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Indeed, I was in the right place at the right time today. And that place was no more than 15 miles from my door step! Bought a super nice HMV 202. Completely original and untampered, no lifting veneer, re-finishes, or splits in the oxidized 5A bezel.The No.34 motor(gonna re-grease the springs) runs sweet, grille cloth is perfect and re-entrant horn correct, but no key and some dim-witted moron had shortened the legs and cut the base off! Is it possible that someone here got a spare oak base for a 202? Or if I could get the exact measurements and good photos, I could ask a carpenter to replicate the base.

Jaso

Maybe the seller can give you the contact info of the new owner...

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34838

It's a great find! The 1930 HMV catalogue puts it at 49.5 inches high as does the listing for the 202 in the EMI collection. Hopefully someone can give you the individual measurements of the components of the base assembly. Apart from the cut off base the cabinet looks good and I think it will probably be more realistic to rebuild the base rather than swop the whole cabinet.

Jerry, thanks, I'll try finding out who bought that other machine. Anyone else able to help with the measurements? As the cabinet is otherwise totally original and non restored, I wouldn't personally change any parts as the machine is original only once. I'm trying to find out more about the machine's provenance, as to my knowledge this one is the only known example of 202/3 in Finland. Whoever bought it in 1928/9? must have been a really wealthy man in a poor northern country recovering from a bloody civil war a decade earlier.
Past half a century it has been sitting in a private home after been purchased from middle of nowhere in a rural countryside. Someone must have taken period photographs of it, just have to find them now! It seems that this 202 saw only light use for a few years as there is no evidence that anyone had attempted to unscrew the motor board or grill before me. The silver oxide 5A soundbox needle screw looks like nothing I have seen on my other N.5's. It is bigger diameter than the usual ones and has got an oxidized plating too. Has anyone got more information about the silver oxide plating? Was it only used on the big re-entrant models?

Jaso

Silver oxide 5A

Congratulations for the find, it is a very rare machine, the extant ones count in the dozens, and it is the best sounding acoustic machine this side of the EMGs and Ginns.

I have a 202, and can take measurements and photos of the base as required, please let me know what dimensions you need. Mine has an oil-bath motor and two soundboxes, a 5A and a 5. I actually utilize the nr 5 (the HMV copy of the Victor orthophonic), it sounds better than the 5A. The 5A I have has a little crack on the shell, not uncommon with this type of soundbox, but otherwise works fine. Its needle screw looks normal to me, not as large as yours - I will double check it.

Lord, oh Lord, how I wish I could also help by measuring my 202...

I had a disaster with my teak 202. The shippers I used back then were simply useless and I received a 202 with the base smashed. The back two legs still attached and one stray front leg. The other leg missing with the cross supports. I don't know how they lost the parts.
Anyway, I still have that one leg on my work table in the hope that one day I will find someone to make a replacement. Recently, I have come across a few wood turning workshops in my area and with your legless find, it might just be the catalyst for me to do something about it.
The oxide plated 5A is the same on mine although mine has the usual cracked body.

Oh dear... that really sucks! Chunnybh, is your teak 202 the same indian machine eBayed in 2011? Sounds like a plan to have two sets made the same time, one teak and one oak? Maybe that could bring the cost down a bit!

Yes it's that one from 2011. It sat quite happily in storage for about a year and then I had it shipped using the same company I had used for years. They changed management and their packing company and soon after went bust.
It was propped up and played almost every day for years before it went back into storage.
I'll look into getting the legs made and keep in touch. PM me.
What would help is if I could get the two measurements of the lengths of the leg braces.

Chunny