How come they ditched the classic style Wurlitzer?

Sectorseven

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You know, the kind where you could see the record playing. As far back as I can remember I always thought those were the nicest/coolest looking jukeboxes. They even held a decent amount of songs.

The ones that came after, even to this day were pretty straightforward without nearly the amount of charm. Almost utilitarian in comparison.

They came back as a repro style recently, but it pretty much disappeared for several decades.

Was there a time when that was actually thought of as outdated, or was there another reason?
 
I'm not an expert, but I imagine it was a gradual thing -- a combination of following current trends and little cost-cutting decisions that just added up. After many years, the end result looks like crap, but nobody really realized they were going there until it had happened. How else can you explain most of the 1970s?

Jukes followed trends, and the 1940 jukes are what everone thinks of -- they look like radios with a 'band stand' where the record played, the whole thing has the feel of a dance hall. The 1950's they looked like cars, with chrome, fenders, a grill, etc. By the time they got to the sixties I think they were really starting to cut corners and gradually went downhill from there. Cheap, mass-produced boxes with a couple of neon lights... which pretty much describes my juke...

I own a Rockola 450 from the early 1970's, but man-oh-man do I wish it was an earlier style, or later repro. I got mine because it was cheap, played 45's, and it worked. The best I can say for it is that it is pretty reliable, though, but it would be great to see the record play.

I think the designs actually got better in the 80's, when the cd jukes started to appear -- at least those had the moving selector pages, and some you could see the cd mech work. But hey, just pick your decade and go find the one you like!
 
Do you mean how come Wurlitzer got out of their classic visible mechanism in their later Wurlitzer jukeboxes?

Or do you mean all jukebox manufacturers eliminating visible mechanisms?
 
Do you mean how come Wurlitzer got out of their classic visible mechanism in their later Wurlitzer jukeboxes?

Or do you mean all jukebox manufacturers eliminating visible mechanisms?

Both actually.

I guess I can understand them wanting to cut costs. Never really thought about it costing more to actually show the record playing, since the mechanism has to be there one way or another.
 
If you show the mechanism, you have to have a mechanism pretty enough to look at. Chrome, fancy nameplates, adding an open deck area, and such all cost money. An operator would need to work harder to keep that area clean, instead of just wiping down the outside. Also I can't imagine those big curved glass fronts were very cheap.

Roadside architecture went through a similar change in that time period. Big, gaudy neon signs, sweeping roofs, and glass fronts gave way to soft lighting, wood-grain, and muted colors. Cars became less flashy as well. In the case of the roadside buildings it can actually be traced back to one or several movements to tame the "loudness" of the roadside strip, notably the "Highway Beautiful Act" of Ladybird Johnson.

There are plenty of 70's disco-perfect jukeboxes with flashy lights and chrome and such, but there are some that are REALLY boring. Heck, I remember seeing one that had the exact form-factor of a console stereo. Wood and a lid and everything.

And what if people just didn't care to see the mechanism? I will sit and watch a hard drive defragment, but that most certainly does not mean that anybody who uses a computer would be interested in seeing that process. They may just want the damn thing to work when they give input.
 
I think another contributing factor was that route operators would not buy CD jukes which would reveal the fact that they were playing copied CDs. I remember a salesman showing me a very pretty box about 18 or 20 years ago. Can't remember the brand, maybe NSM, it had a CD rack similar to Seeburg vinyl boxes at the very top. He told me it wasn't selling very well and asked for my opinion why. I told him it was likely because non-original CDs would be visible. He said "That's exactly right". Lecture all you want about copying CDs, the fact is that most operators would have gone out of business otherwise. Most notable culprits were jukes like the Rockola 7000, which damaged the outside rim of CDs in a matter of weeks and had a visible mechanism.
 
Some reasons why visible play disappeared.

Jukeboxes could be made more cheaply if they were more compact.
There was no novelty in watching a record go round on a turntable as everyone had a record player at home.
Without the visible mechanism the dome glass could accommodate the increasing number of title cards in less space.
 
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