The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well as of now we are under the Mordeth administration. All I can say is reading Brandon's and other comments to Mordeth the he showed far more patience with them then Brandon ever would have shown. Brandon could have retained his post if he simply had been polite in the end but he couldn't do it.

In the end Mordoth and Neophone paid the bill for us. Now they want us to pay the bill. I think that is reasonable. The only question is how.

A reasonable method might be to allow people to sign up for a free trial period then say after three months maybe they pay a small yearly fee to help maintain this forum. Other groups do that after all.

It's fair.

How about we all keep this thread on topic for the OP.

The best advice any of us can give you is to get a hold of a copy of the Eric Reiss book "The Complete Talking Machine". It is full of the information you seek in restoring and maintaining your new machine. The book is not expensive and maybe a member has a copy they can sell you.

Also, I would recommend keeping your threads (if regarding the same machine) to one in order for us to follow/find easier and for posterity for yourself.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I would NOT do anything other than lightly clean that plate! It's actually in very nice original condition, showing its age nicely. Very few still have the silver wash on them. I would do my best to preserve that plate. To repaint it, would be a loss, in my view.

Withdrawn, with apologies, wrong place, wrong time

I think it's horrible to quarrel on a new member's post. It's a real disservice to his questions, and we're better than this.

We don't need to scare anyone off with our personal disagreements, please.

If LtFrenchFries elects to do a full-on restoration, or not, we should all support his questions with advice pertaining to his concerns, and stay on topic.

Respectfully,
Fran

JerryVan wrote:Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I would NOT do anything other than lightly clean that plate! It's actually in very nice original condition, showing its age nicely. Very few still have the silver wash on them. I would do my best to preserve that plate. To repaint it, would be a loss, in my view.

My thought exactly. I like originality, and unless a machine is a basket case, I try to keep it as it is. I just looked at the data plate on a Victor MS I bought a couple of years ago. Its condition is very similar to the one that was the original subject of this thread. The thing that attracted me to this particular MS was that it had NOT been messed with nor refinished.

So if it were my machine, I would leave it as is. But since it is not my machine, the OP can do whatever he wants.

AZ* wrote:

JerryVan wrote:Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I would NOT do anything other than lightly clean that plate! It's actually in very nice original condition, showing its age nicely. Very few still have the silver wash on them. I would do my best to preserve that plate. To repaint it, would be a loss, in my view.

My thought exactly. I like originality, and unless a machine is a basket case, I try to keep it as it is. I just looked at the data plate on a Victor MS I bought a couple of years ago. Its condition is very similar to the one that was the original subject of this thread. The thing that attracted me to this particular MS was that it had NOT been messed with nor refinished.

So if it were my machine, I would leave it as is. But since it is not my machine, the OP can do whatever he wants.

I would certainly concur with both JerryVan and AZ. The data plate is in really nice condition and I too would leave it alone. In fact, the machine is in overall wonderful condition for it's age.

I agree also with the others not to paint the ID tag or your horn.
It looks fine the way it is, just needs some cleaning.
I would use Scratch X2 (auto parts store) and a soft rag, never steel wool.
I'd also do the same to the body of your horn you asked about in another thread.
After your done any minor wear or scratches won't detract from the original look.
You'll be surprised how nice old paint can look with the proper cleaning and polishing.

Larry Crandell

I agree with the others, I would definitely save the original tag. It should clean up nicely! They are only original once.
I only restore a tag when the original is past saving.
Bob S.

If LtFrenchFries elects to do a full-on restoration, or not, we should all support his questions with advice pertaining to his concerns, and stay on topic.

I agree with the above. I think most of our advice is centered on the thought that a machine is original only once and, if possible, we should encourage efforts to help LtFrenchFries to that end.

My first machine purchased in 1972 was an Edson Home B with the script Edison decal. It was a clean original machine. When I found out that banner decals were available I was ready to refinish and include what I thought was the much more interesting "Edison Home Phonograph" decal. Needless to say I received advice against my intentions. Hindsight is 20 20. At the very least I would have muddied the waters because I would have been using an earlier style decal on a slightly later Edison Home. The obvious error would have been to refinish using one of those dreadful early banner decals.

I hope any new collector enjoys the hobby and it is a pleasure to refinish and restore a worthy project. Perhaps someone has such a project at modest cost that LtFrenchFries could test his restoration skills along with useful Forum advice.

Merry Christmas, Jerry Blais