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Hi Folks,

Grabbed this Grafonola while in beautiful schuylkill county, PA over the holidays last year and am now only finding the time to give it some love. The motor works fine but the lid is crying for some attention. Does anyone have a lid they are willing to part with, or perhaps some tips to try and re veneer this guy?

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Shining up every atm.

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Knob and Key

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The ugly

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Ugly2

I need some veneer as well. I looked on Ebay, but the pieces are either too large, not nice looking and don't have the poplar backing that I need to be consistent. Otherwise, I could scrape off a portion of the ribbon mahogany and mail it you. You'll have to darken it though. I do have to CG's but alas, they're in good shape inside and out. I'm looking for Poplar-backed ribbon Mahogany 12" X 48" ......

good luck.

I thought of something last evening while at dinner at a friend's farm. Some of their doors were those hollow core or solid core Tiger/ribbon mahogany from the 60's.... I'll be heading to an architectural/salvage/habitat-restores this Tuesday or Thursday, and look into using a heat gun to remove the veneer.

More about this later.

You might try George Vollema for a replacement lid.
His website:
http://www.victroladoctor.com/

Good luck!
Bob

I assume your big concern is the chipped / missing veneer ?

You might consider cleaning-up the finish on the top, getting rid of that spotty-yellow grunge, then assessing the condition of the top veneer...

While a complete re-veneer would result in a cleaner repair, it might be easier to trim-up the jagged edges, then piece-in a "Dutchman" patch, preferably of old veneer, then "burn-in" the edges with stick shellac, then stain and finish.

You might be surprised by how much can be repaired / salvaged.

Another alternative might be to send your lid to someone like George Vollema for repair....

Give George a try. At Union I delivered the remains of a mahogany "L" door cabinet and the veneer on the sides was loose but good. It would be much better then modern mahogany skins. Jerry

Just sent George an email to see what he can do for me. I think tonight I will still break out the gojo and elbow grease and see how she cleans up.