The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I replaced the turntable felt on my first machines today. The first one was a bit rough around the edge but the second one was just like I wanted. Bought some felt at the local fabric store and cut into 12" squares. Bought a ⅜" stainless steel tube at the hardware store, cut off a 3" section and filed down one end to a sharp edge to make a punch for the spindle hole. Placed a 12" junk record on another turntable and laid the felt on that with the hole over the spindle. Scraped off the old turntable felt, smeared some Elmer's glue on the surface of the metal and put it on the felt. Wait overnight and use a razor to trim the edge. Seems to work great!

Since nobody has yet responded, I'll jump in. The new felt looks great. I'm especially impressed by your ingenuity in fashioning a cutting die for the center hole out of readily available material---nice!

My reservations about re-felting my XI center on these concerns:
1) not knowing the exact shade of the original felt, and, if discovered, matching it with today's materials.
2) wanting to maintain the original in its current (presentable) condition; IMO this is akin to leaving the finish alone, though it is somewhat alligatored and the gloss is uneven (sun damage?).
3) having brand new felt on what is obviously an old machine.
4) not seeing the need, from the standpoint of playback quality.

Thus I have not undertaken this chore.

Henry wrote:Since nobody has yet responded, I'll jump in. The new felt looks great. I'm especially impressed by your ingenuity in fashioning a cutting die for the center hole out of readily available material---nice!

My reservations about re-felting my XI center on these concerns:
1) not knowing the exact shade of the original felt, and, if discovered, matching it with today's materials.
2) wanting to maintain the original in its current (presentable) condition; IMO this is akin to leaving the finish alone, though it is somewhat alligatored and the gloss is uneven (sun damage?).
3) having brand new felt on what is obviously an old machine.
4) not seeing the need, from the standpoint of playback quality.

Thus I have not undertaken this chore.

True: I have decided these days to save the original felt when possible, and to use some creative effort to repair it…


Bill

Henry wrote:Since nobody has yet responded, I'll jump in. The new felt looks great. I'm especially impressed by your ingenuity in fashioning a cutting die for the center hole out of readily available material---nice!

My reservations about re-felting my XI center on these concerns:
1) not knowing the exact shade of the original felt, and, if discovered, matching it with today's materials.
2) wanting to maintain the original in its current (presentable) condition; IMO this is akin to leaving the finish alone, though it is somewhat alligatored and the gloss is uneven (sun damage?).
3) having brand new felt on what is obviously an old machine.
4) not seeing the need, from the standpoint of playback quality.

Thus I have not undertaken this chore.

The 2 machines that I practiced on, a VV-XI and an Edison A100, are my house machines I play just about every day and have been subjected to my practice projects several times, including being some of the first motor rebuilds, cabinet finishing projects, rust removal and metal polishing trials, etc. Every time I bring a new reproducer home, I test it on one of these machines.

I agree with your comments, except I think the new felts did make the playback just a little sweeter....

I was just told by one of the old timmers that when you cut around the turn table, to cut it at an angle so it will have a bevel towards the spindle. That way you can pick up the records without getting the felt. If that makes any sense.

I also like to preserve the felt if it is decent, but sometimes they are just too far gone.

Clay

Amberola wrote:I was just told by one of the old timmers that when you cut around the turn table, to cut it at an angle so it will have a bevel towards the spindle. That way you can pick up the records without getting the felt. If that makes any sense.

I ended up doing that about ¼ of the way around the first one. Just seemed to go smoother with fewer and less noticeable bobbles.

The original Victrola felt had the outer 1" of material detached from the rest of the felt and it was a much lighter color. I felt that one needed to be replaced. The Edison could likely have gone another 20 years with it's original felt, though it was faded with only a couple dark stains and (moth?) holes, but I was on a roll and wanted to see if I could do one better than my first attempt.

CDB

CDBPDX wrote:

Amberola wrote:I was just told by one of the old timmers that when you cut around the turn table, to cut it at an angle so it will have a bevel towards the spindle. That way you can pick up the records without getting the felt. If that makes any sense.

I ended up doing that about ¼ of the way around the first one. Just seemed to go smoother with fewer and less noticeable bobbles.

The original Victrola felt had the outer 1" of material detached from the rest of the felt and it was a much lighter color. I felt that one needed to be replaced. The Edison could likely have gone another 20 years with it's original felt, though it was faded with only a couple dark stains and (moth?) holes, but I was on a roll and wanted to see if I could do one better than my first attempt.

CDB

You did a very good job. Looks good. Sometimes you have to replace the felt. I wish I knew a way to fade it. I asked my wife if throwing it in the washing machine a couple of times would work. Of course she didn't know. Does anyone know how to fade the new felt?

Allow me show an example of original versus decent replacement felt. In my opinion, the craft felt will never look as good as the original wool felt in color, texture, or weight. It's possible to come close in color, however the nap still is not exactly the same as the original. I bought this replacement felt at the Union show a few years ago, I don't know what the wool content is versus the original.

Nice photos, Retrograde. That felt is the best color match I've seen, but you're right about the nap. The new felt has a linear, reflective, fibrous quality not seen in old felts. For this reason, I never, never replace turntable felt unless it's completely missing or huge pieces are gone.

This wasn't really a concern for me until about 10 years ago when I was searching for a nice AH Graphophone. I realized that I was being turned off of otherwise nice machines because of replacement turntable felts; usually the "pool table" green variety. I decided that I just couldn't spend a couple thousand dollars on a machine that had a glaring area shouting, "I'm NEW!"

Maybe I'm a crank, but I remember in the 1960s, 70s, and even 80s when there were 2 kinds of Victrola XVIs: the L-door variety and everything else. Nobody seemed to care about Edison reproducer serial numbers, so installing an early C on a Model D or E machine was just fine. Refinishing meant a coat of polyurethane. A triangular needle hole in the Exhibition you're putting on a front-mount Victor? Sure - as long as it works, why not? My point is that antique phonograph collecting has come a long way, and it continues to evolve. I believe that unnecessarily replacing turntable felt will soon become one of those embarrassing practices that we'll wish we hadn't done.

George P.