A 'Honey-Do' Project

A few weeks ago, Ron found a diamond in the rough and he has taken on his first BIG project. Check this out!! It is a 1955 Seeburg V200 jukebox (or juicebox to Lauren). My Dad has had several jukeboxes through out the years and Ron has always said he wanted one. Gotta love internet classified ads... a woman asked if anyone knew anyone who did jukebox restoration. Ron said... "why, what have you got?" One thing led to another and suddenly this gem showed up in our garage.

When I say it's a diamond in the rough, I mean it in a lot of ways. First... these photos are making it look good. It has been in a barn for the last 20yrs and unfortunately it's primary inhabitants were rats that peed a lot!! IT STINKS!! I actually couldn't make beads two nights this week because it was so hot and humid in the garage. Normally I would suck it up and sweat through the torch time, but the humidity makes the smell worse. Yuck! Each and every part is going to have to be cleaned by hand (my suggestion to Ron is with ammonia). The chrome needs polishing, the glass had a half inch of grim... and someone really liked whatever tune was in the "M" section, cause that key has a hole in it.

Another reason it is a diamond in the rough is that Ron got is for $400, but several jukebox restoration websites quote it's value around $12,000 when expertly restored. One even sold on eBay in this same condition... not working... for over $2000!! DANG!! Anyway... this is Ron's new pet project. He works on it a little bit everyday. I can't wait to see it light up and have those old 45s cranking. I told him it will make a perfect addition to my studio if it gets done right :) or to my shop (which I want to open and he still insists I can't). Click HERE to see what a restored one of these looks like.

I'll keep you posted on this adventure of his as it goes along. I am already thinking we need some dark maroon and turquoise beads... it's the original colors after all.