Ebay 4 clip purchase

[tomb]

I purchased a home 4 clip on EBay for $305 including shipping. It is s/n 18480 and has a winged C reproducer s/n 126474. It also came with a horn and 9 blue cylinders. I believe the horn is an original but you can comment and let me know. I had it with two others to compare them. With a hour work oiling and adjustment it plays a couple of two minute cylinders. I do not know why they had attached the blue cylinders to it but they were a nice bonus as the do not play on this machine. I still have a little more work on it but it is 90% done now. Pictures are reversed in order. The original machine are at the end. I forgot how they post on this site.

[phonogal]

Looks very nice. You did a great job on it. Congrats on a nice buy as well.

[TinfoilPhono]

What a bargain! I am surprised it ended up so cheap. That's rare on eBay.

The center horn in your picture looks like a repro to me, the other 2 appear original.

[rgordon939]

I see you used Meguiers compound and o clean the machine. I would highly recommend that you use Meguires Scratch X as it works the best I have found. Here is an example.

Rich Gordon

[Jerry B.]

Terrific buy and a nice machine. I think the middle and right horns are reproductions. At first glance the horn on the right appears to a better quality reproduction with a crimped small end, perhaps a Smith horn, but it does not have the raised brass seam between the body and the brass bell. Jerry B.

[Fonotone]

Yes, the horn in the center and the horn on the right are definitely reproductions. The horn on the left is original.

[FloridaClay]

Nice job with the banner decal also. What did you use to touch it up? (I'm assuming it was touched up and not replaced.)

Clay

[flashpanblue]

You got a heck of a deal on that one! An original horn is worth at least $75. You did a fine job on cleaning it up. I also would like to know what type of paint you used to touch up the decal.
Pete

[tomb]

I used the meguiers compound to clean it but the surface is a little questionable and I did not want to screw it up too much from the original. It was taking off the shellac... I used a black gel excel .07 black pen for the lines. For the gold I used a gold uniball gel impact 1.0 I am having a problem with the red and I can not get a close match so I figure it best not to screw it up. I just finished coating the label and touch ups with orange shellac to blend it in. From three feet away I can not see a difference. I might take the lid in and see if I can get a closer red. I purchased the items from Michaels in the school section. The gold I believe came from Michael's and Amazon.. Just get the gel pens.
On the horns I need to look for the rolled seam between the bell and the body??? I know the later reproductions stand out as lighter metal and cheaply made but that is all that is available it seems that is reasonable and does not need a lot of work Tom B

[Lucius1958]

Yes, the horn in the center and the horn on the right are definitely reproductions. The horn on the left is original.

I definitely agree.

There is one detail that interests me, though. On the original horn, the crimped end seems to be fairly long, compared to an example I have. Were there variations between the early and late B&B horns?

Bill