The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My Edison A250 which I previously posted about has gone through a bit of a restoration. I spent hours cleaning it with Gojo hand cleaner. I reluctantly refinished the door of the cabinet due to the fact it had a large black stain along the bottom going up several inches. I applied a layer of shellac which really made me hate shellac due to it's quick drying time and it's impossible to fix a mistake without waiting for it to dry and sanding it out. I buffed out the gloss with 0000 steal wool,but it's really hard to get out the gloss from the hard edges. The biggest change I made was that I made a replacement grill and backed it with fabric. Making the grill was very difficult and I intend to post a tutorial on this site in order to prevent anyone from making my mistakes. Well, here are the pictures which really don't do it justice, but they are the best I could do.

Wow, what a beauty! Your refinish matches perfectly, as does the grill. I assumed it was original until I read that you made it! Excellent job.

She looks very nice!

I have found evidence of the "Official Laboratory Model" medallion on a few extant turntable trim pieces of the B 250 -- this designation appeared by late 1915 in Edison advertising -- but I cannot find any mention of this designation before then. I personally believe the late B 250s may have been marked by the Edison company (or perhaps even dealers) as such to help move the "older" B 250 models out of the showrooms to make way for the next (and ultimately a much more successful selling) model: The "Chippendale" C 250.

This machine is particularly interesting to me because of that feature. I'd love to know all of it's history.

Best,
Fran