Finishing Touches

   Ever have a jukebox done but not finished? The SMC2 is now reliable and beautiful but not quite finished. Now it’s down to the unsexy details. There’s a panel above the mech inside the cabinet on this model that serves to hide wiring. I put it in the sandblasting cabinet and removed old paint and rust from both sides. I use a water-based cleaner for pre-paint and so wiped it down, let it dry and painted both sides satin black. It was a bit of a hassle to get in place. It does hide the volume control as well as mechanism wiring and makes the inside look a little cleaner.

  I was attaching the bolts that the lock latch actually hook over when the small studs pulled out on the right. I was a bit stunned. It took awhile to come up with an idea that would work. I got a couple small flat headed bolts from Elliot’s Hardware then ground the sides of the bolts down so that they would then fit in between the grooves on the column. This worked out well. If I could color-match at all it would look great. As it was I painted them orange and they stick out like a sore thumb. One thing I learned when restoring my Camaro….I know where every little ding and screw-up is and my eyes are inevevitably drawn to them when someone unfamiliar with the car would never notice them. It’s most likely that way with these studs. I put the old ones in the cash box. The new owner can try to either color match or epoxy them in place of the studs I made if he is of a mind.

  

Re-assembling The Lower Door

While waiting for the lower trim piece to return from Morales Plating I finished all the painting and glass cleaning to be done. When I went to pick this piece up I was amazed. This is a circular piece of aluminum that was scratched and gouged, the thin rim that contains the glass bent in many places…the best I had hoped for was a shiny piece that most of the smaller scratches would be buffed out. What I got back was a like-new piece. I cannot express how stunning the effect was. I have no idea how they got the deeper gouges out without thinning the piece down. Just grateful. Had I known this piece would end up so frickin’ awesome I would have taken the other two pieces as well. The lower door is basically the two side orange column pieces with three circular trim pieces holding them together with glass and a screen mounted in between.

I started by re-attaching the lower screen. It had been rusty with faded paint but none of the screening was bent so once painted it looked like new again. The now fabulous trim goes below it. With all the assembly screws being the same size and with “witness marks” showing where they went it is an exercise in patience just needing to get things lines up and re-attached. Next was the newly painted upper piece that the spot lights mount to. After this was the plastic circular tub that the lamp holder assembly mounts to. Then the new reproduction lower glass from Victory Glass. It is gorgeous. It is an exact reproduction, so well done it could pass for new old stock. What I like to do with jukebox restorations is make them “shiny new” looking like it just rolled out the factory door. What with all the repainting, polishing, and new glass I was able to achieve this. The rear glass went on; then the ball and spotlights up top with its wiring. Now the lower door was back in one piece. I stood it upright next to the jukebox and wired the lights into a new plug and then plugged it into its jukebox mounted mate and turned the jukebox on. Lights and a spinning ball!

Just looking at the left and right orange columns I could tell the color looked pretty good. I didn’t know how good until I cleaned them. I used a cloth jammed in between each rib running it up and down with a good general cleaner. I finished with cotton swabs getting out the last little bit of dirt and cleaner. It is this attention to detail that really pays dividends. It’s a little extra work but not leaving dirt in the corners and crevices makes anything look much cleaner and sharper in detail. Attention to detail is what separates a good job and an excellent job. After this detailing the orange color was noticeably brighter lending to the overall effect of a very nice jukebox indeed.