What are your worst basket case resurrections?

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VanEpsFan1914
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What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

As the title said--I've been curious about the worst case scenarios we've all found and salvaged.

Complete junk, machines of no value, off brands, Victrolas acting as rain gauges--all welcome here. Tell of your wildest restoration stories!

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mattrx
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by mattrx »


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mattrx
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by mattrx »

This is a better thread: http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... lit=+xviii

Not sure If I would do it again after what I learned at the time, but still a noble project.

Matt

Jerry B.
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by Jerry B. »

Matt is much too modest. He took a Victrola XVIII that, to me, looked impossible to repair. I will forever be in awe of his skills and determination. Jerry Blais

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Django
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by Django »

mattrx wrote:This is a better thread: http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... lit=+xviii

Not sure If I would do it again after what I learned at the time, but still a noble project.

Matt
You set the bar awfully high. That was an amazing restoration. I think that the old Chinese proverb applies to this restoration, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Or maybe the "how do you eat an elephant" is more fitting.

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Django
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by Django »

I hope that others will share stories and pictures or their recovery efforts. It is always nice to see the transition and to learn how others have transformed machines from trash to treasure.

Victrolacollector
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by Victrolacollector »

My best resurrection was a Silvertone tabletop that I bought back in 2005. I paid 125.00 and truly was a junker. The busted up grill was carefully pieced together, glued and stripped, stained and varnished. I removed all of the veneer from the lid, replaced the veneer, stained and varnished. The rest of the cabinet just needed stripped and stained and varnished. It looked good after it was completed. The motor was a Saal and ran quiet. The reproducer had to be rebuilt. The turntable was rusted, it was wire brushed and polished, new felt replaced.

This was back in 2005 and I don’t have any photos, it came out quite well, I sold it, but probably would have kept it as a compliment to my recently acquired Silvertone Neutrodyne radio which has the similar carvings on the bottom of the cabinet. Most phonographs can be restored, it takes patience, time and some money to do it.

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alang
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by alang »

My VV-50 looked like it sat in a shed for 80 years when I got it. Later it played the Wedding March at my daughter's wedding (the picture makes it look reddish, which it isn't in real life).
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My first outside horn machine (similar to a Royal Talking Machine) was in even worse condition when I got it. For whatever reason it also looks red on the photo. I'll have to start taking my pictures outside....
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Andreas

52089
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by 52089 »

I wouldn't call it a basket case, but I'm very happy with the way my American Walnut XI came out. The lid had bad black water rings and had been coated with some kind of brown goop to minimize it. You can read about what I did and see before and after shots here:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... it=+walnut

AmberolaAndy
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Re: What are your worst basket case resurrections?

Post by AmberolaAndy »

I wouldn’t call it a “basket case” but I’m pretty happy the way my Columbia Q turned out.
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