The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello,
My Triumph D-2 has a reproduction cygnet goose neck that I have been wanting to get wood-grained. I finally got up the courage to try it myself. It didn't work out the way I had expected but the results are not too bad. I first cleaned the piece with paint thinner to get any dirt and oil off the surface. I then applied three coats of acrylic enamel spray paint in the color of Golden Wheat. The spray paint stayed tacky for almost four days before it finally hardened. Next I used a dry brush technique with black paint to simulate the black spots and grain lines that are always found in oak. Then I mixed a small amount of Clear Cote acrylic polyurethane with Crafter's Choice acrylic burnt umber to create a brown finish. I applied three coats of this mix letting it dry between coats. I have a wood graing tool and had intended to use it at this stage to simulate the grain but found that the polyurethane dried too fast not giving me time to use the tool. The other problem is that because the surface of the goose neck is rounded, it makes using the wood-graining tool difficult. I decided that I could still get the desired effect by brushing on coats of the mixture. Once the three coats had dried I realized that the color was too brown. Both the case of my Triumph and the wooden horn have darkened over the years and lean more toward a blackish-brown. I then mixed some black acrylic paint with the polyurethane and applied two coats. Please see the pictures to see the end results.
Pete

Actually, I think it looks quite nice. You should be proud of your work. Jerry Blais

I agree, looks great to me. Congratulations.
Andreas

Thanks for all the nice comments!! My next challange is to take apart an Edison model B Home that I have and clean and regrease the spring. In about 43 years of collecting I have managed to avoid this task!
Pete

If I could do wood graining like that, I'd be very happy. Well done!

Barry

Excellent job.
I envy people who have creative vision. I could not guess how well the black dry brushing would turn out after the final coats have been applied, so if I ever tried something like this I shutter at what the results would look like. Congratulations

Bruce

Congratulations---a superb job. Well done for having had the courage to try it. The spirit of "have a go" is so very important isn't it ?

I agree - a very credible job of grain painting. Mahogany graining is relatively easy to do, but oak is harder. Congratulations!

George P.

I re-grained a cygnet gooseneck about 12 years ago using a cheesecloth technique recommended by another collector; this is the result:



For this machine:



It was actually pretty easy to do, I started with a lighter color spraypaint like flashpan did, then added the toning with a sort of 'dry brush cheesecloth' technique to simulate the graining, and then added some spotting by spattering very lightly with black paint and then applied the finish. It matches the coloration of the wood part of the horn quite well.

Both elbows look great. Eric Reiss discusses his technique in his book, The Compleat Talking Machine.
Harvey Kravitz