Odd detail on Diamond Disc cabinet, W&M C-33.

[larryh]

I am a bit curious as to why the angled piece of wood holding the rear part of the reproduce who not have matched the cabinet like the front part? Could this have been someones idea added after the factory? What they called the wood is difficult as the grain on the doors is like mine and its hard to say which wood it is for sure.

[EarlH]

I haven't refinished that many Edison's, but the one's I've refinished in that color are mahogany. And much of the cabinet is white wood with colored shellac or lacquer over it. Those guys got pretty good with those tinted finishes in those years.

It would be nice to know what exactly they used for a finish because it seems to have laid down nicely for them, and they sure could lay it on thick. It was shellac based, but they added something else to it and Edison seems to have brushed a lot of the finishes out that they were using. At least that's what I've seen over the years with runs, sags, brush hair and fingerprints I've run across. I haven't run into much of that on Victor products but they do on occasion as well.

[larryh]

I thought the late cabinets were lacquer? My William and Mary Console is and I used brushing lacquer over the old finish and established a whole new coat for the lid. Somehow though that brushing lacquer has tended to get marks in it where the felt pads on the lamp sits as well as a decorative jar that I put felt on to protect the finish. That didn't work out. Shellac with do a similar thing it seems. The finish on mine however didn't test out to be shellac when some denatured alcohol was applied to a hidden part. The wood I agree may be mahogany which is stained more to the brown tones than a redish which was popular before this period. Walnut usually has a wider more circular looking grain, the straight grain on the doors looks pretty much like what my chippendale has on it.

[EarlH]

Most companies switched to lacquer in 1924 when the spray lacquers like we think of them today came out. Before that they usually used what they called 'spirit varnishes' which were shellac based. It's a little confusing though because in the old finishing books they called nearly any finish in those days 'varnish'. And most of those finishes will soften up with alcohol, but they added other resins to the shellac to make it a little more durable, and probably to slow the drying time down so it leveled up better. That helped get the filled grain finish that was the norm in those days. And they did spray finishes on before 1924, but those finishes usually had to be brushed behind them and the sprayer was just used to get the finish on the cabinet. The sprayer also helped a lot with keeping dust, et. out of the finish. I have a DeVilbiss from about 1918 or so and it really looks more like an airless sprayer. I've never used it though.

[marcapra]

LarryH,

Does your WMC cabinet have that angled cross brace where mine is? I want to know is that cross brace structural for the strength of the cabinet, or just there t hold the reproducer neck? Marc.

[larryh]

Mine shows no evidence of a holder of any kind.