The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello,

Here on the west coast I most often get to sit and watch with envy some of our fellow collectors back east how, with some hard work, are lucky enough to come across nice finds in the wild. Wild to me is from an original owner, or a antique seller who does not specialize in phonographs.

For the past several years I have been advertising locally my services to help restore or repair phonographs. I also offer to appraise or buy any items as well. This has worked well as I have met some interesting people who for a couple of dollars (cost of parts) can enjoy a working machine and on a couple occasions I have had the opportunity to buy items which they feel are going to take more money to restore than they want to spend.

This is the case here last week. I was approached by an fellow who was downsizing and wanted to know the value of his Edison Opera. I found some recent on line sales but when he brought over his machine it was very apparent it was going to need a lot of work (especially the horn) to sell at a decent price. He offered me a fair price so now I have a nice project to work on and add to my collection.

Edison Opera Model A ser # 3480

I have been corresponding with a couple of people to determine if we can save the horn but I was wondering if anyone knows of any Mahogany Music Master horns (wood section only needed) for sale and what would be a fair price?

Bruce

What a wonderful-looking machine! Congratulations! We're fortunate these days that there are master horn-restorers who can probably work wonders with yours. I'd certainly recommend having it restored, especially since it is probably original to that machine.
I'd expect to pay around $1000.00+ at auction for an untouched wood bell in good condition. There are nice replicas too, but I'd invest in your own horn restoration myself.
I'm sure others can recommend restorers based on personal experience. Good luck!
Bob

The horn looks restorable, so if you are at all inclined, you should learn about doing it yourself. Basically, it appears that the wood has separated at the glue joints and someone decided that it might look nice to fill the cracks with pink stuff. All of that needs to be removed and the horn needs to be cleaned. Once cleaned the horn needs to be "softened" by steaming or soaking in hot water, then pulled back together, re-glued and held with strap clamps (or in a pinch, duct tape) until the new glue joints set up... use a water based wood glue and clean any overage of glue off the joints with a damp cloth before the glue sets up. It may end up being a little more than this, but no pieces appear to be missing, so that is what I would attempt to do.

Congratulations to that stunning machine. I agree that this horn looks very restorable and I would ask Don Gfell to do it. You can see examples of his work at http://www.edisonman.com.

Andreas

Great find! Congratulations! Jerry B.

Excellent "in the wild" score Bruce. I can't wait to see it... . Congrats!!!!..... .

There's only one person that I would trust to restore that horn, and that would be Don Gfell. He is literally the wood horn master.

His website is below..

http://edisonman.com/aboutus.htm


Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer