Anyone repair old household radios?

Zeke · 08-27-2003, 07:51 AM

Does anyone know of a vacuum tube source with tube testor that I can go to? Or do I ship the tubes somewhere to be tested? I just bought a 1964 jukebox and it doesn't work. Loud buzz in the speakers like a capacitor or tube is shot.

pwd72s · 10:13 AM

Milt, you might write to: Antique Radio Classifieds, P.O. Box 2, Carlisle, MA 01741, ask them to send an old copy of their publication. I haven't subscribed since the mid 90's, so any info I have would be dated. But there are old tube set enthusiasts out there, also repair services. One of the advertisers in an old issue is "bobs radio & tv" in San Louis Obispo, he may still be in biz, could repair or give you leads? The phone number in the ad is (805) 543-2946. There are also solid state "wafers"...designed to plug in where the tube was used. May be a better option for you that simply replacing tubes?

Stanley · 08-27-2003, 10:57 AM

What kind of jukebox is it? We have a old Seeburg from the early 50's that plays the two sided 45's. The sound quality from it is pretty bad, but it still fun to play because its all full of 50's and 60's music. I was just checking on ebay and you can buy a hundered or so 45's for under $40. I had no idea they were this cheap. Good luck getting your jukebox fixed!

Zeke · 04:55 PM

It's a Wurlitzer 2800. Plays 200 sides or 100 discs. The last Seeburg's I saw were just recently. One at a private home that was nice and he paid $2000, and the other at a shop that was perfect from waht I could see, asking $5900. They were both 100's. The Wurl was $550. The Seeburgs have the rack and turntable up where you can see them work. the Wurl has just as nice a set up, but you have to lift the top up where the songs are listed to see it. Love to get it going. Thanks, Paul, I give it a try.

Edit: Bob's # has changed: 805 773-8200 now in Pismo Beach. Haven't spoken w/ him yet.
Edit#2: Bob does walk in only. I'm not planning a trip up there soon, so .....square one. I'll check out the publication.

And Scott, replace the needle. I think even Radio Shack has them in their catalogue. That's one part you can get, me thinks.

pwd72s · 08-27-2003, 04:20 PM

Glad I could give a tip, Milt. And Scott? You might look into getting those 1950's speakers reconed and refoamed...the sound could improve. Call me crazy, but once in a while I enjoy getting out my old 45's, spinning them on the turntable. We old guys have to have our fun where we can find it...

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

E-mail my bud Paul at invicta@ripco.com He's repaired a number of old radios and has quite a few tube sources including I think those mini-Russian tubes. Tres' Chic! Tell him Chris sent ya.

Stanley · 08-27-2003, 06:12 PM

The needle was recently replaced and I think that the speaker needs to reconed too (its just one big 15'). We just don't use it that much to put a bunch of money into it. There's a sticker on the front of ours advritising that it plays the "brand new 45's". I just did a little research and found that its a Seeburg 100b. It was made from 1950-1952 and it was the first Jukebox to play 45's. All this talk has inspired me to buy some new 45's and crank it up! This isn't mine but it looks exacty the same:

dad911 · 08-27-2003, 08:24 PM

The 'caps' are probably dried out. You will probably need to change them all. If it works mechanically, I would probably just bypass the audio with a more modern amp/preamp?

Doug Zielke · 08-27-2003, 08:57 PM

Zeke,
I'm into bottles.
There is a wealth of vintage tube audio stuff on the 'net.
I've dealt with these folks with good luck:
http://www.electron-valve.com

But I agree with Alan....I think you have a (power supply?) capacitor that's on it's way out.

beepbeep · 08-29-2003, 12:11 AM

1. Replace rectifier valves with ordinary silicon ones
2. Replace condensator(s) in the power supply

Try again.

Doug Zielke · 08-29-2003, 07:23 AM

Musically speaking, replacing Vacuum Tubes with semiconductors, is like grafting Chevrolet parts onto your Porsche.
Find and replace any defective tubes. Repair whatever else.
Enjoy the music!

Zeke · 08-29-2003, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Doug Zielke
Zeke,
I'm into bottles.

I was that way a while back.

Thanks for the tips, gentlemen. I didn't think I had to go thru the whole thing to get it to work. But I did find a guy up in Oregaon that will rebuild the whole stereo amp for $250 including any necessary parts/tubes. Don't you wish you could do anything in the way of a complete rebuild on a 911 for that kind of money?! I mean, maybe you could do the brakes, but one thing always leads to another. I might take this deal. I don't know how to check a capacitor. And I don't know where there is a tube testor anymore. They used to be in the corner drugstore. Yeh, I'm that old.

Doug Zielke · 08-29-2003, 05:32 PM

A "bottle" full of lovely sound:

pwd72s · 08-29-2003, 07:50 PM

"But I did find a guy up in Oregaon that will rebuild ..."

Milt? It's spelled ORY-GUN!

Zeke · 08-30-2003, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pwd72s
"But I did find a guy up in Oregaon that will rebuild ..."

Milt? It's spelled ORY-GUN!

Whoops! I had too many vowels for breakfast.