HMV 101 portable, in dark blue color

[epigramophone]

Thank you, Roger, for posting the product name you are using to clean your portables. I have been using Swarfega, but sometimes I feel some water may be needed to do a more thorugh clean, but until now I have not dared to use any water. I was not able to find the product you recommend in my area, but will carefully try a leather cleaner. I found a product named Autoglym leather cleaner, and will test it first on a black portable I use for spares, before starting to clean this dark blue portable.
I am not able to take part in the discussion of the frequency range of the 101 vs the 102 at this time, and what portable sound best. When I have been servicing all my portables, hopefully during the upcoming spring/summer, I will spend more time on the soundboxes, testing switching soundboxes etc.
The only thing I can say at the time of writing this, (after having been servicing and disassembled them both) is that I so far somehow feel more attracted to the design and feeling of the 101 portable, than the 102. The 102 has a more bulky design (in particular the later models), and also I feel the introduction of plastic is not exactly something I like. I understand plastic was a big thing when it arrived back then, but in today's world the status of "plastic fantastic"' in production (and general use) is at an all time low. I am neither too happy about the metal motorboard on the 102, compared to the 101 motorboard, where they still kept woodwork around the horn outlet .

Only the earliest 102's had the metal motor board. From the 102B of about 1933, black versions had a polished wood motor board until the post war 102E which had a black cloth covered motor board. With very few exceptions, coloured 102's had matching cloth covered motor boards.

Probably the biggest and best horn in any British portable was the bifurcated design fitted to the Decca 120 and 130 models :

[nostalgia]

That is good to know, Roger, that later 102's have wooden motor board. The green 102 I have, have a metal motorboard, but after checking the HMV book more closely, I understand this is an early 1931-32 model with a No.16 soundbox. I also have a red 102, of later manufacture, the more bulky type with no panel in lid, and a 5B soundbox, but since it is in my service room away from my home, waiting for warmer temperatures, I am not able to check the motor board on that red 102 now, but I guess that should be cloth covered then, even if my memory right here and now wants to tell me that it is metal... This will not give me peace of mind, until it is checked in a day or two:;)
I also found a 5A soundbox on a cheap black 102 with wooden motorboard that came my way during Christmas, this is the first machine with a 5A soundbox for me, this 102 is spinning at wild speed when being winded up, and also is missing its winding key, and I have no idea what will meet me when I start disassemblying it soon. Maybe a lost governor...
All that said, that was a VERY impressive soundhorn on these Decca's

[nostalgia]

I have checked my red 102, and I can now confirm it has a cloth covered motorboard.
BUT, now to todays, question. Does the cloth covering, here dark blue, give off color when it is cleaned?
I have today spent 40-60 minutes cleaning the top lid of my dark blue 101, and the rags are still dirty (blue?) when
I am working. I am actually myself now not sure if it is dirt, or color I am removing from the lid. I am using Swarfega, non abrasive hand cleaner, and it is not only the green color of the hand cleaner that is left on my rags when cleaning.The color is close to black, after repeated,,,and repeated new lawyers of Swarfega gently massaged (and then removed) into the lid. I attach a photo of the cover as it looks right now after almost one hour cleaning.

[Phono48]

I would say the colour you have reached now is just about right, when compared to mine. As it says in the book, the dark blue sold poorly, mainly because it was hard to distinguish from the black. I recently cleaned a green 97 with green Swarfega, and definitely had some of the colour coming off on to the cleaning cloth, so be careful!

Barry

[Phono48]

Probably the biggest and best horn in any British portable was the bifurcated design fitted to the Decca 120 and 130 models :

I'm a huge HMV 101 and 102 devotee, but have to say that the Decca 130 sounds much better! The only thing I don't like is that great clumsy Primaphonic No.8 soundbox.

Barry

[epigramophone]

At the expense of originality, a Meltrope designed soundbox from a post war Decca portable will fit the 120 and 130.

[Phono48]

Thanks for the suggestion Roger, and this is is only a personal view, but if I dislike the original soundbox, I positively HATE those late Meltropes! No fine adjustment, only reliance on four ball bearings. The only adjustment is by reducing or adding to the pressure of the front mask screws, which usually results in them working loose after a while, and then you're back to square one. And as for that stupid unrepairable fixing of the stylus bar to the diaphragm.......

Barry

[nostalgia]

Thank you, Barry. Yes, I felt I was starting to get some of the real color on my cloths when cleaning. It would have been a big shame if I had ruined this dark blue 101 with too much cleaning.

[nostalgia]

I am adding two photos, before and after cleaning with Classic green Swarfega. I removed the lock, to see the original color before cleaning this part of the case. I here needed add four repeated layers of Swarfega, gently massaged with the fingertips into the cloth for some minutes, before removing the Swarfega to then repeat the procedure three times. As Barry stated, it is very important not to overclean, or the color of the case will start to wear off. When watching carefully the cloth, the remains will turn from black to blue ( on this machine) when one is reaching a critical level.
As one can see the Swarfega is doing a really good job. (Some power was needed when working with the rags to actually be able to work deep into the cloth cover)

[gramophoneshane]

It's amazing the difference a good clean can make to these coloured portables. My navy blue 102 certainly doesn't look as "navy" any more.

When I clean Rexine of any colour, I like to use either a soft fingernail brush, or clean shoe brush to apply the liquid cleaner, and use a circular motion to get into the grain of the fabric.
That way you can work fairly quickly, and you get a nice even clean that gets into all the nooks and crannies.
Then I use a very slightly damp cloth to remove the dirt and cleaner then repeat as a final once over to remove anything I might have missed.