The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It's good to see that there are still "untouched" machines in the wild, and at a very reasonable price!
Nice job cleaning up that baby!

Bill

Bill I have you to thank for for the tip on the GoJo, Thanks again for all your help and time!

The last patent date on my Standard A is May 31, 1898, but the serial number is 126536. I would have assumed that it would be 1903 or earlier. Why is there a difference ?

solophoneman, I blew it. Number 105182 was actually the first of the two exceptions. The earliest solid run of the Nov. 17, 1903 patent date on my list starts at # 164236. Your machine quite reasonably falls into that earlier date range. The stray earlier serial number appearance of a later style plate, is an odd phenomenon. In one case, I'm pretty sure it was the result of a factory repair to an earlier machine. Some may be the result of specially assembled sample models for dealers (even though there were still old plates to use up). In other cases, who knows? Sorry about the mix-up.

Regards,
Martin

As Amberola 1-A said, it is nice to see an original machine and especially in such nice condition these days. The banner is VERY nice, nickel looks clean, bedplate is attractive and the cabinet is beautiful. All too often Standards show up with repro parts or in poor overall condition. However, yours makes for a great display of what a Standard should look like in original condition.

Thanks for sharing!

Wow, you did a really nice job--and what a bargin!

Clay

I don't know why, but I've seen many Standard A machines over the years with unusually nice decals. The mechanisms can be pretty tatty, but the cabinet finishes seem to hold up quite well. Here's an example I fixed up for a friend of mine last fall. I had to re-do the pinstriping, but the black paint was simply cleaned with GoJo or Goop, then rubbed out with OZ. My friend didn't care about replacing the Edison trademark decal on the straight-edge, so I left it as is. I couldn't do much with the cabinet & decal, since they were virtually perfect to begin with!

George P.

I agree, George. It's amazing how good an Edison can look even after all of these years. For some reason I have had better luck finding Home phonographs than I have Standards though. Regardless of the model, it's always rewarding to see a dirty, rundown Edison restored to it's original condition. (Or at least as close as possible to it's original condition.) Here are some that I have worked on lately.

Run of the mill Home that just needed a little cleaning.

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I was VERY thorough with the cleaning of this Home. EVERYTHING was taken apart then properly cleaned and polished. It took awhile but was definitely worth it.

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Here is a green oak Home. The green oak can really be attractive after removing 110 years or so of grime. I just finished this one a few days ago.

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While on the subject, here is a Spring Motor I finished recently. (This is for sale. If interested please send a PM.)


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Sorry if this veered a bit off topic a bit. I think it's great that these phonographs can be restored so nicely while keeping them original. It's amazing that after 100 years or more a phonograph can be restored to a condition very close to that of the day when it left the factory. They just don't make things nowadays like they did back then. It's nice to know that by cleaning and maintaining them, future generations will be able to enjoy them as we do.

Andersun wrote:Very nice machine. This model makes a good demonstration machine. They always work when you play for somebody!

I've had a few Homes and Standards and Firesides. The Homes, the most expensive of the three, seem to be the most problematic. Is it just my unique luck or if not, what makes the design of the Home more problematic?

Wow guys those are some nice machines you have there. I basically did what the person with the parts all lined up did, i took mine all apart, cleaned and polished the nickel pieces, i redid the spring with new grease, and used the Gojo to do the bedplate and cabinet. Its amazing what that stuff can do. When i cleaned my cabinet, before you could see a haze all over it, 111 years of old cigar smoke, dirty hands and ho knows what else. I think thats why the banner looks so new on mine, if anything i think it helped protect it a bit, kind of sealed it in
Its funny the guy above only finds the Home models, in my neck of the wood i dont see the homes but many standards Just depends on where you live i guess. Im looking for a Home model next of a Gem. I just finished restoring my 1925 Credenza today, i will post some pics of that later today.