Edison Horn Questions

[Victor78]

I recently picked up this Edison horn, and was wondering of anyone had any tips on repairing the joint as shown. I'm assuming these were soldered together when they were made. It's cracked about ⅓ or better around that joint. The horn isn't in to bad of shape, other than that joint, and I believe the machine end of it has been repainted. It's hard to tell if the rest of it was because I can faintly see an outline of where the decal is/was. You can kind of make it out in the picture, was hard to capture. The length of it is 31", and from tip to tip on the bell is a tad over 19", can I assume this was for the Home model? So the questions are, what to do, try and repair then repaint, repair and touch up, or leave as is. I really don't want the crack in the joint to get any worse. It would be great to leave it as original as I could. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Thanks in advanced!

Jim

[Jerry B.]

I've seen horns that were repaired and it seems like the cone is always a little off. I was going to suggest driving something like an electric ground rod into the ground exactly vertical. Once you're happy with vertical I'd pass the horn over the rod. If the rod is vertical and the ground flat your repair should be accurate. If yours is still partially attached you should be able to skip this step. I'd mix up and apply JB Weld in modest amounts around the damaged seam. The next day I'd remove any excess and shape with a Dremmel. Finally, I'd paint as needed and only as needed. Hope this helps.

Jerry Blais

[Victor78]

Thanks Jerry, that sounds easy enough to do and a great idea to keep it straight. I did talk to others about this, and they had mentioned that the horns were sort of crimped together, not soldered. Ive never seen one apart so I wasn't sure what I was dealing with.

Jim

[Chuck]

Yep! What Jerry said. This looks to be a nice
horn. The least invasive repair is probably
the best way to go. Please keep us updated.
We will all be looking forward to seeing your
before and after photos. Have fun and best of luck!

Chuck

[RSStone]

You're going to want to solder it, you'll have to clean the bare metal Really Well. I've had good results using ISO-TIP, it's a cold solder that works pretty good with just a bic cigarette lighter, or you want a low heat, heavyflux or acid core soldere so it sticks without having to get things red hot. JB Weld will look good and is easy, I did a repair last year, but the vibrations traveling through the horn caused it to crack and split again after about a dozen records played so I had to re-do it at my expense lol...