The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Not sure the motor board would be walnut. Maybe the surrounding cabinet framework though. I believe most Victor motor boards were a lesser wood that was stained to match the main cabinet. This seems to be true for mahogany cabinets. The exception probably being oak cabinets.

Here's my XVII in walnut motor board.The outer rim looks to be, not sure of the center. So is anyone taking a stab at this project?

I have the works, but my cabinet is shot. Wish this was in the mid-west!

On the motor boards, many (but not all) the walnut cabinets had a motor board made of birch, and the surround as well. This was stained close to the color of the exterior walnut. You can tell this way; under a bright light the motor board will appear to be significantly lighter in color than the exterior of the cabinet. See birch motor board here on a VV-XVI.

Victor even did that with some of the oak cabinets. I have an early XIV that all the wood under the lid below the rim the lid rests on is birch. Those stains have faded so it wouldn't have been quite so noticeable when they were new. It also wouldn't be very hard to get a mahogany horn to look fine in that walnut cabinet, although knocking those horns apart and refinishing them is quite a job. I would probably leave it alone and I doubt many (if any) would ever notice it.