Some background....

I'm not really sure what I'm doing, or even why I'm doing this. For the most part I try to "fly under the radar" when it comes to the internet as I prefer to maintain my privacy. Also, I've always felt that "blogs" are for extroverts and/or self-important types, but a recent acquisition, along with some gentle prodding from friends, has made me rethink my previous views.

But only a little...

My purpose with this blog will be twofold:

A. Post my experiences with my Rock-Ola here, in one place, instead of having to repeat myself with separate, and identical, posts on several sites I frequent, and;

B. Share useful information regarding the Rock-Ola that (hopefully) may help someone else, either now or in the future.

A little background with which to get started. As a child I grew-up in a household with a Rock-Ola 1452 in the basement. My Father bought it before I was born, and some of my earliest (and fondest) childhood memories include that jukebox. However, sometime around 1975 or so, when I was roughly 10 years old, my parents decided to "finish" the basement, and the first thing that had to go was that old jukebox. I was crushed, but what could I do? Sadly no pictures were ever taken of that juke....

(1/24/18 Edit: Although it really doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things, apparently the dates above, and also some of the info, is incorrect. My parents got rid of the jukebox only because it was "broken", and they sold it when I was either 6 or 7, in either '71 or '72. The basement wasn't completed until a number of years after that.)

Fast forward 35 years to the present day. For the last 10-15 years I've been searching the internet for any information I could find on 1452's, but said information proved pretty hard to come-by. It seems that since the 1452 offers only 50 selections (25 records), most people seem to prefer owning and restoring the 1454 and/or 1448 models which offer more selections. Also, since they share many of the same pieces and parts, I learned that a lot of 1452's were "sacrificed" for parts during 1448/1454 restorations. Sad....

In mid-March I was eating lunch at my desk and mindlessly surfin' the net when ("Holy cow!") I found a complete 1452 for sale on eBay! I immediately contacted the seller, and after sharing a few emails with him I hit the "Buy It Now!" button. The 1452 was mine!



Except there was one problem: The jukebox was in West Virginia, and I live in Minnesota....

(To be continued)