Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by pictureroll »

Juke,
Is the trim on yours /blue or green; mine is green and my number is 915.

Jerry
Keep 'em Spinning ♫

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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by Uncle Vanya »

I've worked on a couple of 8-9 machines, and noted that the trim paint is blue, but the machine is finished with a toned lacquer or with orange shellac, which turns the rather unappetizing blue paint to an attractive green. I have also seen more than one "restored" example of the 8-9 where this coating has been removed and the blue was allowed to shin in all of its garish glory.

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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by marcapra »

I love the way you displayed the 8-35 in that period setting. It's harder to do that in my 2002 house!

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Cody K
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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by Cody K »

I was lucky enough to pick up an 8-35 today from, of all places, an old farm in Connecticut near where I grew up. Oddly, though the couple I bought it from had been selling off the contents of their great-uncle's house for several months, this, of all things, was one of the few things still unsold.

They told me that the original farmhouse had burned in 1927, and the current one was built in 1928 -- the year the 8-35 was produced. It's interesting that, after a catastrophic fire and re-build, one of the initial furnishings of the new house, which was by no means fancy, would have been the top-of-the-line spring driven Victrola of the moment. A celebration of having gotten through the hard times of the previous few years? I wondered at first why they wouldn't have bought an Electrola, so that they could have radio too. But then it's possible that, even as late as 1929, a farm like this, not remote, but certainly very rural at the time, might not have had electricity yet. Many rural areas weren't supplied with electricity until the New Deal.

In one of the drawers was the original payment plan, dated March 23, 1929, on the back of which is a grid recording payments, mostly of $15.00 a month, for twenty-four months. The block filled in on the date of the purchase shows a payment of $60.00, and a payment of ten dollars is recorded in April. Several months in 1930 are left blank, showing no payment. Was a farm of this type affected by the stock market crash, I wonder? It was a busy farm, with milk cows, and poultry, apples, pears, grapes, vegetables including corn, and at the top of the hill, acres of shade-grown tobacco. Maybe by 1930, it was the Victor dealer who was hurting, and willing to take food as payment during those months where no money is recorded on the payment plan. Food being kind of important, it might have been the farm that was thriving and had the ability to barter. Anyway, an interesting place to find a Victrola that you'd sooner expect to see on Park Avenue -- $300 in 1929 money, adjusted for inflation, comes to something like $4100 and change in 2015. As we know, these weren't cheap. So it was an interesting place to run across one of these.

But back to the machine: It's in very nice condition, having been in the same place since it was new. The best thing of course is that it has the full set of books, which convinced me to pay the asking price. It's dusty, mostly, and needs a good cleaning. It runs very well, and I haven't heard a thump out of the motor yet, though I know it must need looking at. The tone-arm bracket is thankfully intact and seems to mean to stay that way, though the tone-arm itself had slipped out of it. It was easy to fix that, and while the original reproducer is shot (maybe), I put a spare on, and...wow!

Sign me up for I'd probably take this over my Credenza, in a desert island scenario. I really like this sound! The metal horn really does brighten it, as others have noted above, and that's a good thing since the fact that there are other apartments in this old house often has me using soft-tone needles. On the Credenza, using soft-tones with records that aren't recorded especially loudly often sounds as if the doors are half shut, even when they're wide open. With the 8-35, not so at all. Because of the metal horn, the sound is sharper, cleaner than with a soft-tone needle of the same make (Dean) on the Credenza. There may be some loss of "thump" in the bass, compared to the Credenza, but I can't say I miss it because the sound I'm hearing from the 8-35 is balanced. I've only played ten records on it so far, but playing a few of them with soft needles on both the Credenza and the 8-35 back to back, what sticks out is how much in the musical range is lost on the Credenza with soft needles that is present on the 8-35. Must be the Credenza's wood horn, I think. It does absorb some sound, even when treated with a glycerin-and-alcohol rub. And the 8-35, I think, seems to have the capacity for loudness that the Credenza has. The neighborhood's unusually quiet tonight, though, and I wouldn't even dare try a loud needle just now. Sometimes you have to leave well enough alone.

