Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

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walser
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Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by walser »

Hi all,

Last Saturday I went to sell a Seraphone organette that I recently restored to an antiquaire. When I was walking crossing a flea market I saw a rusty gramophone but I was carrying the organette so I didnt stop to look it closer. 4 hours later when I was going back to my car I saw it again about to be loaded into a van because the flea market had finished.

I can swear that it called me saying "pleeeease saaave me from being lying in the sidewalk of this horrible flea market and shattering in this stuffed van...! :-)

So I had no other option to go to the vendor and ask about it. I think that the owner saw the opportunity of making a last minute deal and told me a pretty fair price. I asked him for some minutes to inspect it while he was loading the rest of his stuff in his van and I saw that the motor was in perfect shape but the wood that holded the arm was broken. I also saw that the reproducer was in pretty poor shape, the horn was almost 100% covered in superficial rust and the felt was so dirty-rotten-infested that was almost scary to be close to it.

I made him an offer of half the price he was asking and after some negotiations he accepted.

Before arriving to the car I made an emergency stop in the parking lot to pull off the felt and throw it to a bin.

Here it is in all its rusty glory:
20180210_153002.jpg
Kids call it "Mate" (as in Cars film) because they say that its as rusty as Mate.
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The rest of the wood and parts are in remarquable good condition:
20180210_153031.jpg
I've already glued the wood, replaced the felt and refurbished the reproducer.
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It strikes me that I've found almost no reference to this Pathé model. No catalogs, no complete pictures, no idea of the year it was built... I would greatly appreciate any reference about this model.

I'm also investigating how to restore the horn. It looks like it was nickel plated and the lacquered in transparent blue-green. I've read somewhere that they were some like this but never seen one in good condition. I would like to find pictures of horns like this one but in good shape to make up my mind if I'm brave enough to stripe, de-rust, polish, nickel plate and varnish the horn because of the amount of work is tremendous and I fear that the end result may look "cheesy" by nowadays tastes. What do you think?
20180210_161134.jpg
Regards,

Pedro Martínez

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by estott »

In my opinion, the horns were tin plated before being given a translucent paint.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by epigramophone »

Pathé disc machines were introduced in 1906, and until about 1909 each model had a letter designation. After that they had model numbers.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by phonodesbois »

Hi Pedro,
You can find a lot of information on the Compendium (Timothy Frabrizio & Georges Paul). On page 171 there is a pic showing the Pathé P which was introduced circa 1907.
Jeff

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walser
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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by walser »

Small update on this restoration,

I realized that I didn't have a sapphire for it so I borrowed one of my wifes Pathé Omnibus, took a borosilicate glass rod and a torch and started playing with it till I managed to do a 0.33 in (0.8 mm) perfectly spherical point.
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Then took the lathe and a few minutes later I did this:
20180223_172909.jpg
So it was a matter of putting a tiiiiiiny blob of glue to secure the press fit of the glass point into the stilus and voila!
20180223_173844.jpg
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I also started derusting the elbow and pulling out the dents. It needs a good polish and nickel plating. I will make some tests to do not over restore it because I want it to blend well with the rest of the pieces.
20180224_093626.jpg
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I hope also to be able to paint the horn this afternoon.

Stay tuned for new episodes!

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by estott »

The glass should work- but it won't be good for more than a few records.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by chunnybh »

The glass should work- but it won't be good for more than a few records.
I will second that & in fact say it is dangerous. I made a glass stylus a few years ago. It worked great for a few records and before I noticed, the glass had worn, chipped and chewed up several records. Really nasty.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by walser »

That's why I used borosilicate glass. I will keep an eye on it.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by walser »

I finished it and spent all day going thru all my collection of Pathé records. The stylus is still like new!

I've learnt the art of pinstriping. I thought it would be more difficult but after practicing a couple of hours I was confident enough to do all the golden stripes on the horn and it went without drama.
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I've made the decision to put it for sale. I currently have 7 machines at home so I need to downsize (I have a self imposed limit of 5).

Regards,

Pedro Martinez.

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Re: Pathé MODÈLE P "Mate"

Post by soundgen »

walser wrote:I finished it and spent all day going thru all my collection of Pathé records. The stylus is still like new!

I've learnt the art of pinstriping. I thought it would be more difficult but after practicing a couple of hours I was confident enough to do all the golden stripes on the horn and it went without drama.
20180225_181512.jpg
20180225_181605.jpg
I've made the decision to put it for sale. I currently have 7 machines at home so I need to downsize (I have a self imposed limit of 5).

Regards,

Pedro Martinez.
BUY A BIGGER HOUSE ! :)

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