Ebay fun: VV-100 refinish travesty!

[antique1973]

Heinous...

http://cgi.ebay.com/VICTOR-TALKING-MACH ... 35a7bd0fa2

[bbphonoguy]

Looks like some of the horrible work I used to do on my refinishing projects as a teenager

[Zeppy]

At least they try to obscure how horrible the refinishing is by some genuinely terrible pictures.

[OrthoFan]

From what I can tell, they didn't really "re-finish" it; they simply slapped (splattered) a top coat of something (Polyurethane?) over the existing old finish. I'm wondering if good close-up photos would reveal bits of dust, dirt and bristles embedded in the varnish.

(I don't feel so bad, now, about the way my 4-40's lid came out .)

[antique1973]

It looks like varnish they slathered over the old finish. You can see where they painted over the Victrola
trademark under the lid. What a waste.

[Kirkwood]

It looks to me like it's a "varnish stain"----a pigmented varnish, in this case "mahogany". It could have been put on there 50 or more years ago. You can see it on the edges of the metal ID plate. Some of the old homemaker magazines used to advertise such products. The supposed benefit was to revive that old, tired finish on your dining room set, upright piano, or Victrola. Somebody did just this to the (outside) of an Edison B-80 I got off craigslist; just recently I got the B-80 record cabinet with this same stuff slapped onto it. For now they kinda match, but while the B-80 is really in a mahogany case, the record cabinet is oak underneath. I can't think of anything good to say about such a finish except "it sure is shiny".

[frenchmarky]

Compared to the Credenza I just finished as my first total refinishing job, mine looks like a Victor-factory-fresh machine! This monstrosity looks like they slathered it with pancake syrup using their fingers, with the latter 4 months overdue for a manicure.

[gramophoneshane]

I can't think of anything good to say about such a finish except "it sure is shiny".

I can, and that is that it might have protected the original finish for the last 40 or 50 years, and sometimes if you're lucky, you can run a razor or sharp knife edge between the two finishes & it will peel off in great big sheets, leaving the original finish intact.
I've had success doing this on a couple different bits of furniture over the years, but it all depends how well the surface was prepared before the plastic was applied.
I've actually got the top half of a 1911 HMV Libary Bijou Grand downstairs that I'm hoping will be that easy. I guess I'll find out in the next few months.