The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thanks 52089, I use a strobe disc a friend gave me a while ago, pretty simple just lay it on the turntable and set the speed off stripes. It has 80 and 78 rpm. I have reproduced it a couple times buy just copying and printing it on card stock.

If you plan to play laterals with your adapter, considering that acoustic "78s" seem to play at just about every possible speed *except* 78, I'd recommend investing $20 in a hand-held digital tachometer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photo-La ... 997&sr=8-4

If you don't want to put a little piece of reflective tape on your machine's turntable, you can just apply it to the back of a junk single-sided record--even a broken or cracked one will do--and then spin that, blank/taped side up, to get your speed.

Thanks drh for the tip, I have seen these used of some of the videos I have watched. Yeah some of the record sleeves I have say to play the records at 80 rpm instead of 78. I like using the card strobe because I stick it on each record and can fine tune the speed with each record. It does not work to good with the DD records some are to thick and there is no room left on the turntable shaft.

I started to knock the dust off the cabinet with a soft tooth brush and micro fiber cloth. This removed some of the lint and dust and a little of the oxidation. I next coated the wood with bee's wax using a cotton cloth and small brush to get onto the edges and cracks. I will let this sit on the wood for about a week as it will loosen what little dirt there is and condition the finish. I generally put a second coat on in a couple days because the wax will soak into the crazing.
I noticed a couple of places were the cabinet has rubbed up against something painted on the back and it has a couple of old scratches on the top of the lid where something probably set until it was played. Also paint droplets here and there. The paint is easy to get off and the scratches can be cleaned to get most of the dirt out of them.

Herderz wrote:I started to knock the dust off the cabinet with a soft tooth brush and micro fiber cloth. This removed some of the lint and dust and a little of the oxidation. I next coated the wood with bee's wax using a cotton cloth and small brush to get onto the edges and cracks.

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I will let this sit on the wood for about a week as it will loosen what little dirt there is and condition the finish. I generally put a second coat on in a couple days because the wax will soak into the crazing.
I noticed a couple of places were the cabinet has rubbed up against something painted on the back and it has a couple of old scratches on the top of the lid where something probably set until it was played. Also paint droplets here and there. The paint is easy to get off and the scratches can be cleaned to get most of the dirt out of them.

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Your approach is interesting to me, is the bees wax a compound/combination so that it's a slurry, or just slightly warmed to the consistency?

Cheers,
Fran

I took about 4 hours yesterday and cleaned and inspected the record collection that can with the machine using Curt A method. I listened to all 21 of the DD records and was impressed at how clean the sound was. Some have a little background noise but the high notes of the female singers was crisp and clear. I am sure the reproducer can use a rebuild but it did not sound bad at all. I did notice a little noise from the motor as I started the turntable each time but it disappeared within a couple of seconds. The gear train must have some wear in it somewhere but I will get to that when I clean the motor up.
I am going to start of the 41 laterals next but it might take a while. I have the time as I let the bee's wax do it's job.

fran604g it is Howards Feed and Wax that I let set open for and week or so to let any solvents that they use to make it liquefy evaporate off which makes it firm up. It is made with bee wax and orange oil. The bee's wax will condition wood and finish. The orange oil will loosen the dirt. You can get it at any hardware store.

Herderz wrote:fran604g it is Howards Feed and Wax that I let set open for and week or so to let firm up. It is made with bee wax and orange oil. The bee's wax will condition wood and finish. The orange oil will loosen the dirt. You can get it at any hardware store.

Thank you, that's very helpful.

Cheers,
Fran

Herderz wrote:fran604g it is Howards Feed and Wax that I let set open for and week or so to let any solvents that they use to make it liquefy evaporate off which makes it firm up. It is made with bee wax and orange oil. The bee's wax will condition wood and finish. The orange oil will loosen the dirt. You can get it at any hardware store.

That's an interesting approach. Usually Feed-n-wax is what we typically use after everything has been cleaned and touched up as needed. I've never tried to use it as a cleaner/finish restorer.

52089 I use it for the final polish too. I start with it out of habit, on dried wood, scratches or the finish, it will show me the overall starting point so I know how aggressive I will need to be to start with. Sometimes it looks worse than it actually is.