My first woody, I bought this for $600 from someone in Las Vegas. It had spent some time outside (grass in the mech) and had water damage. This is a 1938 Rock-Ola Monarch which in some books is thought to be the first light-up. And Tomszone (see links) states that only an estimated 1380 were made. That makes this model rare in my book, if that is true.
Anyway, using lights to attract the customer was new and Rock-Ola did it with a colorful grill and "heat motors" which spun from the heat of the lamps and threw colors around the inside of the cabinet on each side the mech (see photos). These were usually discarded by the operators because they were unreliable. This idea of a heat motor though totally intrigued me, mostly because as for my box, the parts to make this happen were gone and the little I could read about this feature contained no clues as to what exactly was what. Bill Butterfield helped out here and explained and supplied the needed parts. I made my own heat motors and had it made!
This box taught me a lot. First, it had no coin mech parts and I happily purchased them all for $200. (later I bought a Wurlitzer 700 thinking that the coin for it would probably cost that and a little more since, after all, it was a Wurlitzer. Ha ha, I found out later, but that is another story (on another future page).
Back to the water damage...it needed an expert and so I took the cabinet to John Jablonski of San Francisco. He did a great job as evidenced by these photos. The mech, however, was left to me and I broke the roller coaster cam in five places. JB Weld fixed it, and I broke it again by leaving a screwdriver under the falling platter during a test cycle. Ouch. JB Weld fixed it again and it works fine today.
I got a lot of opinions on the cartridge and tonearm. Yes, it's heavy, yes the cartridge is heavy, and yes I left it original. I did not want to spoil the look. These cartridges are not as heavy as the Seeburg Symponola series though. Theay are another subject!
The foil behind the mech has yet to be replaced. I want to spend some time on that project and get it right. I had a lot of fun with this juke and spent many hours in a record shop picking out music for it. I researched the years surrounding the manufacture of this box to find yet another hobby. Collecting Big Band 78s. Thanks again to Brenda for her help reproducing the "Rock-Ola" decal on the front glass.
Please do not post these photos anywhere without my permission.
Thanks, Brad
before
some of the water damage
more damage (the top was really bad)
ready to take to the cabinet magician, John Jablonski
