I took time today to get back on a project I had started some time ago and laid aside for whatever reason. It is a RS1-8 tear drop speaker made from 1946 to 1948. I had painted this one a beautiful green blue high gloss called St. Tropez by Rustoleum. This is the best paint job I’ve ever done from a rattlecan. The finish is flawless and I love the color. It took me a long time to pick out a speaker cloth. I finally opted to use white. I went to Joanne’s Fabric Shop here in Mesquite and looked at every white cloth they had finally picking a yard of one. It turned out to be a good choice. It meshes well with the speaker color and allows the chrome to stand out. Speaking of which, the Seeburg logo was ordered from a chap in England. I was a bit hesitant but when I got better pictures of it I took a chance. And dang glad I did! This logo is so good it could actually pass for NOS. It might be NOS come to think of it. He apparently only had a few. The guy did me right as well. I ordered two and he sent three.

I installed a new 8 inch 8 ohm speaker. The speaker did not have a mounting tab for a transformer so I drilled out the spot welds on the old speakers’ tab and screwed it to the new one and mounted the transformer. I offer these as they are supposed to be. Two connections, one pair straight to the speaker and another connection for 70v line use. Working for an operator way back I have hung my share of ceiling speakers setting them all in parallel using the 70v line out. This is done to stop line loss from being an issue.

Lastly I attached the back to the speaker. Or tried to. It mostly fit. I did a foolish thing and tried to force it on and got a hairline crack on the nose for my trouble. After I finished calling myself bad names I did what I should have done to begin with. I laid the back on gently and using a silver Sharpie marked the areas that did not fit. Using a dual action sander with 100 grit I slowly worked the back until it fit.Took about an hour. I removed the hanger tab, straightened it out, re-attached, added four new bumpers that keep the speaker off the wall and buttoned it up. It is now on top of the Console Unit so I can admire it whenever I pass by.

I do good work and everything ends up so shiny and nice I fall in love with it and do not want to let them go. Ask my buddy Juan about the 201.

Refreshed after a nights’ sleep I jumped back on the New G Sunday morning. Adjusting the trip switch reset was an easy matter. Then it has to be checked that this adjustment didn’t throw another one off. I usually chase these trip adjustments back and forth til I get it right. The A side was still not picking up.I ohmmed the wire from the reverse switch to the leaf blade and had continuity. ???? Was this replacement contact I got my buddy in California bad? I had pulled that blade once and polished the contact area. It wasn’t sagging loose. I pulled the pinbank, lifted the contact block and removed the white plastic contact. By gosh, I was going to ohm it from the tip to the bottom. That is when I noticed a very small piece of plastic covering the bottom metal contact that rides on the leaf blade. When I pulled the contact out of the little plastic bag it was in somehow this piece of plastic got stuck in just the right place. Feeling like a chump I put everything back together minus the plastic and watched the mechanism merrily pick up A sides.

Now I can check the “corners”; A1/A2 and K9/K10. If the mech will pick up these four selections then the contact block alignment is perfect. Right side K10 was having trouble. K9 was picking up every time but after rejecting it and reversing the mechanism just didn’t seem to be travelling far enough left to lock onto this spot. I moved the right side reverse switch bracket an 1/8″ to the right to allow the mech to get a little more momentum coming off the turn and that did the trick.

Just for the heck of it I pulled the amp tubes and retested. The 6SN7 was weak. I didn’t think this was causing the hum which seems to have gone away but it got replaced nonetheless. So I seem to have a working machine. Onto other things.