Free play vs. coin operated play

I've been considering purchasing an older jukebox and fixing it up for use in a small bar. I've been looking at purchasing a Seeburg Electra/Fleetwood, but I guess this is more a general 45 jukebox question (especially if it is not possible on the Seeburg).

If a jukebox is set to accept coins for play, does the jukebox sit idle between customer requests? Is there a way for it to play records randomly or in order when no selections have been made? Can it both accept selections and play on its own when no selections have been made, or is it only one option or the other? Can modifications be made to allow this?

I'd ideally like to find a jukebox that would play all the time and then play selections when a customer makes them. This may already be the default for some jukeboxes but I wanted to be certain.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

-Bob

Bob,
If you plan to "operate" this phono commercially n the USA, you must have a "Copyright" license, from the Jukebox License Office (JLO)(800-995-juke--I think). With this license, you may NOT have it "free play all the time". You may have it randomly play one selection, no more then every 20 minutes, for "stimulation" purposes.
No Seeburgs were ever so equipped, as Seeburg thought it to be a poor idea. RoweAMi's were so equipped. Ron Rich

Hi Bob,

Ron is correct and Rowe Ami's offered that feature on the R-82 upwards (although the R-80S and R-81 did use the same technology the memory unit on these models did not have the 20, 40 and continuous B side play feature).

Getting into the operation field of amusement machines is a minefield and as Ron says you would need licences, permits etc and a very strong will to go against the bigger operators.

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

Thank you both so much for this information -- this will help me zero in on the models that I could use for this purpose. I had done a little bit of research already and had found that I'll need the JLO license and I think a vending permit from the state or city (Austin, TX). I'd only found a single local operator who has phono jukeboxes for lease but they seem to be extremely expensive ($400/month). We were looking for a music solution for this bar and since a few of us already have a bunch of 45s, we thought purchasing our own machine might be the way to go.

Many bars have music that seems to be playing all the time from a stereo system behind the bar or from a CD jukebox. I'd assumed that with the JLO license I could do the same (only, hopefully, with just a jukebox). I'll do some more research to see how these other bars have worked it out to be able to legally do this, but if you are aware of how this works please let me know. Related to this, I remember a bar in Chicago that would have music playing from behind the bar, but then if someone selected something on the jukebox the system would mute the stereo and play the jukebox selections. When the jukebox selections were completed, it would automatically switch back to the stereo. I'm going to have to research how this worked.

Thank you again for your help!

Hello Bob,

The way this would work on most jukeboxes including Rowe Ami is to connect a Tape or CD player to the auxiliary input.
On Rowe Ami jukeboxes from around 1979 from the R-83 upwards (125 watt amplifier with an input/output auxiliary output) you can put an input into the jukebox around 600mv and from the auxiliary output you could use banks of slave amplifiers to provide sound to larger venues. I have done this on sites using up to three 250 watt slave amplifiers in buildings up to three floors. The sound can be controlled locally from the slave amps or into zones by using wirewound (up to 100 watt) volumes controls across the slave outputs.

You would need to use some sort switching unit to switch the mute on or off when on CD/Tape input.
Rowe Ami produced a Amplifier Accessory Boar Kit for use with their 125/130 watt amplifiers part number 26694703.

Regards
Alan Hood
ami-man
UK

New Member...1st post

Bob:

Based on what you have described, if you use your own box, why not just hook a wall box up behind the bar and you can play your selections with ease. Yes, you will have to put money in the wallbox, but it's your money. I've worked in many bars over the years, and know most people that come into bars stay a while. Even if you have several of your selections lined up to be played, most customers will stay at least an hour. If it was me, I'd probably punch up 6-8 selections at a time and see how that works out. It may sound like a lot of work, but someone has to be behind the bar anyway. Just another possibility for you.

I'm in Wichita Falls, Tx and bought a real nice Sburg "R" off a fellow that lives a little West of Austin. He's a collector and seller. If you want, I can look up his name for you.

Guess, I better go start a thread and introduce myself.

Up till the last month, it was impossible for any model Seeburg coin op phonograph to play "random" non-selected records.
As of now, any SMC, or 10079M model, can be equipped with our new 2nd gen MCU. This allows random play --settable to A sides, B sides, or both sides, of the records, and a settable time feature of "continuous" to 99 minutes between plays. Any paid selection(s) will be played as soon as made, after the selection playing ends, if something happens to be playing. Unit then goes back to "autoplay", after playing all paid for selections. Need info on the MCU--Please contact me off forum: - ronnnrich@yahoo.com - Ron Rich