The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My A250 came into my possession with a red oak stain and it looks quite fetching. My question is did the Edison company have red oak as an option or was my machine re-stained by some one in the last 100 years? My research only shows 3 options from the factory, golden oak, Jacobean and fumed. Historically accurate or not, I don't intend to change the finish, but if the machines did leave the factory with a red oak stain I would like to know. Thank you.

Could you post a picture? I don't think I have ever seen red oak?

I ran across a mahogany music box cabinet about 10 years ago with a quarter-sawn oak top on it. It was solid oak that was stained and then had color in the finish to get it to match the rest of the cabinet. That wouldn't be too big of a deal though since the music box would all but cover it. I've never seen an entire oak cabinet stained red though. A good friend of mine (that collects phonographs) saw a blue cygnet horn that was grained like quartered oak at an auction back in the early 1970's. If that was done at the factory, it was probably as a gift to a friend, as a lark, or something on that order. They did some odd things at times, but that wouldn't make sense unless someone had a reason for wanting it that way. If it looks nice, leave it alone I would say. Pictures would be interesting to see though. That black color that Victor used briefly around 1907-08 is just awful as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully it looked better when it was new. I've seen upright pianos with that black finish on oak as well.

These are from his original post here: http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 59#p132859

If I were looking with a critical eye, I would look at places that a refinisher might skip. I'd check the inside of the door in the back, the record drawers, the inside of the door. I'd look at the decal with a questioning eye. Is the decal original? Has the finish around the decal been worked around? It is next to impossible to refinish a cabinet and leave the original decal without leaving some clues. If those tucked away places are consistent with the outside and the decal is original, you could build a argument that it was done that way from the factory. Someone has done some work to the cabinet at some time because the inner area of the grill is not original. Is that area consistent with the rest of the cabinet? Jerry B.

It appears to me to be a stripped cabinet someone put a darker stain over. Red toned mahogany was quite popular with many refinishers.

Larry