Choices for turntable felt?

Share your phonograph repair & restoration techniques here
Post Reply
cweastlick
Victor II
Posts: 402
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:17 am
Location: Wilmington , OH

Choices for turntable felt?

Post by cweastlick »

American Felt and Craft has been recommended on the Forum before. Cilantro for Columbia machines and Fresh Cut Grass for Victor machine is what has been recommended. I have been waiting for two months for the company to have Fresh Cut Grass in stock sold in yards. I have contacted the company and they do not know when they will have it stocked again. Can anyone suggest another company/color that is closest to original Victor green turntable felt?
Thanks!!

EarlH
Victor III
Posts: 830
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:25 pm
Location: North Central Iowa

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by EarlH »

I bought some green pool table cloth 10 years ago or so and then dyed it darker green with Rit dye and that looks pretty good. The pool table cloth is wool and is more like woven felt it's about as close as I've found to real felt. At least it's not synthetic and doesn't "flash" at you while the turntable is spinning. It was about $40 a yard when I bought it though and I only have a few small pieces of it left enough for punchings, but not a turntable.

User avatar
phonogfp
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 8011
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:08 pm
Personal Text: "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." - A. Lincoln
Location: New York's Finger Lakes

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by phonogfp »

cweastlick wrote:American Felt and Craft has been recommended on the Forum before. Cilantro for Columbia machines and Fresh Cut Grass for Victor machine is what has been recommended. I have been waiting for two months for the company to have Fresh Cut Grass in stock sold in yards. I have contacted the company and they do not know when they will have it stocked again. Can anyone suggest another company/color that is closest to original Victor green turntable felt?
Thanks!!
At the risk of being redundant, I'll re-post my reply which is over on the APS Facebook Page:

To call a color "Victor's green" or "Columbia's green" is to over-generalize the matter. Both Victor and Columbia used a variety of greens over the years, in a rough chronological progression. The original green on the turntable of a 1903 Victor Monarch will not match the green of a 1912 Victrola XI, nor a 1920 Victrola XVI. At least, they didn't match originally. If you share the model and the approximate year of the machine (if you know the year - the serial number if you don't), perhaps someone can post a photo of an original felt for you to match.

...It just occurred to me that one of the articles on the APS web site, titled Encountering Antique Phonographs, shows in large format a VV-IV, plus a 1909 VV-XII, and a 1917 VV-XVI: all with their original turntable felts and all different colors. You can access that article directly here:
http://www.antiquephono.org/encountering-antique.../

George P.

tomb
Victor IV
Posts: 1406
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:46 pm
Location: riverside calif

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by tomb »

George I was going to PM you with a question but maybe other people would like this information too.
I have been a member for several years and thought you could access the articles that are listed on the home page. Have any other ones been made avaible to view?? Other people seem to be able to post some from the archives that I can not find.
I have been trying for a week to get into the video's without success. I have tried several times to have a password sent to no avail. I realize that they are changing the site but is there an estimate as to when the project will be operational. I do not want to bug them now as I imagine many others are inquiring. Tom B

User avatar
phonogfp
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 8011
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:08 pm
Personal Text: "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." - A. Lincoln
Location: New York's Finger Lakes

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by phonogfp »

tomb wrote:George I was going to PM you with a question but maybe other people would like this information too.
I have been a member for several years and thought you could access the articles that are listed on the home page. Have any other ones been made avaible to view?? Other people seem to be able to post some from the archives that I can not find.
I have been trying for a week to get into the video's without success. I have tried several times to have a password sent to no avail. I realize that they are changing the site but is there an estimate as to when the project will be operational. I do not want to bug them now as I imagine many others are inquiring. Tom B
Tom,
This has been addressed on the following thread:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =7&t=27832

I'm not directly involved in the technical end, so I cannot provide specifics. However, those who are up to their elbows in it assure us that we'll be seeing the changes very soon.

Right now, only a handful of members are testing out the site. I haven't been able to access videos but others can - it depends upon the browser. The webmasters are fixing this.

Again, we appreciate your patience.

George P.

tomb
Victor IV
Posts: 1406
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:46 pm
Location: riverside calif

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by tomb »

Thanks for the information George... I am looking forward as probably many Victrola/Edison/record player fans to the trove of information and videos... I guess I am just a little impatient as most people are for good information. I buy a lot of books ( three of yours with two to go) but it seem videos give a better context and understanding. Tom B

User avatar
phonogfp
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 8011
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:08 pm
Personal Text: "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." - A. Lincoln
Location: New York's Finger Lakes

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by phonogfp »

tomb wrote: I buy a lot of books ( three of yours with two to go) but it seem videos give a better context and understanding. Tom B
Good for you for educating yourself, Tom.

Just for your information, we have eight titles in print:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ire#p91754

George P.

User avatar
NEFaurora
Victor IV
Posts: 1214
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:02 pm
Personal Text: "A Phonograph in every home..."
Location: Melbourne, FL (Former New Yorker!)

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by NEFaurora »

I have the "The Talking Machine Compendium" book,...What a wonderful book...A+++..A definite MUST pick up book.

One of these days, I'll pick them all up.. Probably with "Discovering Antique Phonographs" being next..

Tim and George really know how to put out good books!


:o)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

User avatar
phonogfp
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 8011
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:08 pm
Personal Text: "If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will." - A. Lincoln
Location: New York's Finger Lakes

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by phonogfp »

Thanks for the kind words, Tony! :)

George P.

justin ball
Victor Jr
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:50 am

Re: Choices for turntable felt?

Post by justin ball »

but does your colour monitor accurately portray the colour? Their camera, their editing, your monitor adds up to several generations...like faxing a fax...

Post Reply