The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

You're very welcome. Good luck!

George P.

it sorta bugs me that it is not centered

Interesting comment. Very few of us would complain about an off center original decal or even a flaw in the striping done a century ago. But we are not so forgiving with a minor flaw done recently.

The decal on your Home is not a first generation reproduction decal. Early reproduction script decals had a curved dot over the small case i. Yours is a much better quality decal. You can replace yours but any new decal will show its edges and have a different sheen compared to the rest of the finish unless you apply a couple of finish coats over the decal. Whoever refinished your case did not take that final step but I don't believe it's too late. I use spray Deft which is a lacquer. Lacquer is not a historically correct finish on Edisons. Shellac was used at the Edison factory. Question to the group. When used as an overspray on an existing finish, is spray shellac as forgiving as lacquer? I would overspray your cabinet and your current decal would look just fine.

Jerry B.

Jerry B. wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2023 4:59 pm When used as an overspray on an existing finish, is spray shellac as forgiving as lacquer?

Not quite the question you asked, but I tried to overspray spray shellac to seal over a decal on top of a recent brushed-on shellac finish. I suspect the solvent is very different from the canned version. I got distortion and "fish-eye" that took quite a bit of finessing to smooth out. Was it me or a bad combination of not quite compatible products? - I don't really know. What I do know is that I have had way better success over-coating using shellac out of the can with a really good brush and an inflexible rule about trying to re-brush again while it's wet.