The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

That is fascinating and seems to have been done expertly. If it works properly, I would expect it to be impressively quiet.

Martin

On an unrelated note, the photos show no evidence of this machine ever having the stripes of polished copper that were typical to this model. Does a close up examination allow a better determination of that? I have one that also has no polished copper stripes, and I know of a third one as well. Yet, there seems to be no explanation of why they were done that way. Cheers, Russie

startgroove wrote:On an unrelated note, the photos show no evidence of this machine ever having the stripes of polished copper that were typical to this model. Does a close up examination allow a better determination of that? I have one that also has no polished copper stripes, and I know of a third one as well. Yet, there seems to be no explanation of why they were done that way. Cheers, Russie

I wondered about that too. I just figured that oxidation had taken over the entire finish, obscuring any of the striping.

I agree, that is a possibility. Especially since this machine seems to have suffered some long term moisture exposure. That is why I asked the OP if he could examine it closely to see if there is any evidence of faded, or patinaed striping. Maybe he could shed some light on the question.

Below are pictures of my R. It is unrestored, and appears to have been well cared for all its life, yet has no evidence of polished stripes whatsoever. I have notice that most R's with the polished striping seem to have a nickel finished crank and record clamping disc. I'm not an expert, so it is a mystery to me as to what the explanation is.

Hopefully more unstriped R's will show up.

Cheers, Russie

I too have an unoxidized Royal. Its serial number is 2111. I've seen a couple of other early ones without the oxidized finish, and surmised that the earliest production Royals didn't have it. But your later Royal would suggest that theory is flawed.

George P.

Thank you for all comments. There is evidence that the top plate has been copper plated but no sign of any oxidizing or polishing off. There is plating on the winder escutcheon and the support arm screws. I suspect it did have striping when new. The record screw down appears to have been black. There is a small amount of nickel on the edge of the turntable. The winder has had a repair I think, and is now black. The conical part of the horn is steel (magnetic) but the flare is not - maybe zinc or aluminium. Happy to give any further info if able.

Rodney,

Thank you for that update. For comparison, the top plate on my R was copper plated also. Under that plate is a small area which lost, or maybe never had, the oxidization layer for some reason. The whole thing seems to be copper plated and then chemically treated to give a dark brown almost black finish.

In addition, the horn on mine is exactly as you describe yours.

The serial number is 12238. Cheers, Russie