Wurlitzer 1900 Jukebox Repair Journal
Mechanism and Phono Cartridge
by Chad Hauris, 11/6/05
Wurlitzer Jukebox Page
Retro Electronics Home Page
We started on the mechanism by
checking out functionality after we got the amp and power supply
repaired. The mechanism motor would turn and would attempt to go
through the cycle of loading a record, but the carousel would not turn.
In order to remove the carousel to check out the problem, the upper
part of the mechanism containing the turntable and tone arm must be
removed. It is held in place by four bolts that thread into tapped
holes in the upper mechanism plus stabilizing shaft held on with a nut.
Two of the bolts came off easily but the other two did not. It appeared
that mouse urine or some such substance had really corroded the other
two bolts fast. We tried using Chemco CD-80 penetrating oil and letting
is soak overnight.
However this did not do the trick and we had to grind off the ends of
the bolts using the Dremel grinding tool. It should go without saying
to always wear safety goggles when using this tool as the metal sparks
can go right near your face.
Here are the ends of the old bolts in the mech. We had to grind off the
stubs flush with the Dremel and drill out the old bolts. New bolts with
nuts were used to re-attach.
With this part of the mechanism detached, we could turn to working on
it. We repaired bad wiring going to the turntable motor and added a
plug and socket arrangement to the motor leads so it could be easily
removed for future maintenance.
We added heat shrink tubing to the motor leads for extra protection and cleaned and relubricated the motor.
Back in the cabinet, here is the carousel drive shaft. What had
happened is that somehow the carousel jumped upwards and got out of the
index pin which fits into a mating part on the carousel (see below.)
Here is the bottom of the carousel. The notch in the black bar fits into the index pin on the drive shaft.
Carousel installed. A big E-clip holds it in place.
One of the most important parts toward improving the sound quality of
the 1900 is upgrading to a stereo-compatible magnetic cartridge. In my
opinion, the Cobra cartidge that these machines comes with does a
horrible job of playing 45's, especially modern ones. Cobras are good
for 78's, but do not have the frequency response or compliance to play
stereo records and can damage them. The tone arm is from a Wurlitzer
Americana and is exactly like the original 1900 arm except it has the
mounting holes to accomodate the magnetic cartridge. New phono leads
were attached, connecting the left and right cartridge outputs together.
Initial testing was with a Pickering cartridge. However, it does not
have enough height to contact the record properly. We switched to an
Audio-Technica AT-70 and it worked great. This is the cartridge we
recommend for retrofitting into the Wurlitzers.
More progress to come.
Page 1, Wurlitzer 1900 before restoration
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