We usually have a Wurlitzer 1800 in stock or under restoration. Ask for availability and side colour available.
You are also welcome to come by the store, we are open 7 days a week
Bennies fifties
Namensestraat 73
2587 VX. The Hague (Scheveningen), Netherlands
+31 70 3585810
Wurlitzer 1800 Jukebox (1955), completely restored and with 1 year guarantee (Netherlands).
Size : 141 x 83 x 70 cm (HxWxD)
Singles : 52
Selections : 104
Speed : 45 rpm
Free delivery in the Netherlands, outside the Netherlands please ask delivery terms
On each annual "Wurlitzer National Day" the latest model was introduced to the operators and in 1955, Wurlitzer’s 1800 superseded the previous year’s 1700. It was one of their first models to play 45rpm disks. Despite featuring the same mechanism as its predecessor, the 1800 had a markedly different cabinet with a speaker grille spanning the full width of the machine.
Overall it had a slightly more understated feel than the outgoing model, not least because the mirror tiles, which formed the backdrop to the carousel on the 1700, were replaced by red panels and radiating chrome strips on the new model. The pilasters were more subtle too, being less colourful, less wide, and relocated inset rather than flanking the grille.
It has a capacity of 52 records (104 selections) and offers a terrific sound thanks to a powerful valve amplifier and two 12” speakers. These machines also featured Wurlitzer’s patented ‘Cobra’ pick up system, about which our jukebox engineers wax lyrical. First introduced in 1948, the Cobra system set new standards in audio quality.
Most jukeboxes of this vintage bring a lovely warm quality to the music they play and really have to be heard to be fully appreciated. This stunning example has been extensively refurbished in our own workshops and is now available for purchase.
Rudolph Wurlitzer was born into a family of musical instrument makers in Germany in 1829 before emigrating to America at the tender age of 24. He began by importing his family’s instruments and selling them in the US market but quite quickly set up a manufacturing business and in 1880 the first Wurlitzer piano was built in the US. Electric pianos came next, shortly followed by the cinema and theatre organs, dubbed ‘Mighty Wurlitzers’, that provided such a stirring accompaniment to the silent movies of the time.
In 1933 the New York based company bought the rights to a patented jukebox mechanism and under the management of Farny Wurlitzer, Rudolph’s successor, they began designing and manufacturing their first jukebox, the ‘Debutante’. Known as the ‘small man’s concert hall’, it enjoyed tremendous popularity and paved the way for even greater success when Wurlitzer’s inspired designer, Paul Fuller, came up with the 'Bubbler' design that we all know and recognise today.