Oak Edison A-250 in Detroit

[need4art]

Hi All,
An update on the Oak A250-first thx to phonogal for posting the entry and to Jerry B for bringing my attention to it. It has been owned by a couple for the last 35 years that have bought and sold antiques as a hobby. They worked with a couple of old time furniture restorers and this unit had a "refresh done in shellac" right after they bought it. It took a bit to get them to deal with someone who could not just come out and get it. They did have a number of calls and one person "Arnold"-a retired Detroit policeman, who came out and looked at the unit for 40 minutes and they thought it was sold. He told them to contact him if no one else bought it.

Pictures alone never tell the whole story and she did send me a number of others. Without seeing the unit in person I really cannot say how well the light refinish was done-but at least it is not new. They backed off the price a bit to help offset the cost of shipping-$325 by a blanket wrap shipper I have used before. Arnold stated that the diamond was perfect and at this point I guess that I will just have to believe him...whoever he is. The $599 price some will say is high-but I have been looking for one in oak for over 3 years-Jerry knows that, and the one that was offered from a seller was much higher-here in the west we just do not see them very often. I have found a couple in mahogany in the $400 range but wanted oak. The wood graining on the horn looks very good and the bedplate looks very good as well. There is one dent on a side lip of the top that you could lay a side of a pinkie in and I am not sure what I will do with that. There looks to be some additional small scratches but nothing major the turntable felt was replaced and it is the wrong color but the plating looks good. If some can tell me how to post picture here from an email-most can be down loaded I will try to get them on. It will be some time before I get the unit as shipping time with this company varies-a lot and the sellers husband had knee replacement surgery but is back in the hospital due to complications.

It has a home with someone from the forum...once I get it
Abe

[phonogal]

Abe, Glad you were able to get this machine. Please post pictures when you get it home. Jan. P.S. You're welcome.

[Valecnik]

Yes, would love to see some pictures. The turntable felt can be replaced with one of the correct color. Someone on eBay offers the pre-cut brownish ones which are a very good match of the original. I would not be too optimistic about the stylus being good but still, even if it's bad, sounds like a very nice machine.

I'd strongly recommend removing the mechanism before shipping. Somewhere I've got instructions on how to do that if you are not familiar with it.

[need4art]

I wish I could get them to do that-but they are really not hands on-if you locate the instructions I could send them out-but her husband is still in the hospital and I do not know what kind of shape he is in. The best I could hope for at this point is that they tie down the tone arm and pack the top with bubble wrap to keep things in place, the shipper will blanket wrap and then plastic wrap that. They have a key and can lock the lid down. It is loaded with records and I am trying to get them to go through the titles for me.

Its not the best way to handle this but sometimes ya gotta go with the flow...
Abe

[Valecnik]

Abe,

Below are some good packing instructions that you may want to pass on. Hopefully all arrives safely. I hope they will at least remove the records and pack them separately. If the cabinet is full of records, shipping it that way could cause it to break apart.

REMOVING THE MECHANISM:
- Once crank, turntable and reproducer are all removed, do the following.

- Lay some towels over the edges of the machine. Pull them down between the frame and the bedplate a bit. When you lift the mechanism out, it's very heavy and this can save paint or dent in the wood as you are trying to lift it out. The spring barrels, some of the gears and the winding shaft and corners of the bedplate are particularly prone to banging into sides of the case.


- Swing horn to the extreme right and raise up the mechanism so that you can put that operating handle horizontal and laying parallel to the front side of the case.

- Swing automatic break (on operating handle) around to extreme left so that it's parallel with the front of the case. On some models you need to remove lift handle and automatic brake mechanism by unscrewing a square headed nut and round threaded nut on the swiveling post, just above and in front of the horn. After losening those nuts, pull it up, wiggle it out. Do this if the brake mechanism does not clear the bedplate when you try to lift it up.


- Standing on the crank side of the machine, firmly grasp the bedplate with both hands, left hand fingers between frame and bedplate, right hand between frame and curved rail on back side of case, preferrably with someone holding lid up to maximum extent, (Don't grab onto curved rail)

- The bedplate pivots on the crank side, so start to pivot the bedplate up, far side should raise up when you lift


- The right back corner slides into a slot so you need to swing the bedplate up and twist it slightly to the left to move the peg out of the slot

- The left front corner peg on bedplate slides into a hole so as you slide out the right rear corner from the slot, you should be able to move the peg on left front side from the hole that it slides into. At that point the mechanism is free and becomes quite heavy.


- As you lift the bedplate up and out now, you need so move the whole thing out, away from your body so that the female end of the winding shaft on the motor will clear the frame. As you move the whole mechanism away from your body a bit, you need to be careful that the right rear corner of the bedplate does not hit the back corner of the lid, (this is where having a helper to hold the lid up comes in handy)

- Have something ready to lay the motor on ready, being careful not to let the sides of bedplate scratch on a hard surface.

