Price drop - now £2,500.
Bought this as a restoration project about this time last year.
Bought off EBay as “complete but in parts” and rapidly discovered that seller had a different understanding of the word “complete” than me. Needless to say it was not and it took me ages to source what I needed to make it complete from over here but mainly from U.S.
Anyways enough of the rant.
For sale - BAL-AMI Model G80 vinyl jukebox from 1956.
A back to bare wood restoration with complete mechanism strip down and restore. Horrible, blue textured paint stripped off and repainted in lovely cherry red. Chromework professionally repolished. All old AC and DC wiring replaced with new. Control box switch rewired so that switch kills all power (straight out of the factory if these things are switched on at mains they are constantly live (not nice when you get a belt off it when messing with mechanism!) so now it’s only live when switched on using on/off switch). Flakey old connectors replaced with new. Replaced original selenium rectifier with modern bridge rectifier. New relay fitted in junction box. Replaced turntable motor. Old lighting replaced with LED (but with original warm white look to it). Amplifier restored by (for those in the know) Bob Harper. New volume pot installed and moved to outside of cab - originally you had to open up front glass and go inside to adjust volume.
Various other parts found/replaced.
The only thing left to do is put some replacement toppers on the “toast rack” record holder. I am waiting on some being 3D printed by a mate so will fit these as soon as they arrive or post on if juke is sold before then.
There is one minor but none the less frustrating issue with it - there is a hum to the sound when the turntable is turning but there is no record on the platter. It is not there when turntable is not spinning and you can’t hear it when a record is playing. There’s obviously something interfering with the cartridge or amp or phono cable. I continue to fault find and hopefully it will be resolved before sale but if not, something to bear in mind for new owner. My wife says it is fine but I know it is there.
It takes 40 x 7 inch singles (so 80 selections) and will come stocked with records but they are ones I got from a mate who does house clearances and was chucking them out so don’t expect them to be in even good condition - they’ll be in there mainly for it to look full whilst you buy your own to suit your taste
Something else for new owner to bear in mind - this is an entirely electromechanical machine from 1956 so there are no pcbs, memory chips in it etc. This makes it easier to fix if owt goes wrong (if I can restore one from scratch it’s got to be simple right!) but it has a drawback in that records are played in order. So, if you select record 19 then 39 and then 29 - it will play 19 then move on to 29 and then play 39. The whole carriage moves to pick up the record and selector fingers stop it where it needs to pick up a record so it moves from left to right and then right to left and is stopped in sequence rather than order records are selected in. I think that adds to its charm but some might find it frustrating.
I’m asking £2,750 or best offer. I will take £1,900 cash and a pin project if that helps. Anything considered.
Have uploaded some “before” photos so you can see how this has been transformed in the year I have had it.
Any questions and viewings welcome.
Bought this as a restoration project about this time last year.
Bought off EBay as “complete but in parts” and rapidly discovered that seller had a different understanding of the word “complete” than me. Needless to say it was not and it took me ages to source what I needed to make it complete from over here but mainly from U.S.
Anyways enough of the rant.
For sale - BAL-AMI Model G80 vinyl jukebox from 1956.
A back to bare wood restoration with complete mechanism strip down and restore. Horrible, blue textured paint stripped off and repainted in lovely cherry red. Chromework professionally repolished. All old AC and DC wiring replaced with new. Control box switch rewired so that switch kills all power (straight out of the factory if these things are switched on at mains they are constantly live (not nice when you get a belt off it when messing with mechanism!) so now it’s only live when switched on using on/off switch). Flakey old connectors replaced with new. Replaced original selenium rectifier with modern bridge rectifier. New relay fitted in junction box. Replaced turntable motor. Old lighting replaced with LED (but with original warm white look to it). Amplifier restored by (for those in the know) Bob Harper. New volume pot installed and moved to outside of cab - originally you had to open up front glass and go inside to adjust volume.
Various other parts found/replaced.
The only thing left to do is put some replacement toppers on the “toast rack” record holder. I am waiting on some being 3D printed by a mate so will fit these as soon as they arrive or post on if juke is sold before then.
There is one minor but none the less frustrating issue with it - there is a hum to the sound when the turntable is turning but there is no record on the platter. It is not there when turntable is not spinning and you can’t hear it when a record is playing. There’s obviously something interfering with the cartridge or amp or phono cable. I continue to fault find and hopefully it will be resolved before sale but if not, something to bear in mind for new owner. My wife says it is fine but I know it is there.
It takes 40 x 7 inch singles (so 80 selections) and will come stocked with records but they are ones I got from a mate who does house clearances and was chucking them out so don’t expect them to be in even good condition - they’ll be in there mainly for it to look full whilst you buy your own to suit your taste
Something else for new owner to bear in mind - this is an entirely electromechanical machine from 1956 so there are no pcbs, memory chips in it etc. This makes it easier to fix if owt goes wrong (if I can restore one from scratch it’s got to be simple right!) but it has a drawback in that records are played in order. So, if you select record 19 then 39 and then 29 - it will play 19 then move on to 29 and then play 39. The whole carriage moves to pick up the record and selector fingers stop it where it needs to pick up a record so it moves from left to right and then right to left and is stopped in sequence rather than order records are selected in. I think that adds to its charm but some might find it frustrating.
I’m asking £2,750 or best offer. I will take £1,900 cash and a pin project if that helps. Anything considered.
Have uploaded some “before” photos so you can see how this has been transformed in the year I have had it.
Any questions and viewings welcome.
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