The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

billybob62 wrote:This has turned into a discussion of ethics among traders, which is always good, but the question remains "Has anyone made or had made, for personal enjoyment, any very authentic looking mahogany or other wood cases rather than the original wood"? Some of us have no intention of selling our machines.
I personally think a mahogany case for a fireside , a standard or any other cylinder player, for that matter, would be the "bees knees".

I agree. I think burled walnut would be as well.

How about names of people who could do this?
Enquiring minds want to know!!

billybob62 wrote:How about names of people who could do this?
Enquiring minds want to know!!

I may know of someone. The question will be if he can do the dovetail joints right.

While you are at it... a rosewood case would be nice or any other exotic type wood. Then it would be a custom one off case.

Great ideas. I like rosewood and love cherry. They would be stunning. Now to find someone to do it.Hmmm.

billybob62 wrote:Great ideas. I like rosewood and love cherry. They would be stunning. Now to find someone to do it.Hmmm.

I am looking into it. It doesn't have to be just for Edisons alone, either. This could be very fun.

This has turned into a discussion of ethics among traders, which is always good, but the question remains "Has anyone made or had made, for personal enjoyment, any very authentic looking mahogany or other wood cases rather than the original wood"? Some of us have no intention of selling our machines.
I personally think a mahogany case for a fireside , a standard or any other cylinder player, for that matter, would be the "bees knees".

Sorry, I had no intentions of changing the course of this thread. With that said, I do think it is an ethical issue. You may have no intentions of ever selling your mahogany Fireside but I doubt if you will be its final owner. Are you going to leave specific instructions to have the Fireside mechanism placed back in its oak cabinet and toss the mahogany cabinet in the fireplace?

I had a phono friend back in the nineties and he modified a Triumph that needed a restoration by nickel plating the mechanism. It looked terrific. He died and his son inherited and enjoyed his collection. He owned the nickel plated Triumph for over a decade before selling a large chunk of the collection, including the Triumph, to another collector. That collector owned most of these machines for some time before offering them for sale. He was now the third owner of the nickel plated Triumph offered it as the prize of his collection and wondered if I was an interested buyer. I recognized the machine and knew its history so I was not interested. I reluctantly asked who he bought it from and told him the history of his most prized machine. That machine is still in circulation in a collection somewhere and it's unfortunate.

I like the idea of an exact replica Fireside cabinet in mahogany. But please know that if you make a really exact replica you must take precautions or you WILL create confusion and heartache with a future owner or owners.

Respectfully, Jerry Blais

You know, a friend of mine had an uncle that dealt in antique from after WWII until the late 1960's. His uncle knew old guys that did furniture carving back when they were young in the 1890's and got them to make dozens of small oval "Victorian" marble top tables. He lived down by St. Louis and before his uncle died, he gave Terry one of the tables they used as a pattern, and one of the duplicates. I doubt anybody buying them thought they were old as his uncle was very honest about what he was doing but those gals back then wanted pairs of tables, so he could accommodate. Those tables those old boys made for him are spot-on and he had to put a chalk X on the inside rim of where the marble sets on the new one's to keep the apart from his old one's since he had them duplicate several styles of them. Well now it's 60-70 years later and if it wasn't for that chalk X you'd have no idea which one was which! And those tables must have been sold far and wide since then.

I think if you were going to do something like that with an Edison cabinet, it would still look new (or at least not look quite right for it's age) on the inside of the cabinet and the bottom. But who knows 60 years from now. So if I see a mahogany Standard someday, I'll look for that chalk X. Haha!

Jerry B. wrote:

This has turned into a discussion of ethics among traders, which is always good, but the question remains "Has anyone made or had made, for personal enjoyment, any very authentic looking mahogany or other wood cases rather than the original wood"? Some of us have no intention of selling our machines.
I personally think a mahogany case for a fireside , a standard or any other cylinder player, for that matter, would be the "bees knees".

Sorry, I had no intentions of changing the course of this thread. With that said, I do think it is an ethical issue. You may have no intentions of ever selling your mahogany Fireside but I doubt if you will be its final owner. Are you going to leave specific instructions to have the Fireside mechanism placed back in its oak cabinet and toss the mahogany cabinet in the fireplace?

I had a phono friend back in the nineties and he modified a Triumph that needed a restoration by nickel plating the mechanism. It looked terrific. He died and his son inherited and enjoyed his collection. He owned the nickel plated Triumph for over a decade before selling a large chunk of the collection, including the Triumph, to another collector. That collector owned most of these machines for some time before offering them for sale. He was now the third owner of the nickel plated Triumph offered it as the prize of his collection and wondered if I was an interested buyer. I recognized the machine and knew its history so I was not interested. I reluctantly asked who he bought it from and told him the history of his most prized machine. That machine is still in circulation in a collection somewhere and it's unfortunate.

I like the idea of an exact replica Fireside cabinet in mahogany. But please know that if you make a really exact replica you must take precautions or you WILL create confusion and heartache with a future owner or owners.

Respectfully, Jerry Blais

If Nick and I wind up doing something with this I'll probably have a brand designed so that it can be burned into each inner panel of the cabinet. This way there will never be a question of it being a repro or concept cabinet.

My intention would be to keep the oak case and the person who would potentially buy it in the future would get both cases or just the original if that is what he would prefer.
And Jerry, your opinions are always worth listening to.