What do you do when someone gives you a Wurlitzer 3100 jukebox from 1969, but keeps all the records? If you are like [Tijuana Rick], you grab an Arduino and a Rasberry Pi and turn it into a really awesome digital music player.
We’ll grant you, making a music player out of a Raspberry Pi isn’t all that cutting edge, but restoration and integration work is really impressive. The machine had many broken switches that had been hastily repaired, so [Rick] had to learn to create silicone molds and cast resin to create replacements. You can see and hear the end result in the video below.
[Rick] was frustrated with jukebox software he could find, until he found some Python code from [Thomas Sprinkmeier]. [Rick] used that code as a base and customized it for his needs.
There’s not much “how to” detail about the castings for the switches, but there are lots of photos and the results were great. We wondered if he considered putting fake 45s in the machine so it at least looked like it was playing vinyl.
Of course, you don’t need an old piece of hardware to make a jukebox. Or, you can compromise and build out a replica.
Feel sad, I picked up a broken wurlitzer carousel jukebox with the intention of doing something similar a few years back, but chose to repair the mechanism and control systems instead and aquire records to suit my tastes to fit in it.
And… I’m *really* glad I did, as watching the carousel mechanism spin the carousel to select and grab the 45’s and flip them onto the turntable is one of the best things about it and a major point of what I like about it. Otherwise its a fake light up box just taking up too much space.
Much prefered the remote jukebox controller hacks to add remote network input and controls via the wired jukebox interface.
Thats even before you consider the subsequent resale value which didn’t really bother me at the time as I picked mine up at broken junk prices.
Sorry, not a thumbs up or why don’t other people do this from me.
100% agree
^ this times 1000. The mechanism IS the jukebox
Check out the FranLab video about the origins of 45s.
A new win for lowest audio level on a YouTube channel that tries to demo sound.
When it comes to restoring jukeboxes, great care must be taken so that the interior would stay as whole as possible without disintegrating in the process. At the same time, when it comes to restoring old pieces of the jukebox like the old buttons and worn-out wiring, one should use as exact a piece as possible in order to preserve as much of the original unit as they can. If I had a jukebox to call my own I would have to be very careful when using it since replacement parts would be expensive!