The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

EdisonWizard wrote:
Thanks so much for the info. Hopefully we'll get email notifications back soon I almost missed this! Where do you get the wax?

I think it's readily available most anywhere. If Wal-Mart doesn't have it, a hardware store will. You don't want car wax. What I used is floor wax.

EdisonWizard wrote:I think I'm going to try this on my model A GEM first and see how it comes out. I wish I had a dirty/nasty bedplate to practice on, but I guess you can't really mess it up. The GOOP is just that hand cleaner?

Yes, it's hand cleaner. Be sure you get the NON-PUMICED kind. You're right - you'd have to work at it to mess it up.

George P.

Thanks!! Glad you said non pumiced, I wouldn't have thought of that till it was too late!

phonogfp wrote:

EdisonWizard wrote:
Thanks so much for the info. Hopefully we'll get email notifications back soon I almost missed this! Where do you get the wax?

I think it's readily available most anywhere. If Wal-Mart doesn't have it, a hardware store will. You don't want car wax. What I used is floor wax.

EdisonWizard wrote:I think I'm going to try this on my model A GEM first and see how it comes out. I wish I had a dirty/nasty bedplate to practice on, but I guess you can't really mess it up. The GOOP is just that hand cleaner?

Yes, it's hand cleaner. Be sure you get the NON-PUMICED kind. You're right - you'd have to work at it to mess it up.

George P.

I'm going to guess you just used a rag the whole time and didn't go with a brush or anything abrasive.

EdisonWizard wrote:

I'm going to guess you just used a rag the whole time and didn't go with a brush or anything abrasive.

You are correct. I often just use my fingers.

George P.

I use Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 on most all of my machines. I think it does an amazing job. Here are a few of my Gems as an example.

Rich Gordon

rgordon939 wrote:I use Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 on most all of my machines. I think it does an amazing job. Here are a few of my Gems as an example.

Rich Gordon

Wow!! I know what I'm doing today. Ima post before and after pictures if y'all interested how it goes.

rgordon939 wrote:I use Meguiar's Scratch X 2.0 on most all of my machines. I think it does an amazing job. Here are a few of my Gems as an example.

Rich Gordon

I like your Gem C and the old newspaper background. I have an A, C and D, but in my humble opinion, the C is the nicest looking. I used to have a Norton Commando, black with gold. Very dignified.

Paste wax works well, but I also do use high quality car car products on many painted surfaces. Fans, phonographs, telephones, appliances, etc. If it's good enough for the paint on a Rolls-Royce or Duesenberg, its good enough for an Edison!Scratch X is good stuff, I also like to use Griot's Garage products on both my cars and anything else with a paint job. I like to keep things clean and shiny!

I use Meguiar's Scratch-X 2.0 too. It's an excellent product. I just didn't use it on this particular Gem. There's a drip-pan Gem here that was transformed by Meguiar's Scratch-X; nothing else could remove the odd areas of "filminess." The Meguire's made it look great. It all depends on what the surface needs.

George P.

My Gem model D was bought from an old collector who had bought it pre-war, so I have always presumed that they started life together.
The machine is maroon over bare metal, but I have only just discovered that the one-piece "Fireside" horn is painted over black.
You learn something new every day!