Oak cygnet horn restoration

[JohnM]

At the Orlando Show, I picked up the restored bell for the oak cygnet horn that came with the Model E 'Home' I acquired last Summer. Don Gfell did the restoration. The horn had apparently spent decades in a hot attic, and the panels were in the process of separating with two panels having come loose completely. There was no other damage to the horn. The finish was original with some minor alligatoring, and the decals were original and nice. Don reamalgamated and overcoated the finish for me.

Here's the breakdown on restoration costs. Mind you, I have no workspace anymore and travel for a living, so I send everything out nowadays.

Purchase price: $300
Road trip to pick up: Louisville-Columbus-Louisville $75
Packing/shipping to various restorers: $245
Mechanical rebuild including main-shaft bearing (Vollema): $300
Brighten plated parts, re-grain elbow (Farmer): $110
Free reproducer from carriage/grind carriage/rebuild O (Medved): $20
Horn bell resto (Gfell): $475

I swung by both George V. and Steve M's houses when we were in their neighborhoods and picked up the machine and the reproducer and carriage, respectively, and had great visits with both.

Below are some photos of the horn before and after. I'm currently in Florida with the horn bell, and the machine is back home in Indiana, and it will be May before we're there and all the parts are integrated into a complete, well-playing Home Model E, but I'll post pictures again, then.

Taken on the tailgate of my truck in the BP station parking lot in Columbus, Oh., about 30 seconds after the deal was consummated. Note the two completely separated panels stacked inside and the tarnished collar.

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Interior after Gfellization.

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Exterior after Gfellization. Decals and finish are original, although finish has been reamalgamated and overcoated. Collar shined up nicely, although some loose plating loss in area not visible when set up.

Horn02.JPG (61.51 KiB) Viewed 2124 times

[Jerry B.]

It looks terrific! Thanks for sharing. Jerry Blais

[schweg]

Great restoration. Don's work is always topnotch whether it's a repair, or one of his nice newly made wood horns.

[Stephen_Madara]

The horn looks great. I saw it when he finished it. He takes great pride in repairing horns that would otherwise be unusable.

[Valecnik]

It's going to be a great looking machine when you get it all put together!

I would assume Don can then repair entact horns with splits while while saving the original decals? Or in your case John, are those new decals? Either way it looks great.

[Starkton]

The horn is really nice. How did Mr. Gfell protect the decal and how does the re-graining of the elbow work?

Looking at your expenses, what does a complete horn cost in nice original condition? And a reproduction?

[JohnM]

When I first spoke with Don about the horn, I asked him to save the original decals if possible. He explained that he couldn't guarantee it because every horn restoration is different. I also told him that I would prefer to have some alligatoring in the original finish than sacrifice the decals. Fortunately, he was able to preserve the decals on this one. There are a couple of areas on the horn where the original alligatoring, while greatly reduced, is still present. I actually like this effect as it adds to the 'age' of the horn, and testifies that the original finish was not removed in restoration. I would suppose that Don simply used a cautious and light touch when reamalgamating the finish over the decals.

From what I understand, when Don restores a horn, it is completely disassembled and then laid up on forms and completely reglued with a modern epoxy. Don won't glue up just the loose seams, because then there would be two radically different adhesives holding the horn together and the old hide-glue seams could eventually fail. According to Don, worst case scenario is restoring a horn that someone else has already attempted to restore. This is also the most expensive scenario!

Starkton, I'm not sure what a modern horn bell costs. I had a beautiful Bill White mahogany spearpoint for a Victor at one time, but no longer have it. I think I paid about $1800 for it, but memory fails. Maybe it was $1200 . . . can't remember. Whatever it was, it was perfect and worth every dime. Nor am I sure what an original bell will bring these days. I can tell you that as I was carrying the bell to my truck in Orlando, I was propositioned for the bell at least a half-dozen times!

Steve Farmer's graining skills are first-rate. Looks like he uses a graining brush and a glaze over base coat to achieve the effect -- just basic wood-graining, but very well-executed, just like factory. Before restoration the elbow had at least 50% paint loss and light surface rust, but fortunately no dents or dings.

So, I have $1525 into it, but it's a real looker (the pin-striping is 99%) that was apparently retired to the attic fairly early in its career as the motor has virtually no wear and is very quiet. George said that the bearing replacement in this one was the most difficult he had ever done. I may take it on the road with me next year, not only as my daily cylinder player, but also as a prop for old-time photos. At any rate, another old phonograph saved from an uncertain fate in a Columbus, Ohio garage (my apologies once again to SonnyPhono for prowling in his backyard -- it was an accident! Or perhaps . . . kismet! )

[Starkton]

Thank you for in-depth reply. I can hardly wait to see the complete machine with mounted horn!

[JohnM]

I can hardly wait to see the complete machine with mounted horn!

Me too!

[98indypacer]

Stunning restoration!