The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Yes, Home Depot only had the pumice type of GoJo. So I may have to order it over the Internet. I'm in no hurry.

Let me say a little about the machine and what I've done so far. I got it at an auction about 30 miles from home. The auction was what I call a low-end auction, the opposite end of the spectrum from Sotheby's. Still you never know what or who turns up and sometimes things go for a hefty price nonetheless. I went for my wife to check out a pie safe. It was a beauty. I never got to bid on it; two guys took it up to $1925! Anyway, as it were and unbeknownst to me there were three machines, a common Edison with a case in such bad shape that only the diehard would attempt to restore. It went for more than I was willing to pay for the horn and reproducer (someone bought it who didn't really know what she was buying--I was so relieved when she outbid me). Then there was a very interesting off-brand table model, probably from the 1920's.The motorboard was wood, but the sides were sheet metal finished off to look like mahogany. I can't remember the name on it, something like Mag-Ni-Phone. The motor looked Swiss. It was seized, and the mainspring was broken. I have a soft spot for this sort of thing. It went for an OK price but more than I was willing to pay.

And then there was the Standard. It was all there, including the crank and horn. It looked a mess. I knew it looked far worse than it actually was. (Well, the horn needs to be stripped and repainted.) The auctioneer said all this stuff came out of a 50-year accumulation and that it was stored in either a garage or barn. All this stuff had years of neglect written all over it.

I've disassembled and cleaned the motor. The mainspring is quite good, in fact the entire motor really hadn't been tampered with. The governor has two lead weights. These were badly oxidized. Lead oxide is a white powder and a lot of the weights simply flaked off. The cores are solid lead, but I suspect they are now underweight, which may explain why the motor seems to turn much greater 78 rpms. Not sure about that. Really haven't had a chance to adjust the governor yet. The oak case was extremely dark. Shellac will darken with time, but this was due to a lot of black gunk on it. You could take a clean cloth and a smudge would come off. I wiped the entire case off with turpentine. That improved things, but there were several distracting white areas where the shellac had been exposed to moisture. Didn't look good.

And then I got lucky, real lucky. I have a gentle cleaning solution that I prepare myself. I got the recipe from an English furniture conservator's handbook. The primary ingredient is turpentine, with a small amount of ethanol, some ammonia, and some dishwasher detergent. There is just enough ethanol in there such that I could control the re-amalgamation of the shellac in those white spots. The case is looking really good now. However, I have not touched the front yet where the decal is. It is totally intact but dirty as the rest of the case had been before I cleaned it.

So that's where things stand now. Believe me, I am not always this lucky.

jboger wrote:Unfortunately no luck at my Walmart for Goop. Found only the pumice GoJO at Home Depot, which I won't use. I will test a small area with a Q-tip and some xylene. The bracket has been painted with black enamel. There's spot inside the bracket that I can try to spot test.

I found Goop at Horror Fright (a/k/a Harbor Freight), so if there's one near you give it a try. This is the white stuff, no abrasives, comes in a 5 oz.tube. I believe they also have it in larger containers. HTH

Thought people might like to see the nasty, dirty reproducer, which I finally got apart this morning. I had finally ground down a screwdriver so it nested tightly in the slot of the reproducer screws. They finally budged. The screw holes have a rubber lining to reduce vibrtations. Be nice if someone sold these. I got the two halves of the reproducer apart, but now need to figure how to change the rubber gaskets that hold the mica in place. There is also a picture of the front of the case. I may clean it some more--or let it go. Sometimes we seek perfection and run the risk of doing greater damage when good enough is more than adequate,

At long last my parts from Ron Sitko arrived when I got home this evening. There in the package were two sizes of rubber tubing for reproducer repair. So I fixed the Standard Model A reproducer just now, reattached it to the tone arm, and played the one record that I got. What an improvement! Here's what I did. I used the larger diameter tubing on the inside of the reproducer, and the smaller diameter on the outside. It works fine. I am loathe to take it apart, but do wonder if I should have tried the larger diameter on the outside as well. Anyone have an opinion on this matter?

HisMastersVoice wrote:Since WD-40 is primarily Naptha (paint stripper) I'd avoid it for any application related to phonographs, whether it's cleaning, lubricating, or otherwise.

Use this, it's the best for bed plates and wood: http://www.newlifewoodconditioners.com/ ... re-masque/

Non-Pumice Go-Jo also works well. GOOP would be a runner up to either of these.

Where did you get the info that WD-40 is Naptha or paint stripper? I have used WD-40 on all types of painted surfaces, including my BMW and absolutely no harm has been done... it removes tar and sticky stuff, but not paint.

http://goophandcleaner.com/


Its called Original Goop made since 1949