The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here is the new family member after some cleaning and TLC. I have two questions for you guys, do you think I should re-nickel the tone arm and the rest of the metal parts. Also I don't know if I should polish the brass horn. What do you think?

dennislpr wrote:Here is the new family member after some cleaning and TLC. I have two questions for you guys, do you think I should re-nickel the tone arm and the rest of the metal parts. Also I don't know if I should polish the brass horn. What do you think?

It looks great as it is, I would not replate the nickel parts, from the photos they are not that bad and replated parts would look fake. Polishing the horn would be ok, some Brasso and elbow grease will do it.

Huh.

My reaction is just the opposite. I would not touch the horn, but I would consider replating the nickel. The horn has a very nice, rich look that will take a long time to achieve if it is polished. The tone arm on the other hand just looks rough. If it's too shiny after plating, then dull it back with some steel wool. Nice machine!

Martin

I would leave it as is. I've seen too many machines that looked fake because they were re-nickeled. I would also leave the horn alone unless it has some real corrosion spots. The patina on the brass looks great. After all, it is over 100 years old and can show its age. It is only original once...

Andreas

My vote would be "leave as is" except for perhaps an occasional dusting.

I'd rub up the horn to remove any surface smudges & fingermarks, but I wouldn't polish it.

The tone arm is not bad by itself, but the rest of the nickle plate is quite shiny. Have you tried giving it a good buff and polish?

What I can see on the picture is that there is some nickel loss on the arm, which cannot be fixed by buffing. The only result would be that the brass under the nickel would show more, making it worse I think. I had a similar tonearm and speak from experience. That's why I vote for leaving it alone.

Andreas

alang wrote:I would leave it as is. I've seen too many machines that looked fake because they were re-nickeled. I would also leave the horn alone unless it has some real corrosion spots. The patina on the brass looks great. After all, it is over 100 years old and can show its age. It is only original once...

Andreas

This is the advise you should take. Once you modify an antique, you lower it's value. Antique lovers like myself walk the other way when confronted with the loss of patina which only time provides. It's a beautiful machine and you are just a care taker so don't diminish it's value for the future.

My vote would be "leave as is" except for perhaps an occasional dusting.

Thanks for all your great comments! , quick question is there a way to know if my brass horn is an original or a repro?