The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I thought I'd share with you, what I consider my first success. I purchased this Amberola 30 on ebay and had it shipped to Sydney.

I have to say that I was incredibly surprised at how easy it was to wash off the shellac. As per George Grotz's "The Furniture Doctor" I mixed 1 part lacquer thinner to 4 parts
denatured alcohol (methylated spirits). I applied with a cotton cloth and 0000 steel wool for the tough spots, wiping away with a clean cloth soaked with the fluid mixture.

After I had cleaned the extra covering of shellac, I applied a few coats of Howards Restor a Finish with a cotton cloth, followed up with a couple of more coats a week later.

I also washed the motor in degreaser and the sprayed with WD40, and the machine purrs away silently and plays very well, although I had to use a different reproducer than the one that came with it to get the quality sound. All of this information was posted to the web by you good North American folk. Isn't that oak beautiful!

Looks great! Nice job!

Howards Restor a Finish is not a "finish". It is meant to clean/shine an existing finish. You should have finished with a new coat of shellac. If you decide to apply a real finish, getting it to adhere after applying the Howard's won't be easy; you'll probably have to strip it again.
Dave Jolley

The Amberola 30 is a surprisingly good machine for its size. At first, I shied away from owning one because I thought it would not sound very good. After new gaskets, a new diamond (the old one was bad), and a new diaphragm (in the end I decided on one of Larry H's cylinder diaphragms) it sounds very good and very loud for its size! If the original reproducer does not sound good, try sending it to Steve Medved. He does wonders and has a new supply of diamonds for the diamond series of cylinder reproducers.

WD-40 is a rust inhibitor, not a good lubricant. It is fish oil in a light, evaporative carrier. When the carrier evaporates, it becomes gummy and attracts dust which is the enemy of meshing gear teeth and turning pivots. Clean all that garbage off your mechanism and use a sewing machine oil such as Singer or Bernini. Sewing machine oil has no paraffin to become hard and gummy. Plus, WD-40 smells stinky.

^^^^
Agreed.

WD-40 is named for the 40th formulation of a "Water Displacement" compound that was invented in the 50s as a rust inhibitor. It is also very effective at removing rust, and can sometimes work as a penetrating oil, though less effective than products made specifically for that purpose. It obviously works well for simple household uses such as squeaky hinges. But it is an extremely low viscosity lubricant that is not suitable for any application that requires a heavier oil. Phonographs most definitely fall into that latter category.

One of the primary components of WD-40 is naptha -- lighter fluid -- which is an excellent solvent but that's about it.

You definitely want to clean it off thoroughly, then lubricate the pivots and pinions with a fine grade machine oil such as JohnM mentioned. Stay away from "all purpose" oils such as '3-in-1'. They attract dust and gum up over time, creating an abrasive compound that will damage pivots over the long term.

How about just some good old fashioned praise??? This is a great restoration, especially since it is your first success... never mind the WD-40 meltdown. From my position, this salvaged an ugly, abused machine and turned it into a very nice one. Now you have traveled down a slippery slope, since this turned out well, you will probably end up with many more...

Curt A wrote:How about just some good old fashioned praise??? This is a great restoration, especially since it is your first success... never mind the WD-40 meltdown. From my position, this salvaged an ugly, abused machine and turned it into a very nice one. Now you have traveled down a slippery slope, since this turned out well, you will probably end up with many more...

You're right, Curt . . . he's done a great job of restoration and I should have noted that -- he just used the wrong stuff. But now he'll have to lick that calf all over again.

My bad. I should have commented about the truly sensational transformation from a tired-looking hulk to a gleaming work of art.

Kudos for that.

I've always had a soft spot for Amberola 30s, ever since I was a teenager in the 60s. Small but rugged and they play wonderfully.

Imagine what the next one will be like after all of this feedback. I appreciate the great job that you have done and for me the comments that we can learn by.
It has been a great learning curve for me. Especially the Singer 3 in one oil. That seems to be the oil that is advertised for any fine jobs. I have just washed and cleaned down a motor that I had just overhauled and re oiled the motor in straight sewing machine oil. I had to go to a sewing machine shop to buy it.
All the best, Tony