The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Nice find!

Yes probably fairly close It was towards the end of Edisons production of standards.

ts_13 wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:28 am Oddly enough the old bedplate didn't have numbers under the plate. It's a keeper machine, I have the original casting if someone is ever that interested. I am setting it up to hold a echotone cylinder horn. It should be a wild machine.

The additional serial numbers for that era were found under the Patent Plate as well as under the motor (usually hidden under a glob of black shellac). Both were under thick layers of black asphaltum, so you may not notice it. Pretty sure your replacement bedplate will have differing serial numbers as well. I'd keep the original bedplate, restore it and put it back. Swapping stuff like that is just tossing out history.

Your talking a ton of work to restore a bedplate properly. Make it easy on yourself and swap it out. Remember even if you do restore it, it will never be original and the finish will most likely look like it was refinished so save yourself some grief. IMHO Though these are desirable machines, it's still a Standard and certainly not a one off, rare machine..

blizz

fmblizz wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:14 am Your talking a ton of work to restore a bedplate properly. Make it easy on yourself and swap it out. Remember even if you do restore it, it will never be original and the finish will most likely look like it was refinished so save yourself some grief. IMHO Though these are desirable machines, it's still a Standard and certainly not a one off, rare machine..

blizz

I look at this as a chance to learn. (Do you really want to practice on a rare, one-off machine?) This machine as-is will never be a beautiful, un-touched original - not ever. Unless somebody changes out the the bedplate, at least then it will still be original. With a beautiful replacement bedplate, it will be beautiful, but it will never be original - at least not to that machine. If I bought a machine and saw that somebody had done a swap like that I would feel cheated. If the current owner is not going to put it on the market, fine. But if the machine survives the current owner, what then? Then it becomes another parts bin machine that doesn't match.

Bedplate restoration is just not that hard. I've done several. They do require patience. On my "F" I had to redo the stripes on the right side. The left side was fine. By spending some time and using pieces from Gregg Cline's very nice decal set, you can have a pretty bedplate that's original with mostly original decals. I'd tell you to look at the different restorations I've documented over the years, but all you're likely to see these days is the text with no photos. (Maybe my reposted Standard E restoration still has it's pix? - This is probably another reason to migrate to the APS forum - at least they're interested in maintaining it.) If you look on the APS website you'll see some of my photos on the "Spotter's Guide to the Edison Standard Phonograph".

Model Fs are not as plentiful, and it would be a shame to not spend the effort to keep an otherwise good example together. That said, yeah, they are cheap and the earth won't stop turning because of this. Just my two cents. What ever you end up doing, I wish you well.

Martin

My D struck out to F is sn 786914.
Congratulations, these are good machines.

That is great. And from a generation of machines I don’t have myself!

tomb wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 12:03 am Here are some production date estimates. Also a picture of my 2 clip and 4 clip phonographs Sorry about being side ways. Tom

Tom, These Edison Production Estimates on handwritten paper are for the Edison Home, Not the Edison Standard! He has an Edison Standard Model F. I think you missed that...

Tony K.