The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Looking good!

- Bill

Outstanding work. The hours you spent will all be repaid with years of satisfaction. Part of the pleasure I receive from my machines comes from the fact that they not only play great music, but display as antique furniture. Having saved one from the dump gives it a whole new level of satisfaction. Congratulations.

Labor of love,,

blizz

Beautiful restoration! One tip on gluing through-and-through cracks is holding a vacuum cleaner tip under the crack and applying the glue from the top. The vacuum will suck it easily and thoroughly throughout the crack.

Thanks guys, JohnM thanks for the tip. I have seen this done on YouTube videos but have never done it. I guess I am stuck in how I have always done this type of thing. I use a glue syringe and tooth picks to hold open the crack. The syringe makes it easy to get down into the crack and control the amount of glue. I then use a pallet knife to butter the glue around before clamping.

I have re-assembled the console cleaning the hardware as I go. The gold is almost completely gone except for the lid hinge and the lid prop mechanisms. I have 5 coats of lacquer on everything but the top which has 12 coats due to blocking.

The top is glossy right now because I hand cut the lacquer to level it. I will probably #0000 wool the top to a satin finish like the rest of the console. Here are some details on the most challenging parts of the restore. The legs with chew marks and split feet. Wood filler was my only option except to make new legs and I did not think it warranted that. I worked with different shade fillers and could not find what I liked. Either it was to light or to dark with the stain. Then I started mixing the different shades together and came up with a 50/50 mix of golden oak and natural wood that was as good as I thought I would get after a dozen tries. Also there was wood bruising around the hole that took to much stain and ended up very dark almost to a black. Thankfully this is on the inside of the legs and can only be seen if you stick your head under the console. The split legs turned out nice.

The veneer replacement can be seen if you really look for it. They are only ½" wide. Only 1 piece stained out darker than the rest.

The only thing I am not happy about is the inside back. I did not want to disturb the Brunswick label as it was in perfect condition. The inside bed and walls had striper runs in spots and needed refinishing. The back had 1 run on the left side corner. First I stripped the base and sides, stained and put 3 coats of lacquer on them. It did not look right. The back was way to dark, and I can still see the run. I don't know if the inside was stained darker originally or if it darkened over the pass 100 years. So I said to myself I don't like this, press on and either I will totally screw it up or get it to my liking. So I taped off the label and hand sanded it down. Then carefully sanded as close as I dare up the the edge of the label. I stained it with the red mahogany. Well I had to do something to transition from the dark to the red mahogany. Think about it, think about it! Ok I will try using my bager airbrush using dark walnut stain to blend a transition. Taped off the label again and fired up the airbrush. Sprayed until I thought I had a good blend. Put the lacquer to it. The judge is still out as to wither I like it. It did not blend as I thought. Mainly you can see where the old finish ends underneath the new finish. But I still have my original label.

It looks good.. to preserve the original decal means a compromise, and to my eyes, this compromise is acceptable.... It would be very difficult to match the colour under the label to the rest of the board! And to refinish again is somewhat dangerous...
If you wanted it perfect, the only way is to destroy the original decal, and use one of the modern replicas, ensuring first that replica! There is some link in the forum to a very good decal supplier that may have one like yours.