Herzog Record Cabinet Restoration

[StL Bill]

I recently acquired a disc version of the Herzog cabinet with the concealed phonograph. This is a seldom seen cabinet, usually missing the horn and wooden record dividers.This cabinet was no exception.I imagine that over the years these were removed so that the cabinet could be used for storage. I am in the process of restoring the cabinet. It was poorly refinished when I got it,but it has been stripped and is currently getting ready to be professionally restored. The same guy who did the work on my Edison A-425 is now working on this. I have built the record racks based on the racks that are on two other Herzog cabinets that I have. These wooden racks were basically the same in all of the disc Herzog cabinets, varying only in the width and sometimes the height. My main problem is going to be the tapered papier-mache horn. You can see in the catalog illustration what it should look like. I am asking any member of the forum who either owns this cabinet or knows of someone who does to let me know. I plan on reproducing this horn for myself and possible for others who might need one. The same is true of the record racks.
I think that there are many cabinets like this that are missing this horn (Jasper has at least one, maybe two). I have to see an original horn in order to make a pattern. Also, as you can see in the picture, there is a small section of the wooden grille missing.I would also like to make a rubber mold from an original grille in order to cast the missing piece. This molding material will not hurt the original grille at all. If anybody out there can help, please let me know. I will keep the Forum updated when the restoration is completed. These cabinets are very scarce, and I look forward to the challenge of restoring it.

Bill

[gramophone78]

This is a killer cabinet. I have always wanted the disc version and have never seen one for sale. Now, I may be wrong..however, I have only seen them using a regular machine horn. The last one I saw, had a Vic 0 with Victor amber horn inside. Then again, the original could have been long removed.

If a special horn was inside.....it must have been made of paper mache like the cylinder versions.
I would contact Gregg Cline... .

Congrats on getting a wonderful cabinet. . Who do I make the check out to..??..... .

By the way.....I think yours also has the very rare grill that is also rarely seen.

[alang]

Wow, great find! Interesting that in the ad they are hiding away the "ugly" Victor 6
I wonder, if they say "holds any Victor or Zonophone machine", would that even work with a standard papier-mache horn? The elbow connectors are different and the rear mount Zonophones had the elbow as part of the horn. Curious...

Thanks for sharing. Please keep us posted on the restore.
Andreas

[Bruce]

Amazing cabinet!!

I will watch for your updates as you progress.

I am not sure if I would hide a Vic VI inside it but it sure is worthy of such a machine - tough choice.

Bruce

[StL Bill]

By the way.....I think yours also has the very rare grill that is also rarely seen.

The grill on this cabinet is indeed the rarest of all the grills that I have seen on the Concealed Horn cabinet. I have seen at least 3 variations of the carved grill on either the disc or cylinder version of this cabinet . I have include several pictures of some of them. I believe that it was indeed a paper mache horn, I do not think that they would have included it in the illustration in the catalog if it were not available.If the elbow and metal horn on either Victor or Zonophone were used, it would not fit flush to the wooden grille because of the angle of the horn elbow. You would see a big gap. By the way, this illustration came out of the excellent reproduction catalog that is available from Shawn O'Rourke (SHAWN on the forum). There is a collector here in the St. Louis area that has a disc cabinet that still has the original paper mache horn, but as of yet, I have not been able to get into his house to see it. I am still working on that. The enclosed pictures are from Jaspers collection.

[ambrola]

Ken on the board made mine. Look thread.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=22093

[StL Bill]

Ken on the board made mine. Look thread.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=22093

The horn in the cylinder version of this cabinet is a totally different. Your cylinder horn is attached to the cabinet and turns 90 degrees down to the cylinder machine. If you look at the illustration from the catalog in my post, this horn tapers on both top and bottom to the elbow on the machine.
Bill

[Springmotor70]

As Bill mentioned the horn in the cylinder version hangs from the interior of the top of the cabinet and then uses a flexible fitting to connect to the reproducer.

In the disc version the horn could just be supported by the machine and hug the opening. This would make installation and use much easier than trying to slide the machine under the horn and tip it to connect the elbow. If the bell of the horn is slightly larger than the grill opening this would easily hide slight differences in height due to thickness of tack bumper feet or the possible elbow height in Victor machines that would fit this cabinet.

I have never seen a horn for this cabinet except for the catalog illustration. It seems likely it could be a fiber or paper horn grained to match the exterior of the cabinet just like its cylinder companion. The thing that must happen though is making the transition from the roughly 20 degree elbow to the plumb 90 degree side of the cabinet. You can see in the illustration that there are different profiles in the horn as it turns down slightly to mate to the opening...

[ambrola]

I see now. Looks like this model was used for disk machines and not cylinder machines? Very different than the cylinder machine. That is a very nice and I would suppose rare cabinet.

[StL Bill]

I wanted to update the Forum on the progress I have made in the restoration of this cabinet. I made a set of record racks using an original section of record racks from a Herzog cabinet that was loaned to me by John Duffy here on the Forum. Thanks again, John.The cabinet was stripped, any missing veneer was repaired, and the cabinet was then professionally refinished. I repaired the ornate grill after it was stripped so that it could be finished with the cabinet. The top of the cabinet had been poorly veneered by some previous owner, it was removed and redone with correct Quater-Sawn oak veneer.The Victor V from my collection fits in nicely. You can double click on the pictures to enlarge them. The next step is to make a paper mache' form to reproduce the original grained horn. As I said previously, there is a collector nearby who has an original cabinet with horn, but so far I have had no luck getting to it. I have confirmed that the original horn is indeed shaped like the horn shown in the catalog. I will continue to work on this and will eventually be reproducing the horn for others that need one for this cabinet. I also have the record racks available for anyone who has a Herzog cabinet that may need them. Contact me through the Forum if interested. More to come! Bill