Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

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startgroove
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Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by startgroove »

Lori and I are preparing to restore this Electrola, and found the lid decal to be upside down. We could leave it in place by not stripping and refinishing the inside of the lid, or we could put in a new decal, right side up, by going through that process. What would you do and why?
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gramophone-georg
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by gramophone-georg »

I think I'd flip my lid.
Not the whole lid- just the top board.
"He who dies with the most shellac wins"- some nutty record geek

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OrthoFan
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by OrthoFan »

If that's the way it left the factory, I'd definitely leave it in place.

OrthoFan

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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by Pathe Logical »

I’ve seen a very nice, all original VV-XXV (Victor Schoolhouse) and a gorgeous, all original Vernis Martin Victrola (sorry, I don’t remember which model) both sporting upside down decals in their respective lids. In both cases, I thought this interesting quirk added a lot to the story and history of the machine! Errors did occur at the factory (even on high end Vernis Martin machines), add some glaring ones did evidently get by the inspectors!

Leave the upside down decal alone on this seldom seen, walnut Victrola! It is part of its history...

Bob

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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by 52089 »

˙ɯǝlqoɹd ǝɥʇ ǝǝs ʇ,uop I 'ʎllɐǝɹ

All kidding aside, I would also leave it alone. It looks too nice as is to mess with.

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Granby
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by Granby »

I bought an "L Door" Victrola one time with an upside down decal like this. However, in my particular situation, the correct front outside of the lid had suffered damage at one time. A creative owner actually flipped the whole lid around and modified it at some point in its history. It looked fine unless you opened it up and saw the upside down decal. If you looked close, you could see repair marks where the original lid support mounted.... pretty obvious!!! Probably not the case with your machine, looks a little more historically authentic, LOL.

Might be worth a close examination, though.... ;)

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Phono-Phan
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by Phono-Phan »

I would leave it alone and enjoy it. I have a Columbia machine with the same decal issue.

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MikeB
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by MikeB »

Or mount it to the ceiling.

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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by outune »

Remember that upside-down postage stamp that was worth millions?? :) One never knows.

I tend to agree with OrthoFan and Phono-Phan. It was a "mistake" and an anomaly-- and is part of the machine's history.....an otherwise beautiful machine that has survived in pretty nice shape. It will certainly be a sentence starter that could result in conversation that is far more rich than texting and emails :) Once it is "fixed", the special-ness goes away.

Just my two cents--

Brad Abell

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Roaring20s
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Re: Opinions Wanted: What to do about decal?

Post by Roaring20s »

It's fine as is, for all of the above reasons.

James.

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