The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

If you just cleaned your cabinet with some turpentine to make sure there isn't any wax on it, and then gave it a coat of shellac you'd be much happier with it. It would look better completely refinished, but giving it a coat of shellac to brighten it up won't make any difference down the road when you decide to strip it and start over. I have a V that I bought off craigslist earlier this summer for $300 and it was almost completely black from sitting in a garage for years. It looks much better now and was in WAY worse shape than your cabinet is.

That motor part shouldn't be too hard to come up with as that's the same motor most of the L-door XVI's used. I had some motor parts for one of those, but I think I've already given them away. But I'll do some looking later today and see if that's the case. Good luck with it now, those are really nice machines. Earl

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Save your money. $850 for that is too much and unless you have pictures of the motor, you don't know what is in there. Something will turn up. Earlier this year I went to an estate sale and bought a Viv V complete, original and running with a 24" black horn for $1K, so you never know what might turn up. BTW: yours looks good, the repairs are well done and the average observer will never know.

Jim

Your "motor frame" has not been broken in two, just the little end bracket. Not a big deal. I'm sure one will show up eventually if you want to replace it. George Vollema probably has one to sell you at WAY under $850. As for the cracked cabinet, it appears to be invisible. Just me personally, I'd be more irked at the water damaged finish. I'm not picking on your phonograph here, just saying the finish issue is more noticeable than any repaired crack.

gramophone-georg wrote:

drh wrote:

Jerry B. wrote:Yes, it is the cabinet for a Victor V. The brake should be nickel not gold. It would be an uphill battle to complete. It could easily cost more to purchase all the necessary parts compared to buying an already complete Victor V.

Jerry B.

I wouldn't even consider it, except that, thanks to lousy packing by an eBay seller, my V ended up repaired but chronically injured, and this one has the exact parts I need to replace my repaired-but-still-imperfect ones: the case (mine had one side bashed out; that panel is now back in but cracked into two pieces, and as a consequence of the damage the whole thing needs refinishing) and the motor frame (mine is broken in two and then welded back together). With this donor, I would probably just substitute motors entirely. On the other hand, as noted, this case doesn't exactly match mine, which had a core "box" that comes out closer to the edge of the base molding, and the asking price (with shipping, $850) strikes me as high. Anyhow, thank you for your confirmation and advice!

$850?

Save your dough- that cabinet you have would look fine with a refinish- I need to find it (and that's no small task! ), but somewhere in my parts stash I have a V parts motor with the bracket you need on it. If I can find it, it's yours for postage costs.

Save the one you have- why spend that kind of scratch and "save" something else, esp. if it's a little different?

Thank you for the kind offer!

EarlH wrote:If you just cleaned your cabinet with some turpentine to make sure there isn't any wax on it, and then gave it a coat of shellac you'd be much happier with it. It would look better completely refinished, but giving it a coat of shellac to brighten it up won't make any difference down the road when you decide to strip it and start over. I have a V that I bought off craigslist earlier this summer for $300 and it was almost completely black from sitting in a garage for years. It looks much better now and was in WAY worse shape than your cabinet is.

That motor part shouldn't be too hard to come up with as that's the same motor most of the L-door XVI's used. I had some motor parts for one of those, but I think I've already given them away. But I'll do some looking later today and see if that's the case. Good luck with it now, those are really nice machines. Earl

And to you: thanks! A question: would the original finish have been shellac? In the past, when refinishing machines I've applied lacquer (on my C-250, 5 coats, rubbed down between each), but every one has been mahogany; something tells me that choice wouldn't be as good for oak.

phonojim wrote:Save your money. $850 for that is too much and unless you have pictures of the motor, you don't know what is in there. Something will turn up. Earlier this year I went to an estate sale and bought a Viv V complete, original and running with a 24" black horn for $1K, so you never know what might turn up. BTW: yours looks good, the repairs are well done and the average observer will never know.

Jim

This is the motor in the $850 machine.

I want to thank everyone who's offered advice, parts, or both--greatly appreciated! For the record, I'd had the idea of contacting the seller of the "donor" and offering to trade a working "display only" machine for it; I have one in particular for which I so overpaid, back when the market was hot, that I will *never* get my money back out, and it was a disappointment because it turned out not to be a practical player. From what I'm gathering in this discussion, however, even that approach would be committing the same financial sin all over again. So, again, many thanks to all for the guidance and for keeping me at least in the fringes of the land of common sense!

JerryVan wrote:Your "motor frame" has not been broken in two, just the little end bracket. Not a big deal. I'm sure one will show up eventually if you want to replace it. George Vollema probably has one to sell you at WAY under $850. As for the cracked cabinet, it appears to be invisible. Just me personally, I'd be more irked at the water damaged finish. I'm not picking on your phonograph here, just saying the finish issue is more noticeable than any repaired crack.

Might not have been a big deal, except that it broke during shipment, freeing the heavy spring barrel to bang around inside the case and bash a side out. Ken's read, and I think he was right, was that the party who sold me the machine just dropped it into a box with the spring still under heavy tension. With no packing material inside the case, the stress on that bracket was enough to break it, with dire consequences. Ken did a great job of mending things, and the machine runs like a champ, but the fact remains that it's been broken and mended when with even minimal care it didn't need to be.

One photo shows the repaired piece that supports and connects the spring barrels to the motor frame. Is that the same part that is found on a Victor III type motor? If so, I have a double spring motor that I am parting out and that parts is good.

Jerry Blais