The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello everyone. Here is a short descriptive of work I have recently completed on a most extraordinary machine. What we have here is a very late Edison Concert, in a Triumph B cabinet, with a special TALL lid to accommodate the original 5" mandrel, which was later converted to a standard mandrel! And to beat the band, it has a factory repeater! This machine had a hard life. By my best estimation, it was dropped, badly repaired, then stored in a humid basement. The cabinet was very submissive......simply coming apart with a sly glance and a poof of warm air. The mechanism itself was not only out of adjustment, but the motor was inoperable due to a badly warped main drive pulley. I love machines like this. Used, abused, dropped, and forgotten. Story of my life.

In all my restorations I disassemble EVERYTHING. In the case of this machine, this was necessary. I elected to not strip away ANY of the machine's originality. All gold lines are original, as is all finish. No shiny new nickels here!



The cabinet needed special attention. Both right front and rear corners were badly repaired with mis-matched wood, which was "toned" to match with HOUSEPAINT. The cabinet had been dropped at one time.



The lid, because of humidity, delaminated and fell apart. Several layers of veneer had come "un-shelled" and had to be glued back together layer-by-layer.

To make things even more interesting, the bedplate frame was a replacement. Made of oak, but poorly measured and drilled. And again, toned with brown house paint! I sourced a replacement frame from the George Vollema, and for this I am most grateful. Triumph cabinet parts are VERY hard to come by. Major props to Croakinfrog for getting two original corner pillars to me to replace the ones that were cracked and badly repaired. ORIGINAL PARTS fit just right!

The replacement bedplate frame needed some minor repair, but turned out GREAT!

A little glue and clamp work!

The lid was the most labor intensive, having peeled back all veneer, and each day re-installing another layer. The oak veneers had expanded and shrunken irregularly, so getting the thing back together was a puzzle in judgement.

Replacement corners installed. The badly repaired ones were installed with some sort of space age woodglue which was incredibly difficult to remove. I had to use a sanding barrel on my Dremel tool to get the stuff off!


Cabinet done!

Main upper casting stripped. Rear support stanchion found broken.


I made a mold out of spring steel for the center hole, and outer face. Molded from industrial molding compound.


Cut back, and painted to match.

The upper works ready to go!

The machine had both its original Model B reproducer and recorder with it, but both parts were missing important components, so another Model B was sourced. George Vollema came to the rescue again with replacement motor mounting springs. Added a crank (another missing part), installed a new thin leather belt, and...........

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ84TXKgZ_U[/youtube]

Very neat job. My vintage Edison catalog says that with the conversion kit a Concert "May be made equal to a Triumph in quality"

I never cease to be amazed by the meticulous care of your resurrections (I hate to say 'restoration' since you keep them so original in appearance). That was a major job and a major success.

You have to wonder who would have paid the high price of a Concert so late in the game -- and then turn around and essentially convert it to a Triumph. That had to have ended up way more expensive than if he had simply bought a Triumph at the outset. Oh, to be able to know the original owners mindset.

Wyatt,
You are a magician.
I wish the "phonograph repair gene" could be transmitted through a hand shake.
Awesome repair job!!!
Gene

Now that is a great job and nice looking machine. I love seeing these machines being brought back to life. Now just need to find a "boneyard" Edison Concert that I can restore and I am set. lol

You did a great job bringing back a special machine! Thanks for posting your story and pics.

Wow, again you did an amazing job bringing this machine back. Thank you so much for posting the pictures of the process, I still have much to learn.
Thanks
Andreas

Sounds good even without the horn! I hope someday to find a concert to restore, I really will be needing one to do my next cylinder step, and yes they will be spiral core concert records....(OHHH NOOOOOO! Gasp) the collectors say!!!!

TinfoilPhono wrote:I never cease to be amazed by the meticulous care of your resurrections (I hate to say 'restoration' since you keep them so original in appearance). That was a major job and a major success.

You have to wonder who would have paid the high price of a Concert so late in the game -- and then turn around and essentially convert it to a Triumph. That had to have ended up way more expensive than if he had simply bought a Triumph at the outset. Oh, to be able to know the original owners mindset.

+1 - great job Wyatt!

Excellent job, Wyatt! It's so gratifying to see a restoration that results in a talking machines that LOOKS like a century-old artifact in an expected and fully acceptable state of preservation. I know the owner, and I know he will be very pleased with your efforts!

George P.