Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

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rizbone
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Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

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Jerry B.
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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by Jerry B. »

I hope this is not owned by a Forum member because my opinion of the refinish is beyond critical. It looks sun bleached. You have to look no farther than the area around the decal to see the rich red mahogany of the original finish. I can understand that the machine may have needed to be stripped and refinished. But why would anyone remove all that color and not attempt to replace it with color close the original? The stripping is the difficult part of any refinish. After that the staining, grain filling, and final finish coat are the fun part. A correctly restored mahogany finish is a nothing less than elegant. Jerry Blais

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phonogal
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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by phonogal »

The description says it needs tuning and damper work. Any work on a music box is very expensive because it takes a lot of skill and time to do it right. It's definitely not something you would want to work on even if you do work on phonographs. The combs, dampers, star wheels etc. add a whole other level of skills and tools needed.

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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by barnettrp21122 »

This listing has been on Ebay for quite awhile, and even been marked as "sold" before, if memory serves.
Unless you are a music box technician who can do the expensive work yourself, I'd advise against considering this after listening to the Youtube video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRoz2sw0JAw).

Bob
"Comparison is the thief of joy" Theodore Roosevelt

His Master's Voice Automatic 1A Exponential Gramophone Demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi70G1Rzqpo

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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by EarlH »

Jerry B. wrote:I hope this is not owned by a Forum member because my opinion of the refinish is beyond critical. It looks sun bleached. You have to look no farther than the area around the decal to see the rich red mahogany of the original finish. I can understand that the machine may have needed to be stripped and refinished. But why would anyone remove all that color and not attempt to replace it with color close the original? The stripping is the difficult part of any refinish. After that the staining, grain filling, and final finish coat are the fun part. A correctly restored mahogany finish is a nothing less than elegant. Jerry Blais
If they did that 50 years ago, that's actually the color people wanted mahogany to look like. I couldn't even find the dark reds and red/browns that they used on mahogany back before WWI. I could find water dyes in those days that were the right color, but it's almost impossible to get all the finish off something when you strip it, so the water dyes wouldn't work. And the alcohol based stain powders fade really quickly. It's really a good thing that Constantines, Behlens and a few of the other wood working stores started to offer those colors in the later 1980's with the NGR stains and dyes.

The guy that I used to paint for had worked in a cabinet factory near Chicago in the early 30's and then went on to wood grain dashboards for Packard for a year to so, and Bill thought I was NUTS for wanting to match those colors. And now of course with the internet, it's SO much easier to pass information around. Bill would think that Reginaphone looked just great and it would have matched his blonde mahogany dining room table! We only had three colors to work with in those days you know. Hahaha!

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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by JerryVan »

The machine was refinished long ago, (probably the 60's), and was not restained well. Also, it has faded somewhat. This item is NOT mine, but I am familiar with it. I purchased an oak, 20" Reginaphone from the same collection and it had the same faded look to the finish. I think the guy just used really cheap stain.

This music box may need a bit of damper work, I honestly don't clearly recall right now as it's been a while since I heard it play. As far as "tuning" goes, I wouldn't think it's in need of that. As shown in the photos, it has one tooth missing out of one comb. It also has a new spring barrel and a new spring. If I recall correctly, there is also an issue with the disc stopping in the correct spot at the end of play. I don't recall that it looked like a big deal to correct that.

For full disclosure, and to not appear to be mysterious about this, this was owned by a very good friend of mine who passed away a few years ago. His family is trying to sell it now.

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Re: Reginaphone (Lion) machine on e-bay

Post by jboger »

i wish the family well and hope they sell sell it for a price they are happy with. I do note that none of the pictures has a photo of the turntable. Oversight?

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