The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

OK, so the good news. I picked up the Vic VI that was for sale recently on here. The bad news, it had been re finished with poly. It looked like someone used brown deck stain, I was surprised to see it "hide" so much of the original wood tone. The lid was exceptionally thick, which caused for this look I'm assuming. Anyway, I thought I would share my process, and along the way, gain insight on how many of you have done this, in order to stop me from having to "do it over". I have read many articles, been perusing "The Compleate Talking Machine" among other threads on here. The horn seems to be original and will only be fixing a small crack on a seam at some point.(feel free to chime in on what has worked for you on this) I hope to show this step by step, as of now, only the lid has been stripped. Obviously this is a great candidate to try and bring back to its original state. It took me 3 or 4 applications to remove the layers but I'm happy with how it looks so far. It's great to see the natural wood tone rather than what it had become.

1) removed all hardware
2) apply stripping agent, let sit for 15 minutes
3) use plastic scraper to remove softened poly
4) repeat until all poly is removed and used 0000 steel wool after scraping
(this was done in the garage in order to have good ventilation)

any and all constructive criticism is welcomed. This should be a fun project.

I hope you all are having a great holiday weekend! Cheers!

Do it! Polyurethane must die in a fire! (just kidding, it works on new stuff.)

This ought to be a lovely resto, keep us posted.

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:Do it! Polyurethane must die in a fire! (just kidding, it works on new stuff.)

This ought to be a lovely resto, keep us posted.

I agree, and I will

I've been stripping the finish off a mahogany horn like yours and they are SO much more work to strip and refinish than people realize, until they get into one! I'm thinking someone put some polyurethane or some other modern finish over the old finish on this horn I'm working on as well, as it's really hard to get off. Almost like cooking oil dried on it. I've used about 2 gallons of remover on the horn and cabinet now though, and it's looking pretty good as far as getting all the finish off it.

Your VI looks like it should turn out really nicely for you. And although it is aggravating when someone does go over an old finish like that to "improve" it. Those people often did keep that stuff from going to the landfill and even if a collector doesn't find some of those old-worn finishes ugly, whoever had it in the past thought it was bad enough in the past that it needed something done to it, so there is that. And judging from the "How many phonographs are in your front room" thread, there are a lot of wives out there that absolutely won't have you cluttering up the front room with phonographs no matter how valuable they are today. We can imagine the feeling towards those things in the 1950's when you'd have trouble getting $15 out of one no matter what the condition.

Good luck with the old girl. It should turn out really nice. Victor had some nice wood to use on those things back at the turn of the century and mahogany is a really nice looking wood when it has a decent finish on it so you can see the grain. Earl.

I think I'd hit it with stripper just one more time, for good measure.

DGPros wrote: ... The horn seems to be original and will only be fixing a small crack on a seam at some point.(feel free to chime in on what has worked for you on this) ...

I have the same project on my bench. Lucky for me, stripping the old finish is easier. As for gluing seams in the horn, that was challenging for me. After starring at at the task, I set out to find clamps the would do the job. If the seam splits were any farther from the opening, I'm not sure what I would do.
I was able to bridge the gap on the small end too, but I do not want to hijack the thread.

James

Yes i will give her one more going over to make sure there are no remnants. I spent most of today working on removing it from the cabinet. She's coming along nicely. I gave her a wash in mineral spirits and she shines really nice. Looking forward getting her back in playing shape. I would love to hear how some may have done your gold plating.

Roaring20s wrote:

DGPros wrote: ... The horn seems to be original and will only be fixing a small crack on a seam at some point.(feel free to chime in on what has worked for you on this) ...

I have the same project on my bench. Lucky for me, stripping the old finish is easier. As for gluing seams in the horn, that was challenging for me. After starring at at the task, I set out to find clamps the would do the job. If the seam splits were any farther from the opening, I'm not sure what I would do.

Screen Shot 2018-05-28 at 4.16.35 PM.png

I was able to bridge the gap on the small end too, but I do not want to hijack the thread.

James

No worries on hijacking this thread. I think it would be great to have various attempts ,both failures and success's on one thread. I hope to learn as I show my progress. So bring it on! Thanks all for your input so far.

The case is looking good. You must have had today day off.

OK, here are the steps I took to bridge the gap.

I made a template of the holes' two layers.
The two layers have overlap (hopefully) for strength.
Wet and formed the veneer.
Glued the inner patch in place, and then the out skin.
So far, so good, nice and solid. I still need to put the end cap on.

I am lucky the this damage will be hidden under the metal cap.

James.

Nice work James, I will be having questions when I get to my horn. I have applied the feed n wax and I'm quite happy in the difference, especially from how it originally looked. Before and after pictures