The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Joey,
The mechanism is looking really good. Nice work! I agree with Tony's idea that you may be able to get away with a partial refinish of the bedplate.

How ever good Gregg Cline's decals are (and they are very good) they are still reproductions and still look like reproductions. It is incredibly hard, for some reason to do an exact match. Often, lines tend to go thicker. Gregg's decals are an excellent choice when a decal needs to be replaced but if you have something original that approaches usability, I really urge you to try to save it.

I know I've probably mentioned this somewhere before, but I've had some success in patching up a damaged bedplate finish using nigrosene, part of a Gregg Cline decal and some hand lining with gold paint. This was on a model F Standard I got several years ago: This is the bedplate with damaged corner sanded with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Closer view of above Final results with hand painted stripes, repro corner decal and covered with shellac.

Here is a close up of a repro Corner decal: And here is an original corner decoration (note the thinner lines): Obviously, it's a personal choice, but I want you to know that you do have choices. Good luck with the project. I think you're making great progress.

Martin

I'm very sorry, but I decided to sandblast all the metal parts and repaint them. The bedplate looked far better on the photo than it really was. There were air bubbles, and someone tried fixing the paint next to the signature. Instead of patching and redoing I decided to do everything new, and hopefully well from the beginning.

Doing the spring was extremely tricky, because the forces were immense and unknown to us. My father and I did this for the first time, and we needed three attempts to get everything going again. The spring itself was in a good condition, it just needed some cleaning and oiling. After we installed it back into the motor, everything ran perfectly. And we were so happy . The spring is very powerful.
I only oiled the motor, where friction arises, and not the cogs themselves. I hope this is alright.

Eventually finished with the bedplate!
The first picture shows the primed parts. I chose a red colour to see any major imperfections; there were not really big ones. Only some minor flaws, which are not bothering me at all.
Then I took a photo of the prepared bedplate, ready for installation.
The decals are very thin, and it took me some time to do them. But I think the outcome is reasonable for the first time, I never used decals before.
Tomorrow I will apply some Micro Sol, then on Friday I'll finish everything with a few layers to protect and hide the edges.

Greetings
Joey

I handed the case to the restorer to have it done. But I have two questions about the finish.
Were the cases originally high gloss or matte? The restorer said they were never so shiny, but almost all the restored cases I saw are very high glossy.
What was the original colour of the case? I had a look at cases and they all have a different shade of brown.

Thank you very much!

Joey

Hi Joey.

I believe the finish was called "Antique Oak". It was rather a medium to dark-ish brown. The original stain was an aniline stain. I've used "Van Dyke Brown" aniline stain to get a very close match. "perfect Brown" would also work. Don't let yourself get trapped by the labeling of the stain color. Even if the stain says "Medium Walnut" - if the color matches what you are going for, then use it. The grain was filled with black or dark brown filler to make the surface smoother. The finish was shellac - most likely amber. The final coat was very finely sanded with something like 600 or 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then polished to a medium luster.

Certainly the original finishes were glossier than they appear now (what with aging and dirt). Many of the very glossy cases seen now have been refinished with the final sand and polish step skipped. I'd recommend using shellac. Modern varnishes (especially polyurethane) tend to look inauthentic and plastic. Remember, you will need the case back before the last coats so you can apply the decal (unless your guy has experience with decals).

If your refinisher balks at any of this, you may want to thank him for his time and try the process yourself. It is not as hard as you may think and you will know what details are important to you. In what ever you end up doing, good luck.

Regards,
Martin

Sorry for making you wait so long.
The restorer took such a long time to restore it. It was quite expensive, far more than he originally quoted.
I the meantime I restored an Edison Home Phonograph all by myself. I don't want to boast, but in my opinion, my case is just as good as the professionally restored one. What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Joey

Joey,

I think your Home resto looks great !


With most ( all ? ) restorations, the end result is a product of the time and care invested in the work, as well as the materials used.

If the work is outsourced, the people doing the work are ( usually ) trying to make a profit doing so, and may not expend the necessary amount of time ( or employ appropriate materials ) to do a job your are happy with.

While our "time is money" too, I think it is still cheaper for the average hobbyist to spend his own time on a project, than to pay for someone else's time for a possibly not satisfactory job.


I'm not trying to besmirch the guys who do perform excellent restoration services, but there are many, many "restorers" out there whose idea of restoration includes a big can of polyurethane !

Congratulations on two very nice looking Edison machines !

Joey wrote:Sorry for making you wait so long.
The restorer took such a long time to restore it. It was quite expensive, far more than he originally quoted.
I the meantime I restored an Edison Home Phonograph all by myself. I don't want to boast, but in my opinion, my case is just as good as the professionally restored one. What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Joey

I think you have two beautiful, brand new-looking Phonographs, Joey! Congratulations on jobs well done, you should be very proud of your work!

Best,
Fran

Joey wrote:I don't want to boast, but in my opinion, my case is just as good as the professionally restored one.

Joey,
In my opinion your case is quite a bit better than the so-called "professional" job. The "professional" didn't come close to the color it should have had. Congratulations on a job well done!

Martin