower LCD would be for displaying Karaoke and Music Videos

I've got something like that planned for a future possible project. A 'normal' jukebox cabinet with two screens. One largish touchscreen on top and another similar sized normal screen underneath just showing THIS cool screensaver  

But for now it's more cleaning and trying to find suitable products to strip the varnish/lacquer off. I think most of Meph's stuff only seems to available in the US   But there's bound to be something similar over here  

[Meph]

Instead of SKG jukebox you might want to consider SK jukebox.  My first juke build was a push button juke and I played with SKG for a while.  The author had a really nice start on it but updates are nearly non-existant and its REALLY buggy.  SK takes a little work to get it running right, but it runs flawlessly once its up and going.  If you're going with buttons rather than touchscreen then you have a lot more options for the screen.  You can get a good LCD with a really wide viewing angle and mount it below.  I wouldn't skimp though, make sure your angle is going to be acceptable.

http://www.amazon.com/Citri-Strip-QCG73801T-Varnish-Stripping-1-Quart/dp/B000QFCP1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321218880&sr=8-1

That is what I used to strip my cabinet.  I tried lacquer thinner and this stuff worked so much better.  I checked Amazon UK and didn't see it on there.  Not sure what the shipping cost is to order it through Amazon US.  I wont use anything else after using it.  Its just that good.

[Turvey]

I saw that you recommended the Citri-strip and googled it for a UK price Approximately 73 of your US dollars!!!  And I can't imagine Customs and Excise would be too amused if that kind of stuff was being sent through the post 

I'll keep looking for a UK supplier who isn't out to rip us of too much..............................either that or I'll start importing it and making a fortune 

Thanks for suggestions regarding the screens and SK software, I'll look into it 

[Meph]

If you decide to go with SK jukebox, 3.0 was the last version made.  The previous version has an issue with random play not working that was fixed in 3.0.  The only issue in 3.0 was a type in the on screen keyboard.  There is a thread on these boards that explains it and the fix.  Its really easy and you can read about it here.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77987.0

[Turvey]

Slight set-back regarding the touchscreen....a 7 inch screen wont fit in the hole

The hole is wide enough but not deep enough for the screens I've been looking at. So without going against my 'keep the case original' plan the only way ahead I can is to frame the screen with picture framing. It wont be flush but it's the only way I can see it's going to work.

@Meph:- I see from this thread http://mirrors.arcadecontrols.com/Salmonking/ that a version 4 and 4.01 were released. I cant get any of them to work right with my Win7 computers but haven't tried it on the laptop I'm planning to use for the juke which is also win7. If it doesn't work I'll just try XP on it and see what happens 

[Turvey]

Not a lot to tell you all yet, cabinet is 99% stripped. Just got to repair the delivery damage and then strip the area around it when it's all set. I'll take some pics to satisfy all you pic junkies 

No touchscreen bargains yet.....apart for the one I missed(8 inch Liliput went for 40 quid ) had visitors and just forgot about it  A 17 inch ELO openframe just went for under £30 but I thought it was just a wee bit too big for this project(should have just bought it for another juke project  )

So during my e-bay browsing I came across THIS ITEM and wondered if anyone thought it might work as a stand alone monitor or if it was only capable of running it's own software, if you know what I mean? HERE'S the product's webpage for more info.

Or failing that anyone used a Joggler as an interface? You can run Squeezplayer on it and some folks are even getting a slimmed down XP to run on it.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Turvey the ebay item is a usb 7" touch monitor.

It is a standalone monitor. Inside it has a usb video card so that's why it's all USB it will show up as another monitor and you can mirror the image or run dual screens if you want.

I'm currently running 3 screens and im using a 14" usb screen as well they are great as they get power, video and touchscreen all from USB.

Now I am worried cause the resolution on the monitor is pretty low i'm not sure if thats when running in PC mode or running it's own internal apps id say apps but it's not very clear.

Also it doesn't mention if it's usb 2 or not if it's usb 1 stay away it's just to slow as a video card.

Id continue looking and skip this as it's not very specific on it's specs

[machineage]

Hi Turvey

Just wondered how you were getting on with the conversion?

Did you keep the innards? If so I may be interested 

[eds1275]

My recommendations forgetting rid of the smell in that cab is a product called Anti Icky Poo. I have used it on lots of nasty smelling things. Everything from used guitar amps saturated with cigarette/pot smoke to moldy guitar amps. It was explained to me by my veterinarian that it is basically live enzymes/bacteria that eat odour causing stuff. While it is specifically made for pet urine odours I have used it on other stuff with success. Another option would be painting the inside of that thing with an oil-based primer/sealer to lock in the funk.

[Turvey]

@machinage. The restoration has kinda ground to a halt just now   Cold garage means I'm not as keen as I was when I first got this radio, but spring is coming   I'm still leaning to the 'keep it original so the workings can go back in' way of thinking. Do you have an old cabinet you want the workings for?

@eds. Thanks for the product tip. I can't seem to get it this side of the pond but I do think that primer/sealer will be the way to go  

[machineage]

Hi Turvey

No I am currently searching for a Radiogram version which uses the same chassis. It may be useful as spares to me if you didn't want to keep it.

BTW - there is a similar product available here with enzymes that destroy bacteria odours etc called Zybax. I have some here and it's brilliant stuff:

http://www.branova.com/index.php?pageId=4

All the best.