The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

dzavracky wrote:This is on the bottom of the cabinet. Not sure if this helps at all

It does help some--it carries a January 1912 patent date. According to the Baumbach book, the Nonpareil models, both early and late, were introduced in 1911. That seems a bit odd to me; I'd have expected at least a year or two between one and the other; regardless, the label on yours establishes that it is not an "early production" early model but rather came at least a little later than the 1911 inaugural year. (Bear in mind that patent dates do not establish production dates, only the point before which production could not have happened.)

[Edit] Incidentally, for what it's worth, Baumbach indicates the early Nonpareils had "crimson silk velvet on the turntable."

The governor weights are not painted white. The white is lead oxide that has formed on the lead weights. You can lightly brush it off if it's highly built up & flaky, but I would avoid breathing the dust. Nothing to run & hide from, just don't breath it. Or, you could leave them as-is, no harm.

I could be wrong, but I believe the purple felt is really purple velvet. Can anyone confirm that?

A skilled wood worker could splice in new wood where it's broken out of the louvers. Do you have the broken out pieces by chance?

The speaker slats can be repaired by piecing in pieces of mahogany from a period donor cabinet, if you don't have the missing pieces...

Here is a video that gives good, basic ideas about how to piece in wood repairs. This is not exactly what you are doing, but it gives ideas about how to clean out a broken area and make a piece to fit back in. You don't need to use a router, you can use wood chisels to cut out the repair area and then make a replacement piece to fill the missing area. Hope this helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUUuMzxJ9h8

I do have some of the pieces.. not sure if i have all the ones i need. It looks like someone tried (and failed) to glue the pieces back together in the past.

I cannot even imagine how you break them like that. Someone must have yanked them right off the mechansim



any ideas for the cabinet? its kind of funny looking with a very glossy lid and an aligatored cabinet

The record holders smell awful. how can I get the smell off?

drh wrote:

dzavracky wrote:This is on the bottom of the cabinet. Not sure if this helps at all

[Edit] Incidentally, for what it's worth, Baumbach indicates the early Nonpareils had "crimson silk velvet on the turntable."

So it wouldn't be "incorrect" to replace the green felt with Crimson silk velvet?

dzavracky wrote:

drh wrote:

dzavracky wrote:This is on the bottom of the cabinet. Not sure if this helps at all

[Edit] Incidentally, for what it's worth, Baumbach indicates the early Nonpareils had "crimson silk velvet on the turntable."

So it wouldn't be "incorrect" to replace the green felt with Crimson silk velvet?

I'd say not, unless you have good reason to think the green felt is original to the machine. If it is, and if it's in decent shape, leave it be; if not, you have at least some authority to back changing it to crimson silk velvet.

Awesome. Ill post updates when I have some time to work on the machine!

Use Febrese Heavy Duty spray... it works great to get out any odors.

Update on the machine:

I straight out the lid support rod and metal piece and reattached the lid. I cleaned the cabinet thoroughly and waxed it. It certainly looks a lot better than I had thought it would. The lid seems to have broken at some point in the past and was very poorly repaired and refinished.

I’ll be cleaning the motor tomorrow and Friday.

Here’s some pics

Looking better and better!

I hope you get it looking, playing, (and smelling) good enough to go in the music room soon.