The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Picked up this Victor VV IX last night at auction for $85. Pretty nice shape with the base cabinet and it sounds great. Looks to have been used very little. It also came with the original sales receipt which is nice.
However after about 15 winds of the handle it feel like a spring is slipping. I disassembled the spring barrel and it was loaded with hard clumpy grease. Sound like the slippage problem?

If you wind and do not reach the end of the spring you have a broken spring somewhere in the middle of the spring. If you can give it a full wind and it thumps you have hard grease. Regardless, it was a good buy for $85 and the original receipt is a special bonus.

Congratulations, Jerry B.

Thanks Jerry B. That makes sense.

Looks like you have a late-model IX with the "fat tone arm" and no. 2 sound box. Nice find, especially with the base cabinet. Happy listening!

Looks like it was a Christmas purchase, 100 years ago this year. How cool to have the original receipt.
I don't think they are accurate, but one website says it would have been $1065 in 2019 dollars.
Dave D

It's a killer combination with the base cabinet. Congratulations on getting a steal of a deal. I would have paid that for the cabinet alone.

Jerry B. wrote:If you wind and do not reach the end of the spring you have a broken spring somewhere in the middle of the spring. If you can give it a full wind and it thumps you have hard grease. Regardless, it was a good buy for $85 and the original receipt is a special bonus.

Congratulations, Jerry B.

Jerry B. you were correct. Now to cut and re-drill. Think I should redo the other one while I have it apart?

Stetam, If you shorten the spring a bit should you heat the new end red hot and dunk into water to change the temper of the metal? I remember watching Ira Dueltgen, my mentor collector, do this years ago. I spent many hours of pure enjoyment around his work bench.

Thanks, Jerry Blais

Jerry B. wrote:Stetam, If you shorten the spring a bit should you heat the new end red hot and dunk into water to change the temper of the metal? I remember watching Ira Dueltgen, my mentor collector, do this years ago. I spent many hours of pure enjoyment around his work bench.

Thanks, Jerry Blais

Heat and let cool on its own. Rapid cooling will harden it.

stetam wrote:

Jerry B. wrote:Stetam, If you shorten the spring a bit should you heat the new end red hot and dunk into water to change the temper of the metal? I remember watching Ira Dueltgen, my mentor collector, do this years ago. I spent many hours of pure enjoyment around his work bench.

Thanks, Jerry Blais

Heat and let cool on its own. Rapid cooling will harden it.

Stetam,

Yes, correct.