The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently bought this Victor O. It is in pretty rough shape. I will also be posting a separate post about it. But, what I found inside was a note that this was damaged in a fire that destroyed Leutys Radio-TV Service in Salem, Illinois on December 14th of 1965. They tried to bring this back to life but didn't do that well.

Oh! Then you can try to substitute the surgeries by original parts, but if you can't.... then you'll have a franken-restored Gramophones with an interesting story and testimonial papers proving it.... This is like war wounds, it would be nice to leave as it is, in case it works well... I wouldn't know what to do... Leave it or restore it back to original condition? Then the memories of the story and survival would be lost for posterity!

I think this was too specific to warrant its own thread, but what about stuff taped to the inside the lids of cylinder machines?

Ok, this is not mine but an Edison Standard B I saw on eBay. It had two pieces that add to the history of this machine taped from inside the lid.

And you can tell these were taped in there when getting information on the Internet didn’t exist yet.

EDIT: the clipping at the bottom was written in 1976. I have a better image of it from newspapers.com

Oh! Then you can try to substitute the surgeries by original parts, but if you can't.... then you'll have a franken-restored Gramophones with an interesting story and testimonial papers proving it.... This is like war wounds, it would be nice to leave as it is, in case it works well... I wouldn't know what to do... Leave it or restore it back to original condition? Then the memories of the story and survival would be lost for posterity!
Inigo

I took the excellent advice and am having the horn color matched to an original O horn. It will have a nice Sitko reproduction slotted crank and I plan to replicate the yoke that mounts the tone arm in the back bracket. I've painted the background in the original ID tag. The case was stripped, finish nails tapped down and filled, grain was filled, and cabinet stained. Tomorrow I'm taking the motor to Cliff B. for servicing. It won't be long before the cabinet gets a finish coat and the horn repainted. I'll keep the Leutys note from 1965 inside the cabinet and add signed one from 2020 explaining what I've done. I'd like to think the little Victor O is getting some good history.

Jerry Blais

I recently bought an Edison Chippendale that needed lots of work. When I removed the mechanical works for servicing, inside the cabinet was a video game wireless controller. Turns out it was from a Xbox 360 system, and once I put batteries in it, it worked just fine. I'm guessing the parents used that spot to hide it from misbehaving kids.

52089 wrote:I'm guessing the parents used that spot to hide it from misbehaving kids.

My wife still hides things I should not eat in the Veggie Drawer of the refrigerator.

I'm still waiting to find something good hidden in a phonograph. Recently, I picked-up an Amberola 30 and the stylus has a small steel needle sticking out of it.

James.

Maybe I already told this... But I found not one but two Pathé-type sapphire needles inside the cabinet of an Aeolian Vocalion I bought 25 years ago. So I could get it immediately with Pathé records I had collected, being unable to play them until then.

I purchased a Victor V that was originally sold through a Philadelphia phonograph and piano dealer, C.J. Heppe & Son. When I removed the motor from the motorboard for cleaning, the coin pictured below is what fell out!

You're 105 years and 5 months late for the "Golden Advantages"... too bad, you should have found it sooner.

I found this card inside of a Victrola IX that I purchased from a relative of an original owner. I emailed the former owner back with a photo of it. It turns out that Chester and Boots were the owner's relatives, one of whom was stationed in Hawaii near the end of WWII. It clarified where the machine came from for the family.