The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My wife and I are having a debate and we would like your views.
I think I should respray this horn and shes says leave it what do you think?
It is quite rusty. Would welcome your input on this matter. Thanks Gordon.

Generally you see the inside of the horn. What does it look like? If it looks OK, I would leave it "as is". It's possible to repaint the black on a black & brass horn without drawing much attention to the new paint but it is very difficult to repaint an entire horn without it being obvious. I've tried but have never been completely satisfied with a total repaint. Jerry Blais

I already responded to this under "Tips, Tricks, & Technical Info."

George P.

I have to assume than the interior looks better than the exterior. 99% of the time that's the case. But even just seeing the outside, I would be strongly inclined to clean it carefully, wax it, and leave it. I've seen infinitely worse, and I've also taken very dull, somewhat ugly horns and brought them back to beautiful (if patina-ed) glory with some judicious cleaning. For me, painting is a last resort because it's almost impossible to truly match the original on a horn like this.

TinfoilPhono wrote:I have to assume than the interior looks better than the exterior. 99% of the time that's the case. But even just seeing the outside, I would be strongly inclined to clean it carefully, wax it, and leave it. I've seen infinitely worse, and I've also taken very dull, somewhat ugly horns and brought them back to beautiful (if patina-ed) glory with some judicious cleaning. For me, painting is a last resort because it's almost impossible to truly match the original on a horn like this.

I agree with TinfoilPhono's recommendation. I would not repaint it.

I think I will paint a rust inhibator on to the horn. Thanks for everyones input.

Dont paint it!!, it is best to leave things original and if you did paint it you would probably never get the original finish again!

The most I'd use on a horn like this is a microcrystaline wax like Renaissance.

I wish people would not repaint horns. This one was good enough that the transfer survived intact; see how it looks now...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G-T-HMV-monar ... 0852123443



I have seen a few horns that look "nice" repainted, but far more that look awful. Very few that look convincingly original.


It is strange to look at the world of vintage cars (almost always repainted) and vintage electronics (often containing mostly new electrical components), and compare to it to the world of gramophones and phonographs (often restored to within an inch of their life, but often not). Luckily there are enough machines around in original working condition that future generations will be able to see how they looked when new. I am not sure the same is true in those other areas, where the ravages of weather on paintwork and decay on electronics mean an unrestored example is rare, and probably unusable.

I am guilty in the past of having procured such restorations, but now try to preserve at least one example in good original condition, even if this means that specific example is not as perfect in operation as it could be.

If that horn is the one just sold on www.ebay.co.uk for about £180-ish, I would definitely definitely keep it as is - the inside is fantastic and like others have already said, you'll never match the outside.

What I would do however would be to go over it with something like T-Cut to cut away the dead layer of dull discoloured paint (and probably some of the smallest rust spots too) prior to polishing it up.

Your wife clearly has more empathy with these items than you do. I hope you are letting her have the machine it will be mated with as a reward!