Wurlitzer Jukebox
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Tony V
Super Member
Victory Glass Company is where i got the parts for mine. The link is http://2nd-sight.com/victoryglass/victoryframe.asp I've done business with them for years and always got excellent service and quality parts. The Americana III is a good one. Its the last model with the standard mechanism that they had used since the 50's. It will rock the house with lots of bass. Mine needed new capacitors which i did as a safety precaution. Two where bad so while i was in there i replaced them all. I also replaced the belts, idler, cartridge(green sonotone not the red one), needle, rubber belt for the animation in the top, and motor mounts. All those parts plus the manual added up to less than $100 and my labor which was free. Its more or less Wurlitzers last good jukebox as the ones made after the Americana III had the newer style mechanism which was extremely unreliable and helped lead to their demise. Your going to like this one when its done. Good luck!
-Tony
-Tony
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Hi,
That Americana III was indeed Wurlitzer's last good jukebox. The last series used a new mechanism which had many issues under warranty and led to US Wurlitzer company's demise. The German branch still lives on and is owned by Gibson Guitars. Recap the amps and give the mech any needed cleaning and lubrication called for in the manuals and it will serve you well. Victory Glass Co is a good supplier for manuals and parts for your Wurlitzer.
That Americana III was indeed Wurlitzer's last good jukebox. The last series used a new mechanism which had many issues under warranty and led to US Wurlitzer company's demise. The German branch still lives on and is owned by Gibson Guitars. Recap the amps and give the mech any needed cleaning and lubrication called for in the manuals and it will serve you well. Victory Glass Co is a good supplier for manuals and parts for your Wurlitzer.
Tony V
Super Member
Yes, its the second generation Zenith Cobra-matic. The tonearm has two painted eyes on it to resemble the head of a cobra snake, hence its name. I dont know the model number off hand but there are plenty of them still out there and fetch good prices like the Magnavox Micro-matic changers. I have six of this version in my collection. It has concentric speed control from 16 to 80 rpm and has an electric solenoid for record reject. It has two idlers under the turntable but technically its not a rim drive as it uses the flat part of the platter to turn. Ironically Wurlitzer used its tonearm and cartridge in many of its early models and also had a kit to retrofit its 40's models to this tonearm. The tonearms all the way up to the Americana were modeled after the Cobra.
-Tony
-Tony
Tony V
Super Member
I dont know of any that came as a component turntable as they use a radionic cartridge that requires an ocillator unit to hook up to a radio or amp. The cartridge wont produce sound if hooked up directly to a phono or aux jack. Also when these came out, having equipment set up in a component fashion wasnt as popular yet as it was later on except for built in installations. I have heard of people easily converting the original cartridge over to a powerpoint cartridge and holder like what is found in the newcomb and califone school record players for example. If you built a base and did the cartridge conversion then i dont see why you couldnt use it as a component turntable. You would have to use a ceramic cartridge as i dont know of a magnetic cartridge that is small enough to install into the tonearm head as you only have a space the size of a nickel to work in. The cobra-matic was used in console and portable units for the most part.
-Tony
-Tony
ha1156w
Active Member
They started using a Sonotone in the late 50's and I can't remember if they stuck with it to the Americana III or not. It's a standard 1/2" mount. I replaced the ceramic cart in my 2610 (1962) with a Pioneer magnetic and gave it a magnetic-reed activated trip circuit. Magnetic preamp was a Rat Shack special. Added a couple of surplus tweeters in the factory-cut grille vents. Boy did it sound MUCH MUCH better. Tracking was excellent and the records lasted much longer. I sold it when I moved to a smaller place. Boy do I miss that thing.
Your amp can almost be guaranteed to require a rebuild. Capacitors don't age THAT well. Check your resistors for drifting as well. I don't recall if they'd gone solid state at that point, but the rebuild qualification holds for tube OR solid state.
Your amp can almost be guaranteed to require a rebuild. Capacitors don't age THAT well. Check your resistors for drifting as well. I don't recall if they'd gone solid state at that point, but the rebuild qualification holds for tube OR solid state.
Tony V
Super Member
Mine still had the original cartridge and was a sonotone. I replaced mine with a new one just to rule out any future problems.The chassis' are solid state in the Americana III. If you have the sound turned up all the way and its "not too loud" then its probably time for a recap at least along with a cartridge replacement. It sounds like your volume control might need cleaning also. If i turn mine up halfway it will rattle the windows with the bass and you cant talk over it. The amps in these pack some punch. Adjusting your bass and treble switches should not effect the volume at all which in your case screams leaky caps. They are paper caps which are about to hit 40 years old. I replaced mine with film/mylar types for reliability. The resistors in mine were all still within tolerance so i didnt have to replace any of those. The fact that yours is at least in playing condition means that it should be an easy fix overall. Any work you do to it will reward you with a good sounding machine.
-Tony
-Tony