PACKING THE MECHANISM:

The tricky part is over now but a few more suggestions.
- The mechanism needs to be put in some sort of box. Corners and sides of bedplate are particularly vulnerable to chafing so I like to first wrap with some cloth and then wrap bubble wrap around the whole thing. Reason is I have seen bubble wrap react with the paint on at least one occaision and leave marks.
- A few roles of paper towels underneath the corners of the wrapped bedplate can help stabilize it, keep it from rolling around.
- Packing peanuts etcetera around the whole works then so it’s “tight packed” cannot move around within the box.

PACKING THE THE HORN & HORN COMPARTMENT:
The horn compartment also needs to be “tight packed” so nothing can move around.
- An old towel works well to wrap around the neck of the horn with some packing tape around to keep it secure.
- I’ve also covered the horn neck with a soft cloth, t-shirt or something and then slid a toilet paper or paper towel roll over the neck
- If you have any old pillows you don’t mind parting with, stuffing this area with them and laying a pillor over the top of the horn neck can work great
- Stuffing plastic shopping bags full of packing peanuts and then shoving them into that area also works well. Key is that it’s tight tight tight inside there and can’t rub against anything.

PACKING THE DRAWERS:
You already noted you that you would wrap something around the handles. You are right. They cannot be removed.
- Also, putting somehing, a thin piece of packing foam between drawers and where they rub against the frame of the cabinet helps keep them from chafing.
- Another thin piece between drawers and the door is also a good idea, especially if Brice hauls it upright.

OTHER:
- Thin piece of packing foam between lid and top of case is also good.
- Best not to lock the case. Locks can break apart from all the vibration
- Once you’ve wrapped the whole machine in something, wrap packing tape around from top to bottom front to back to keep the lid and doors closed
- Knurled feet are particularly vulnerable to damage. I would appreciate if you could well protect that bottom area
- Take casters out or secure them in the case, (so not rolling casters on cement, gravel etcetera) Not necessary of you are careful and just transporting short distances but don't roll it on cement, thru gravel etcetera.

[phonogal]

Abe, May I ask which shipping company you use. I have checked before and the cost was very high from the ones I checked with. Thanks, Jan.

[need4art]

Thx for the great directions-but to be honest I do not think that between the two of them that they can lift the mechanism-they are quite old. I also wonder what a ham handed neighbor might up doing to the cabinet. I thought about having them pack the horn area but wondered about the graining paint on the horn sometimes its just not very stable. And you are right about bubble wrap, one of my clients left an oil painting wrapped in a storage locker in our Arizona summers for 2 years while he was overseas, when he got back he took off the bubble wrap and guess what-you could see it on the painting. I removed the varnish and cleaned the painting that lessened the effect but when the light hits it right-bang you can see all the loops from the bubble wrap. I thought I would have them do that after they laid down some fabric-and yes remove the records. Thanks for the tip about locking the lid-I am also worried about the grill.

The shipper is TSC moving and storage-they have done 2 machines for me before with no problems. They can be a pain-as they might call 4 hours before they deliver a machine or take 3 weeks to pick it up and 5 weeks to deliver-but they tell you that up front.

They are fully insured and I am trying to work with the seller to make sure that the machine gets here in one piece but she has her hands full right now.

Abe

[Valecnik]

Abe,

Sounds like your options are limited. I'd anyway consider trying to stuff the back of the horn compartment. Usually the paint on the oak ones fares much better and it might be okay. Maybe they can check that. If possible, an old pillow or something equivalent over the bedplate, between the bedplate and the horn elbow, horn elbow swung all the way to the left and lowered and then a role of toilet paper slid over the horn elbow and another pillow or equivalent on top will hopefully keep that bedplate from moving around.

Also ask the shippers to secure the claw feet and casters, so they don't use the casters to move it around and if possible, they should keep it upright during shipping.

If you give the shippers a lot of instructions, they may be more attentive, anticipating that you will be a real pain to them if it's damaged.

[Major_Dundee]

Well, it's good to see who #1 caller was and that he was on this site. I was the #2 caller because it took me some time to sell the wife! Anyway, this woman was a sweetheart and true to her word to see if you could make the shipping work for you. I am not far from her and offfered to pick it up, but #2 is just that, #2! Anyway, I hope it gets there in one piece and enjoy. She did send me some pictures and I could probably post them, but I think you should enjoy doing that since you are the winner!

Chris

[Valecnik]

Well, it's good to see who #1 caller was and that he was on this site. I was the #2 caller because it took me some time to sell the wife! Anyway, this woman was a sweetheart and true to her word to see if you could make the shipping work for you. I am not far from her and offfered to pick it up, but #2 is just that, #2! Anyway, I hope it gets there in one piece and enjoy. She did send me some pictures and I could probably post them, but I think you should enjoy doing that since you are the winner!

Chris

Well, now that you've sold the wife, keep that money set aside. Maybe something will turn up and you'll be ready!