Category: Electronics

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Photo of a sheet of jukebox title strips designed in a classic, star title strip style. Various artists and titles are visible such as "The Dave Brubeck Quartet" and "The Smiths".

The jukebox project continues despite the lack of an actual jukebox…

Cataloging and Displaying the Tracks

First up, there needed to be a way of assigning tracks to buttons. Manually doing this was exciting for the first track, but that excitement waned exponentially by the 3rd or 4th track. I created an indexing script that tears through the whole music collection to make those button assignments in milliseconds.

Photo of a pile of jukebox title cards wit various artists and titles such at "The Police", "New Order" and "The Clash".
Title strips in the Star Title Strip Co. style.

With that data entry burden lifted, I moved on to making title cards. The first thing I did on this project was the card design. It was really satisfying, to use that design for something physical. I created yet another script that populates the artist and title from the aforementioned indexing script and spits out a PDF. I’m really happy with the way these came out. They deliver on the original vision without me having to copy and paste the information for each and every card—or purchase a typewriter.

If you’re interested in the code behind these things, head over my jukebox project on Codeberg.

What about the jukebox?

Mucking around with scripts and audio files is interesting, but this project is about having a physical jukebox with buttons and title cards under the warm glow of incandescent bulbs.

From the beginning, I’ve thought of using a Seeburg Wall-o-matic. Specifically, the 3WA model for it’s 200 track capacity. I thought I’d just get one that no longer works on eBay and wire up the buttons. What could go wrong with that plan?

I dug a little deeper and found this excellent write up and video of a project exactly like mine. Before watching those videos, I had no idea what was inside those wall-o-matics. Long story short, it’s all electromagnetic (not surprising given the vintage). The button pushes trigger a rotor that fires pulses down a communication wire to the main jukebox to queue the songs.

That means my “just wire up the buttons” plan probably won’t work without destroying the existing mechanism, which I want to avoid. Luckily, the project linked above includes schematics for a Raspberry Pi hat that decodes the pulses. For now, I plan on doing that, but I really need to have the Seeburg hardware before I can proceed. I’ll look to purchase one in the new year.

Until then, stay tuned for more digital fun!!!

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Some progress has been made since the last post about the jukebox project. To properly set expectations, if you read jukebox and thought Cool! This guy resurrected an old jukebox found on trash night with the expectation of seeing pictures of wires, solder and electromagnetic components, you might want to keep moving. The progress thus far has been all software and there are no cool making photos or videos to be had, yet.

However, if you want to read about some starts and stops on getting a simple music server running, stick around…

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A sample jukebox title strip meant to replicate those from the Star Title Strip Co. with bright, red lines outlining and separating information. The artist (Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings) is in the middle section, the first track is on top ("WHAT IF WE ALL STOPPED PAYING TAXES?"), and the second track is on the bottom ("THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND").
Sample title card

This project has been on my list for a few months. Basically, I want a sort of traditional jukebox at home so guests can play music. Not any old music from Spotify or Amazon or Apple or other streaming service. Only tracks I’ve painstakingly curated from my personal collection—just like an old jukebox.

Today, things kicked off with the most critical part of the entire project. Before getting into today’s work, I’ll offer up a brief explanation of what I’m shooting for…

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This is the final update on the Rheingold beer sign project (originally covered here: A beer light to guide us).

Rather than do anything drastic, I opted to retrofit the sign with LEDs and call it a day. A new cord with a polarized plug was also fitted and all the sockets were wired properly. There was a fair bit of corrosion under some of the original wire nuts, so I’m glad to have nice, clean connections now. That also serves as a reminder to inspect the connections on these old signs.

There’s a photo of the finished job below. I left a note on the inside for the curious person that pops this open in the future. Maybe they’ll decide to restore this sign to its original glory. Until then, I’m enjoying the warm, constant glow.

Photo of the inside of a circa 1970's beer advertising light (Rheingold J-347) that has been retrofitted with a LED replacement bulb. The mechanical flashing unit has been bypassed and the wires are connected with WAGO connectors.
Always leave a note…

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Update: This repair is complete.

I’m at a bit of a crossroads with this an on again, off again beer light repair project. First, some history…

This old Rheingold sign was hanging in a furniture store in Gowanus years ago, casting a retro-chic glow over a sectional. Not sure if it was for sale, but the manager was feeling charitable or anti-retro-chic that day and let it go for a modest price.

Animated GIF of a circa 1970s, lighted Rheingold Extra Dry beer sign, model number J-347. There are pictures of five different beer glasses that light in a random order. From left to right, the glasses are labeled: "Tulip", "Mug", "Pilsner", "Goblet" and "Pinch". The tagline on the sign is "Tastes Great in Any Glass".
Rheingold J-347 Sign: “Tastes Great in Any Glass”

Since it’s been in my hands, I’ve rarely plugged it in. Sometime in the last few years, it stopped working. It still lights, but no flashing. I’ve opened it up years ago and found the problem to be the small, geared motor that drives a cam that switches the lights. Specifically, I suspect the gears are gummed up since the motor tries to run. Unfortunately, the motor is sealed, and I think I’d destroy it if I tried to open it.

At the time, I thought I’d just swap out the inner-workings for something solid state. Then I put it back on the shelf and forgot about it for three years. Recently, the inspiration struck to get it working again.

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