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Victrolita pine box VV 1-1 finally together and working great. As Ringo used to say: "with a little help from my friends". Thanks to Jerry for the crank and Brandon for the great reproducer rebuilding, this little "pancake motor" Victor plays loud and clear. The only issue now is the tonearm. The nickel finish is so badly worn that it is looking more like copper. (or brass) I don't think it is worth spending the money to have it re-plated since it is such a cheapo little phonograph. I was not sure of the turntable felt either. The turntable has the outside raised lip and the original but badly worn felt was orange-brown like a Victor Orthophonic. So that's what I put back on - maybe it should be green, but not sure. Maybe it has the wrong turntable with the lip - again, really not sure. I think it looks and sounds pretty darn good, plus it fits on a small shelf. Very lightweight pine.

EDIT


The felt on mine wasn't green, and I think it probably was Orthophonic felt, just discolored. What you have on it looks fine.

I think it looks good as-is. I prefer to clean any dirt, grease, and grime from nickel plated hardware and just leave it alone. The thing is 88 years old, after all!

Brian,
Looks great!
They are nice little machines.
Gene

The 1-1 is one of my favourite "underdog" machines. Great to see yours all cleaned up! BRAVO!

Nice job, I still have one of these that was my very first Victrola when I started collecting, back when I was 9 or 10 years old. The case on mine is some wood other than pine, maybe birch or poplar that's been stained dark to look mahogany-like. Back then, in the 1960s, my Dad was a manager for a jewelry company (those of a certain age may remember Sarah Coventry costume jewelry, sold via the home party plan). Since the plating on the tonearm had failed on mine as well, my Dad was able to get the plating department at the local plant to plate it for me. I didn't realize that these arms were nickel plated, and anyway, they didn't use nickel much for the jewelry finishes. I still have what is perhaps the ONLY rhodium-plated Victrola tone arm in existence.

I like Jerry's 1-2 model (childs) much better. The kiddie graphics are really cool in my opinion

I just picked one of these up from Ebay at a very reasonable price. The person who sold it stated that he went through it and lubricated it, and it seems to me he did an excellent job.

The machine runs well, plays well, and sounds very good.

I do have several questions related to record wear:

The weight of the arm (pressure on the record) seems to be enormous compared to my only other two acoustic disc machines (a Panatrope portable and a Silvertone portable). The arm moves very freely in both the vertical and horizontal directions.

The reproducer was rebuilt, and the gaskets seem pliable. The needle bar seem properly to be aligned and properly setup, from what I can tell from the information on this forum and from reading up on the subject.

After playing any record, no matter what the condition of the record is (like new, worn out, or anywhere in between-also very early recordings and later recordings from the 1930's and 1940's), there is black dust on the needle (I do always use a new needle each time I play a record). I assume that the black dust is the remnants of music (material carved out of the grove by the needle).

Is this normal? Should I look for a later tone arm that is articulated? Am I destroying my records by using the machine?

Thank you all in advance.

RAK402 wrote:I just picked one of these up from Ebay at a very reasonable price. The person who sold it stated that he went through it and lubricated it, and it seems to me he did an excellent job.

That one seems to have been flipped, although the seller only gained about $20 for his effort.

Original eBay sale of #17499 went for $154 unrestored : http://www.ebay.com/itm/221378635785

Next eBay sale of #17499 went for $176 restored : http://www.ebay.com/itm/271426810300

True labor of love!

Great looking little machine. Glad to help with the crank. Jerry