The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Problem is if there are oily stains. I was successful cleaning a big black oil stain from an otherwise complete felt by using no Pumice GooP. It works very well to clean stains on fabrics, so I thought I'd give it a try after Woolite didn't work. Put the GooP really thick on the whole felt and left it there for maybe 15-20 minutes, only massaging it in gently with my fingers. Afterwards I rinsed it with lots of water and some dishwashing fluid. Used lots of paper towels to soak the water out, then put the turntable upside down on a stack of paper towels and let it dry over night. It cleaned nicely, didn't shrink or get fluffy and is now very presentable.

Andreas

Glad that it worked Andreas. I would have thought all that would have separated the felt from the turntable and shrunk it. Amazing!

Clay

Well, this is a little embarrassing, but I'll share it anyway.

I had a 7 inch Zonophone turntable whose felt had significant oily stains. I can't remember what I tried first, but the initial results were poor. Finally, I tried spraying WD-40 over the entire felt and blotting it dry. After air-drying overnight, the stains were gone!

George P.

phonogfp wrote:Well, this is a little embarrassing, but I'll share it anyway.

I had a 7 inch Zonophone turntable whose felt had significant oily stains. I can't remember what I tried first, but the initial results were poor. Finally, I tried spraying WD-40 over the entire felt and blotting it dry. After air-drying overnight, the stains were gone!

George P.

Makes perfect sense to me George. Considering WD-40 is actually a solvent/rust inhibitor. It is NOT a lubricant. It really is amazing how many people think it is.... .

What was used to glue the felt to the turntable originally? Ii seems like LFTD states Victor used shellac, but I'm not sure.
I have a Victor E which has shrunken felt. At first I thought it had a chunk missing but on closer inspection I realized it had just shrunk a way from the edge part of the way around. My wife, who is very knowledgeable about these sorts of things having been involved in sewing in crafts all of her life, tells me that the felt can be carefully re-stretched when wet either with water or your chosen cleaning solvent, but it must be wet. Sort of like blocking a wool sweater to dry back in the day. If you overstretch it, you cannot get it back into shape even by rewetting and drying it. Any excess will have to be trimmed. To dry, first carefully blot it between 2 terry towels. Don't squeeze it or wring it, just press it or it will distort.
I would not remove the felt unless I had to; cleaning it in place would certainly be easier, and I certainly would not replace it if not absolutely necessary. It seems like "The Compleat Talking Machine" addresses this issue as well.

Jim

phonojim wrote:What was used to glue the felt to the turntable originally? Ii seems like LFTD states Victor used shellac, but I'm not sure.

Jim, I'm guessing that they glued the felt with burnt shellac (so-called as much of the alcohol is burned out of mixed shellac to prepare it). This was an adhesive that wouldn't bleed through the felt.