Wallbox jukebox conversion

[geofflove]

This is a new divergence for me, which might be of interest to some. I picked up this '50s Seeburg wallbox. The most beautiful remote control ever. For those not in the know as I wasn’t until recently, these sat on the diner tables and were connected to the main jukebox elsewhere in the room. They allowed you to choose your music without leaving your seat. They worked by sending pulses down the wire in a similar way to and old telephone dialler which was then decoded by the main jukebox to play the correct record.

So I discovered some clever people make a little circuit board which can also decode the pulses and play a song via an mp3 file. Armed with this and a soldering iron we now have a wallbox which when hooked up to an amp plays its 100 song selection perfectly. And it still makes the whirring noise first which is what it’s all about! I might be hooked on these projects. Anyone getting rid of any wallboxes let me know!

[treefrog]

Very good

I personally have never been into the Americana Retro Diner type stuff, but can see the appeal.

What has always intrigued me though as you see many wall boxes in the U.K., usually on US coinage, but were these ever used back in the day in the U.K.

Always seems to me our environment was a bit more basic, cheap greasy cafes or dodgy clubs and not the cute seating hubs they used in US. Also part of the appeal was always walking up to the jukebox, selecting your song and watching the record being selected or am I missing something. Maybe American diners were sooo large you needed something to help the undernourished US folk tucking into their hamburgers

[brigham]

They were more often found in pubs, in Britain. The jukebox was in one room, and the remote controller in the other.
In later days, when pubs had one huge room, the jukebox itself was out of sight, and all selections were made by large, but thin wallboxes.
They help you to win at Blackjack, seemingly.

[treefrog]

Yes I remember the later slimline selectors in the eighties, but maybe too young to remember early wall boxes

[geofflove]

Yes I’ve been offered a mid seventies slimline style one too. Problem is this was one of the first electronic ones, so a different skill set needed if it’s bust. I’m happier generally fixing the em gear.

[special when lit]

Brilliant. Got a few '50s wallboxes myself, & always wanted to have a go at doing that.

[geofflove]

Brilliant. Got a few 50's wallboxes myself, & always wanted to have a go at doing that.

It’s fairly simple with basic electronics understanding. I managed to have a voltage drop down board explode on me but I think that was the board’s fault rather than mine The second was fine!