The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Nick, no need to apologize, I was not real clear. Thanks for all your help. I have been on other forums were members were not so friendly to new folks, glad to find everyone here so helpful.

Matt, I will send you a PM latter today when I get off work.

-Ben

NCYankee wrote:Thanks All for the advice. I think I will rebuild the reproducer, as the cost in minimal and try it on my other model X (spider leg version.) which currently has the improved concert which I also need to rebuild. At least I will get something for the five dollars I spent.

I will see what I can do to the cabinet. At least I can try some cleaning and refinishing ideas without damaging something I will regret.

I started to break down the motor and clean out the motor compartment of the cabinet. I have all the parts, but the governor spur gear is damaged. I also need a crank, So I will decide on the motor after I see what I can do with the cabinet.

Ouch in all my years of collecting, I have never seen a drive gear broken. Just shows you can run into anything.

Like some members say, a nicer condition cabinet VV-X floor model could be had for less than a couple hundred dollars.

My experience was bitter sweet back in June, I found a VV-XI tabletop, not super rare, but not common. I always wanted one became too excited and bought it for $225.00. I got home, the cabinet is nice, minus a small section of veneer that broke on top and had been repaired at some point in time.

The inside decal was wonderful, and no alligatoring inside the lid. The problems I had were enormous, the gold reproducer, tone arm, back bracket, all the gold hardware was missing and replaced with parts from a later model. Fortunately, I have had great success with our fellow members coming through with these correct and much needed parts.

All in all, by the end of week, I will cut the check for the last set of parts, and will probably have about 700.00 into this machine, which is a great deal considering some of the dealers wanted even more, and I broke the bank to do this one.

Lesson learned, I am happy with the machine, and it is not a common machine, it was a opportunity to put a machine back together the way it should be, in essence, preserving history. At the same time, I would have not attempted this on a common phonograph. There are too many machine that can be had for less money, better condition and aggravation in locating parts.

And as always, check with members on the forum, they may have the parts that you need.

Btw, I will be posting pictures of the machine as soon as it is totally finished, its almost there.

Thanks. As it stands now I have a total of five dollars invested, so even If I toss the whole thing in the trash I have not lost anything. That said I am still looking for a cheap gear, but am in no hurry.

The cabinet is missing a chip of veneer from the lid and there is damage to one of the rear legs, a problem of I was selling it but not if it is just sitting there in my living room. I used GOOP to clean the cabinet, just to see how it works. I did clean it up well. The only cleaning issue is there were spots of paint the look like dripped on the cabinet in storage. I got most of them off, but some spots are still there. I am not sure I would use the GOOP method on anything I cared about. It seemed to me that the finish was softened and partial dissolved. I say this because there we spots where the finish worn down to bare wood, and after the Goop cleaning the spots were covered with finish and blended into the rest of the cabinet. In my mind this could only happen if the finish dissolved and was spread onto the bare wood when wiping it clean.

I believe I know how the gear was damaged. The platter was stuck tightly on the spindle. It looks like Someone gave it a good yank and pulled the platter and spindle out of the table. I believe that this damaged the gear. I had to use a hydraulic press to get the spindle off the turntable.