Rock-Ola Jukebox Advice Needed

[rp2813]

I seem to recall that we had a member or few who were familiar with jukeboxes, so I'm hoping to get some advice here before I jump into an on-line rabbit hole.

 

I need to make what is likely a simple adjustment, but upon visual inspection I'm not sure how to go about it.  There are a few records in the machine that have an issue where the tone arm sets down too far inward, cutting off the first few notes of the music.  I know there must be a way to adjust the tone arm to set down just slightly more toward the edge of the disc, but it's not obvious how to facilitate that.

 

I've provided a picture of the machine but can take a shot of the back end of the tone arm if that will help.  I'm going under the assumption that anyone familiar with Rock-Ola machines will be familiar with the design, but can provide model number if needed.

 

Sorry for the sideways picture.  This is chronic with pictures taken by my iPhone and sooo annoying.  I've tried tricking the system by rotating it and no matter what I do, it turns the picture on it side.

 

[rp2813]

Rather than delete my post and keep people guessing, I'm advising that I found a poorly presented youtube video on a much newer model, but it put me on the right track, so to speak, and I was able to successfully make this rather sensitive adjustment perfectly on the first try.  The affected records now begin playing about a second or two after the needle touches down.

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Very glad you got the help you needed. Your Rock-Ola  (actually was the person's name, David Rockola) looks great. I'm a big fan of jukeboxes & pinballs and have a modest collection.</span>

 

[rp2813]

Thanks Joe.  I can't believe it's still operational, but honestly it's not seeing anywhere near the use jukeboxes normally would be subjected to.  In my experience though, just like most mechanical devices, they can suffer from lack of use, so I'll fire it up a few times a year, or whenever I need some motivating music while cleaning house.

 

It hasn't been playing the B sides for years, but there are very few B sides worth listening to anyway.

 

[circlew]

Nice Jukebox

I remember going to a restaurant in Bowling Green, KY (think it was Murray's), that had one that looked like yours. I also remember the Seeberg in the Gypsy Grill Cafeteria in Carrollton, KY. It had selector boxes at the booths.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks Tom.  It's actually a wall mount machine but it has been on a wooden pedestal since before I took ownership.  The pedestal makes sense, since it has followed me from home to home since the early '80s.

 

[frigilux]

Great jukebox! Let’s see if I can get the photo right side up.

 

[rp2813]

Eugene, how did you do that? 

 

I know there are more members besides myself who have been experiencing this same problem.  I'm pretty sure it's been blamed on browser algorithms (AKA millenial geeks thinking they know better) but damn, it would be a real PITA to switch from Firefox, which remembers a lot of stuff that I don't anymore, that I would have to type in manually if I switched to a different browser.

 

[circlew]

Ralph, after the photo was turned correctly, I noticed the box says it plays in stereo. 45's in stereo became commonly available by the late 60's, but evidently were rare before that time. From what I've read, stereo versions were introduced in 1958, which was about nine years after the introduction of 45's by RCA (1949). Many of the stereo versions evidently were special pressings intended for use in jukeboxes, with limited distribution otherwise. Do you have many stereo records for it?

 

[rp2813]

Tom, I think most of the records in this machine are stereo, but there are some older ones from the '50s that may not be.  I'm pretty sure that at least the the first Beatles album, "Meet the Beatles" was recorded and produced in both mono and stereo, so I suppose singles may have been recorded that way too for a period of time.

 

There are two large speakers behind the grille, but since they're so close together the stereo effect is nil.  There are external speaker connections that I assume are there to take advantage of the stereo option.  As you can see from the attached picture (it's sideways, of course), there are connection options for both mono and stereo.  I don't know why, but the "hybrid" setting is the only one that works.  There's no audio at all when set to either mono or stereo, which if I were to hazard a guess, may only apply if external speakers are used.

 

I've been told that this machine is vintage ~1960, so stereo would have for sure been hit and miss on 45s back then.

 

 

[twintubdexter]

Friend Ralph,

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">That's one of those very cool Rock-Ola's that can be wall-hung...( that's wall, not well ). Earlier Rock-Ola's like that were called "Princess" models. How very appropriate for you 

.</span>

[this post was last edited: 2/15/2021-18:51]

 

[circlew]

Thanks for the additional info. I see it has connections for 70 V speaker systems, such as used for paging and background music. You could connect a lot of speakers to it, limited only by the wattage of the amplifier. For those that don't know, the 70 V system is commonly used in large buildings, such as department stores and schools.

 

[frigilux]

Ralph— Rotating your photos: I’m on an iPad. All I had to do was press my index finger on the photo in your post. A box pops up with choices of what to do with the photo. I put it in my Photos (formerly known as iPhoto) app, then used “Edit” to rotate the photo into the correct orientation. Then I simply posted my version of the photo. I’ve never tried to put a photo straight from my iPhone 7 into a post. I always e-mail it (or AirDrop, when I remember how to use it) to myself and post from the iPad or MacBook Pro laptop.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks Eugene.  Trust me, I don't use my phone to do much besides talk and text -- it's a necessary evil as far as I'm concerned so don't even get me started -- and I certainly wouldn't even know how to drop a picture directly from it into a post. 

 

So instead I email myself the picture, save it on my laptop, then post from my picture files.  And it comes out sideways almost every time.  This only started happening within the last several months. 

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #808080;">Ralph, if I offended you with my last post (acting silly) please let me know and I'll ask to have it removed.</span>

 

[rp2813]

No offense taken, Joe.  I know you're not that sort of person. 

 

There is a princess here already though, so she wouldn't take kindly to knowing there's another.  She's black and white and says "meow" a lot.