A surprising local find - Edison Standard B and large horn

[kirtley2012]

Where I live there is seldom very much of interest that shows up, I've seen many low quality cabinet gramophones, the odd portable and a few things of little interest, but rarely does anything of quality or much interest show up, so if it ever does I tend to buy it if I can, Cylinder phonographs in particular are of great interest to me, and prior to today, in my 10 or so years in this hobby I'd only ever seen two locally, a somewhat tired fireside which I found very early on and my gorgeous Edison Gem D which I found about 2 years ago, so imagine my surprise when I clicked onto the website earlier in the week of the local auction house in town and saw the following!

phonograph1.png (142.95 KiB) Viewed 817 times

I could tell it was an Edison standard B with combination attachment, very weathered, with what I assumed to be a 30" brass horn, I didn't go to the auction viewing, so I had no idea of the state of the motor or how seized the upper works were, but I thought even if it was not viable to restore, in the worst case scenario I needed a winding handle for my other standard, the combination attachment is worth so much and I could part it out to make some money back, so I decided at about £200 I would be happy and would take a punt on it.
I got up early and put the auction live stream on and readied my finger over the 'bid' button, multiple lots of house clearance tat came and went then lot 301 came up the auctioneer said "Now Lot 301, an Edison phonograph needing attention, we start at 25,28,30 on the internet... £32 thank you" then I pressed at £35 and put my bid in, the auctioneer went "£35 on the internet, have we got £40? £40 anybody?...no?... Sold to the internet", the auction went on and I couldn't quite believe it, I love the broken project machines and I felt like I'd just got the biggest bargain of the century.

well I've just got it home and some photos are below.

It is a standard B, the carriage rod is rusty but I think I can clean it up, luckily the feed screw seems fine and has survived, some of the screws are a bit stuck, and the upper works a bit gummed up, the stylus might be broken, but I expected as much, I need to find one, but overall, it doesn't seem as bad as it first looked.
The horn really got me excited though, we went to pick it up and when I got the horn in my hands I thought 'this looks a bit big', the end was broken off, separated at the solder join, likely from someone trying to mount the horn directly on the reproducer, I will have to solder a new end on, but while carrying it back I noticed the two hanging points, which were once spanned by the wavy adjustable type hanger usually found on concert horns, I've wanted a large concert horn forever so I that got my pulse going a bit and I came back and measured it, I'm not sure if it would be considered a concert horn, but it is a 42" brass horn, or it should be, it is currently 40" long, due to the end being broken off.

The motor was the biggest surprise, it runs! and it runs well, I recorded a quick video, it runs quiet and strong, all I did was wind it up and un hook the perished belt then away it went, now to get it singing.

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

[EdiBrunsVic]

You have a nice worthwhile project, Alex.

[Curt A]

Those machines are built like tanks... Even though it looks like it survived under WWII bombing rubble, it should turn out well... Congrats on a good buy.

[Inigo]

Nice bargain! You'll surely do a labor of love on it! We're eager to see the steps going on to what surely will end as a beauty in your expert hands, woww! congratulations!

[kirtley2012]

Thanks guys, mechanically it really needs very little, hardly anything in fact, a bit of cleaning the rust off and lubrication and it should be ready to play.
I may do some updates like I did with the suitcase home, it seems the biggest part of this project will be getting the bed plate presentable, I’m not a fan of re-painting anything, but I may have to make an exception here, the paint is flaking away all over the place, here’s what it looks like with the dirt removed, I think there’s a good chance I can save the original Edison decal on the bed plate as that’s alright, but all the rest of the paint will need re-done, I’ll see if I can do that tomorrow, the cabinet will look pretty good once cleaned

[kirtley2012]

They’re still curing, but a distinct improvement so far, the Edison decal is the original one too

The bed plate after going over with a wire wheel to remove dirt and loose paint, prior to stripping

[Hit of the Week]

Nice job!! Ya' do what ya' gotta do !
Nice save!

Iowa Dale

[TinfoilPhono]

Wow -- that is seriously amazing. Great work.

[Inigo]

Very nice! The Golden trim by the borders is a new decal, or did you paint it by hand?

[kirtley2012]

Thanks!

The gold is hand painted, except for the edison trade mark which is the original decal