The all-important books have been well-used, and the fake-leather is cracked along the shoulders, as I think is common, but most of them are strong thanks to the design that incorporates cloth tape on the inside seams. Funnily, many of the records that were in them (they'll remain empty for reasons that Sean gets into in previous posts) are Polish, as was the original purchaser of the machine, and -- whattaya know? -- as am I. I'll be wishing my parents and their siblings, who might have heard some of these records when they were new, could be with me as I sort though them.

Anyway, I thought this was a nice enough find to share with the Forum. Here are a few pics of it, farm-fresh if you will:
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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by phonogfp »

Congratulations, Cody! :) That looks like a nice one. Every time someone posts photos of one of these, I have a twinge of regret at selling mine years ago. They're interesting and impressive-sounding machines.

Enjoy - -

George P.

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Cody K
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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by Cody K »

Thanks, George! I'm really pretty fascinated by this acquisition, especially since way back in this thread, in 2013, I posted that I didn't expect that I'd ever have a chance to compare the sound from both Credenza and 8-35 side-by-side. I feel very lucky to be able to do so.

I'm just going to whisper this here rather than in the alerts section, because I've been singed by alerts there for machines I've been actively negotiating for on Craigslist. (I haven't lost one that way, but still...I know how it feels to be in that situation, so I don't post in that section.) But...(bats eyelashes coyly) I think if a person were to search for a "Beautiful Victrola" on the Rhode Island Craigslist anytime soon after I post this, why, they might find just about anything at a reasonable price, though, y'know, maybe with only three of the books:

(Not mine, lol!)
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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by marcapra »

Congratulations, Cody! :) That looks like a nice one. Every time someone posts photos of one of these, I have a twinge of regret at selling mine years ago. They're interesting and impressive-sounding machines.

Enjoy - -

George P.


Wow! I'm surprised to see my old post pop up again! I of course share Mr. Paul's regrets about selling mine, although I was well paid for it. What is truly amazing about yours is that the original books are still there! That's like going back in a time machine, as what are the chances that the albums would have stayed put all the through the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, etc. when something like this had almost no value. That is what makes this find so special. As a former high school librarian, I know that you can buy book repair glue which dries clear and remains flexible to repair the broken spines and boards on those albums. It's available from library suppliers like Demco and Brodart.
Marc.

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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by Cody K »

Hi Marc -- This old thread of yours seems to have become the forum's catch-all omnibus thread for the 8-35 -- lots of information in it!

Yeah, this machine's a keeper. But it's officially game over as far as squeezing any more machines in here goes. In fact something's got to move out now to accommodate this beast, and I think it'll be my L-Door D. I'll probably be posting that one in the Yankee Trader section in awhile. The soundbox will need a rebuild first, though.

It's odd that two 8-35s should turn up in the wild on consecutive days. I hope the one now on Craigslist in Cumberland will find a good home soon. Even with only three of the books, it looks like a nice machine for the price.

Thanks for the suggestion about where to get book repair glue. I do hope to at least stop any further loss of hanging chads from the binders' shoulders, and I would probably have posted a question in the Tips, Tricks, etc. subforum regarding what to use. So I really appreciate the information.
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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by alang »

Congratulations on that great find. I personally find the 8-35 the most elegant of the later Victrolas. Unfortunately, you have to have the space for one.

Andreas

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Re: Victrola 8-35 (1928) forgotten son of Credenza?

Post by marcapra »

Yes, I think it's a keeper too! It's gorgeous, and even Wyatt Markus says it's his favorite sounding machine! Here is a link to the glue that I've been using for years to repair books and albums. It's called Demco Norbond Liquid Plastic Adhesive. You can even order a little 2 oz. bottle to start.

http://www.demco.com/goto?BLS172861&ALL ... 5830879754

Marc.

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