My New Victrola 1-4 - Odd Machine!

[MikeB]

I just picked this up, and it is "fresh off the boat." I have done no restoration work on it, as yet.

It's a Victrola 1-4, which as I understand it, was intended for export to Central and South America. I'm not sure how may people have seen one of these, so I am attaching a number of photos. I had not. Baumbach's book lists total production at 12,133, manufactured in 1927-28.

As far as condition, the best thing about this machine is the cabinet, which is surprisingly nice with presumably the original finish. The motor is - meh - and will need work. The mainspring is broken and there is a broken governor spring. The red grille cloth is horribly wrong and will need to go. The No. 4 reproducer is likely original, I think, and will need to be rebuilt. There is no cabinet bottom, and I am not sure if it ever had one. There are four holes in the base, though, so I am assuming it did, though the one machine that I found on-line lacked a bottom as well.

So, here are the photos!

Mike

[Garret]

That's an interesting find!

Three points:

1. I think the reproducer might be impossible to save, as it is clearly made of pot metal - which you can see has cracked and swelled. The British HMV Company made No. 4 reproducers, and you can get one pretty easily on eBay UK. It's not original, but the proportions are similar, and will save you a bunch of change and trouble looking for a brass Victor No. 4 reproducer.
2. If the screw holes are there in the bottom of the cabinet, a bottom panel would have been there. Otherwise, why else would the factory waste labor drilling holes of that sort of size? The panel would also help direct sound from the horn, which does not currently have a bottom.
3. George Vollema sells replacement rubber bump feet for the bottom fo the cabinet.

Best,

Garret

[Phototone]

Without a bottom on the cabinet, it essentially doesn't have a horn, as the cabinet bottom forms one side of the crude horn.

[OrthoFan]

Here's a recent post about this model -- http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=36199

I agree. This must have had a bottom panel, which forms the bottom of the horn's chamber. (The drilled holes are the dead giveaway, as Garret points out.) In addition, without one, oil and grease will drip and spatter onto whatever surface you put this on.

Based on what I see, the most extensive cracks are in the area of the sound box's "lugs" encasing the needle-bar's pivot rods. If you work carefully, this may be repairable.

In addition to a more appropriate grill cloth ( perhaps one of these -- http://www.radiodaze.com/grille-cloth-14-item-grc14/ ), you'll need to get some gold felt for the turntable which is available from a number of suppliers.

It should be a fun project.

OrthoFan

[MikeB]

Interesting. One of the machines in that other post appears to be this exact same machine. It also answered my question about what the two clips on the needle holder were used for.

Does anyone have one of these machines that still has the original bottom panel intact? I am wondering if it had a paper label, and what the panel looked like.

Yes, this will be a project. I have another No 4. reproducer if this one is not savable, and I can make a bottom panel. Grille cloth and turntable felt are easy. Not sure about the motor yet. Was this motor used on any other machines, like perhaps the 1-1?

Thanks,
Mike

[VanEpsFan1914]

If you need a set of rubber bump feet I have a number of NOS Brainerd sets from the 1990s that should work.

Let me know and they're yours for the cost of postage, with the one caveat that they be used for Talking Machine purposes.

That's an awesome Victrola and I love the motor design! Looks like someone took the old 1910s era Victrola motor and removed two or three spring barrels--simple, easy to work on, and smooth-running.

That ought to sound great when it's restored. You could probably make a suitable bottom out of a few layers of oak veneer glued together--or a thin piece of cabinetmaker's plywood.

Awesome!

[JerryVan]

Might as well post these pics to this thread as well...

[JerryVan]

For proper grill cloth, I would suggest monitoring eBay for an original grill, for a larger Orthophonic era Victrola, and "harvesting" original cloth from it. I've done this with great success.

[VanEpsFan1914]

I was looking at the photos again and it looks like the back of the reproducer is painted gold. Is this real? The rubber isolator is the same gold color as the rest of the back plate.

You might be able to save it. At any rate, it's worth a shot--they say the No. 4 sounds amazing!

[MikeB]

Thanks so much for those pictures of the bottom! I may try to reproduce that label as well.

The gold, THE GOLD... Yes, when I got a good look at the machine in the daylight, it looks like someone painted several things gold a long time ago. The back of the reproducer, the crank and handle, the turntable... Just about all of the metal parts were painted, but they spared the tonearm and the data plate, thank God. I also think it possible that the dark red stain is not original. Perhaps they were trying to match the stain with the red "grille cloth," which is actually a piece of foam attached with thumbtacks.

So, the poor machine has been pimped out, and I need to do my best to de-pimpify it. It would probably be easier just to replace the reproducer than to try and save it.

I'll live with the rest of the gold stuff, and just pretend that it's a Victrola XVI, or leave it as-is and put it on the hood of my 1978 Lincoln.

But I digress. The Lincoln is another story:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/03/1 ... rned-home/

Mike