Phonoland

Hey everyone -

Well, a few days back I posted about buying a USC1: here are some preliminary pics. I haven't touched it yet, except to plug it in. The mechanism moves freely and smoothly on the service switch, but no response from the keypad. First thing is to clean about 20 years of spiders out of it, then I can move it indoors for a deep clean. After that.....REPAIR!

The outside pics are of the box as I found it at the junk store. It broke the dolly when he delivered it

Thanks for looking

Hey Doc !!! I'm here to tell you... I've brought worse than that back from the dead !!!! These we're pretty tough old machines in their day ,and still can be ! Good luck, take your time, Ron's book will help you a lot when going through this ,,,especially if you are not familiar with them .These a a great sound to them !!! I had a USC2 Firestar for 20 some years ,swore I would never sell it ,but some FOOL offered so much for it a few years ago...so I sold it ! Robert

You'd be amazed what a good clean does. I've been restoring my Rockola 442 since May (IIRC), it takes time but its incredibly rewarding. You will get there! I had my doubts at times but I now have a machine that works almost perfectly, by my own pedantic standards, and looks a LOT better. All this having never worked on a jukebox before and with limited experience in electronics.

Anything damaged can be repaired, parts can be found / fabricated / painted / chromed. You've come to the right place for help!

Please keep us updated, Im looking forward to following your restoration! I've taken many progress shots on mine and hope to one day make a blog or website about it.

It looks pretty cool to me, Doc! I certainly would've paid $75 for it at a thrift store. In the meantime, I'm spending this Saturday driving to San Jose(200+ miles each way) to pick up a Seeburg Sunstar. It has issues, of course, but between this one and the one I found locally a few months ago, I should be in good shape with plenty of spares.

Keep us posted of progress!

-Jim

Thanks for the advice, Ron. The whole thing will be secured and wrapped in a heavy moving blanket.

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys - it's exactly what I need right now! I've restored classic cars before and done a lot of vintage electronics, but this is still a new venture I'll post some more pics when I've cleaned it up a bit!

i just picked up the same machine for a whole $ 149.12. good condition with spiders too.no power cord, someone cut it. no keys either.

found it would not select correctly, on a hunch checked Tormat contacts and found one completely bent off like paper. doing repair now as a metal smith.......

James,
There are only two reasons that happens -- both "Geppeto related"--
1. "Someone" reversed the reversing switch prior to the end of the record rack, and 2. Phonograph was moved without being properly bolted down--resulting in the mech going in the opposite direction.
I have those read out contacts in stock--PM me if you wish to purchase a new one-- Ron Rich