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Almost finished refurbishing my walnut finished Mandel phonograph. Need some screws to attach the lid, just about all that's left. It had been sitting in a drafty old barn for 15 years, now it really sparkles and plays very nicely. I rebuilt the reproducer and greased/oiled the motor some time ago, just now getting to the cabinet.

The horn has walnut veneer, yet there is a grill cloth covering it up. Seems weird that a lovely horn would be covered with a grill cloth. Did it come that way originally?

CDB

CDBPDX wrote:The horn has walnut veneer, yet there is a grill cloth covering it up. Seems weird that a lovely horn would be covered with a grill cloth. Did it come that way originally?
CDB

I'd say yes from the images I had found...
http://victrolagramophones.proboards.co ... 269&page=1
They also made records for a short time...
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... &t=12954&p

It looks to be the same model as mine.
I do not have an auto-brake.
Can you post a photo of he reproducer, it looks different than mine too.

from a 1919 Mandel catalog for the Oak #3 was $150, Walnut #3 was $175 with gold plated hardware

James.

Roaring20s wrote:

CDBPDX wrote:The horn has walnut veneer, yet there is a grill cloth covering it up. Seems weird that a lovely horn would be covered with a grill cloth. Did it come that way originally?
CDB

It looks to be the same model as mine.
I do not have an auto-brake.
Can you post a photo of he reproducer, it looks different than mine too.

from a 1919 Mandel catalog for the Oak #3 was $150, Walnut #3 was $175 with gold plated hardware

James.

Actually, I have 2 Mandel phonographs and had to use the tone arm and reproducer from another Mandel, nickel plated. The gold plated one that came with this machine was broken. I'll get photos of them both tomorrow. CDB

"The horn has walnut veneer, yet there is a grill cloth covering it up. Seems weird that a lovely horn would be covered with a grill cloth. Did it come that way originally?"--CDB

Edison also covered up attractive faux woodgrained painted horns with grill cloth on occasion. Here is a forum thread where that occurred on a couple of Amberola IIIs.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... III#p61437

And here is another forum thread where that occurred on an A 300 Diamond Disc phonograph.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... +III#p3262

In the latter thread, Valecnik offers an interesting theory of why manufacturers covered up beautiful Painted horns with grill cloth. See his Saturday, January 10, 2009 post at 3:28 PM.

--Mark

victorIIvictor wrote:"The horn has walnut veneer, yet there is a grill cloth covering it up. Seems weird that a lovely horn would be covered with a grill cloth. Did it come that way originally?"--CDB

Edison also covered up attractive faux woodgrained painted horns with grill cloth on occasion. Here is a forum thread where that occurred on a couple of Amberola IIIs.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... III#p61437

And here is another forum thread where that occurred on an A 300 Diamond Disc phonograph.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... +III#p3262

In the latter thread, Valecnik offers an interesting theory of why manufacturers covered up beautiful Painted horns with grill cloth. See his Saturday, January 10, 2009 post at 3:28 PM.

--Mark

Brunswick also covered up their nice horns....

Finished the Mandel cabinet and it is up and running. Here are a couple pics of both Mandel machines. One of them is very like a Victrola in appearance. The Victrola looking machine came with the nickel plated tone arm and reproducer, the other with the gold. The gold tone arm and reproducer were broken, but apparently Super Glue works to put them back together, though I don't know for how long. Each machine has a different motor. The Victrola machine has the #2 motor. The turntables look the same, even have the same numbers stamped on them, but the spindle holes are different diameters. The 'felt' for them is not felt but some kind of woven nap. Both have the same material. One of them is worn and you can see an area where the nap is gone and the threads are loose. The back sides of the reproducers are mostly the same, but the connector piece for each has a different diameter and so the backs are different to accommodate them. Both machines are now playable, I still have to refinish the cabinet for the Victrola looking one. Also. it is lacking the grill. It is much smaller than the walnut machine. The grill from the walnut machine is wider than the Victrola machine.

You can see the walnut machine playing using the nickel plated reproducer on YouTube at:

http://youtu.be/V-PzRmM-8DQ

Here is another video using the gold plated reproducer:

http://youtu.be/Et-ZISislew

Enjoy! CDB

Very handsome - the choice of wood grain can really lift machines like this out of the ordinary. This cabinet was used by several manufacturers, here is a "Fox"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmNE8bGSgkg[/youtube]

CDBPDX wrote:The gold tone arm and reproducer were broken, but apparently Super Glue works to put them back together, though I don't know for how long.

I first tried super glue out of desperation to repair a pot metal lateral cut adaptor for my Pathé. To my astonishment is worked very well. The repair remains strong after a couple of years. Have since used it to repair a couple of other pot metal parts. It may be that the granularity of the pot metal gives the super glue something to grab on to.

In cases where I have used it successfully, I have left the edges to be glued rough just as they were when broken.

Clay

I love that Mandel, there is one close by here in Michigan City, IN. The motors on your Mandel look like a "Mandel" badged Heineman motor, maybe I am wrong. The reproducers looks awesome as does the inner horn.

The back of the gold reproducer where cracked may be built up and filled in with JB weld (grey) sanded and painted. I did one of these repairs back many years ago and it worked very well.

Mandels are great, they demonstrated the one in Michigan City for me. I would go for a Mandel, but I have a Chicago made Magnola which has the Heineman reproducer and motor.

Good Luck on such a beautiful machine.

CDBPDX wrote:Finished the Mandel cabinet and it is up and running. Here are a couple pics of both Mandel machines. One of them is very like a Victrola in appearance. The Victrola looking machine came with the nickel plated tone arm and reproducer, the other with the gold. The gold tone arm and reproducer were broken, but apparently Super Glue works to put them back together, though I don't know for how long. Each machine has a different motor. The Victrola machine has the #2 motor. The turntables look the same, even have the same numbers stamped on them, but the spindle holes are different diameters. The 'felt' for them is not felt but some kind of woven nap. Both have the same material. One of them is worn and you can see an area where the nap is gone and the threads are loose. The back sides of the reproducers are mostly the same, but the connector piece for each has a different diameter and so the backs are different to accommodate them. Both machines are now playable, I still have to refinish the cabinet for the Victrola looking one. Also. it is lacking the grill. It is much smaller than the walnut machine. The grill from the walnut machine is wider than the Victrola machine.

You can see the walnut machine playing using the nickel plated reproducer on YouTube at:

http://youtu.be/V-PzRmM-8DQ

Here is another video using the gold plated reproducer:

http://youtu.be/Et-ZISislew

Enjoy! CDB

Nice videos!

If I may go a bit off-topic (referring to the records rather than the machine), the Artie Shaw disc is quite interesting for the early use of the harpsichord in jazz. When was that recorded….. and I wonder what make of instrument they used?

-Bill