The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone!

It is good to be back on the forum after 4+ years of inactivity.

I am restoring my Columbia BQ Graphophone and wanted to ask for suggestions on touching up the paint on the bedplate, horn elbow, and reproducer carriage.

I started the restoration by disassembling and cleaning. I then removed the old, rough shellac from the bedplate, horn elbow, and reproducer carriage with denatured alcohol. After removing the shellac, I noticed that the paint has worn down to bare metal on the sharp edges of the bedplate and reproducer carriage.

I would like to know what is best to use to touch up the sharp edges before I apply new pinstriping and re-shellac? The rest of the paint is in great condition so I do not want to strip and repaint the whole thing.

Would a light coat of black gloss spray paint over the whole bedplate work? How about black automotive touch up paint? Will these paints be compatible with the new water-slide decals and a shellac coating?

-Cody

Just one tip... if you intend to spray over the existing paint, test an area on the bottom of the bedplate first to make sure the new paint is compatible with the original black paint. I learned this firsthand by trying to repaint a Columbia Q bedplate without completely removing all of the original paint... everything wrinkled up and made a total re-do necessary.

Don't spray it. Use a small artist's type paintbrush and rub the side of the bristles along the bared edges of your bedplate. You could even smear a bit of paint on your fingertip and run it lightly down the edges of the plate. The idea being to only apply paint where paint is needed and NOT covering up original finish... like with spray paint.

JerryVan wrote:Don't spray it. Use a small artist's type paintbrush and rub the side of the bristles along the bared edges of your bedplate. You could even smear a bit of paint on your fingertip and run it lightly down the edges of the plate. The idea being to only apply paint where paint is needed and NOT covering up original finish... like with spray paint.

Thanks for the reply, Jerry.

That's what I was thinking I should do.

What paint do you recommend I use for this?

-Cody

That is a common problem with both Edison and Columbia machines. Through the years, the bed plates, carriages and other parts get worn around the edges. My technique is slightly different than Jerry's. I use a Sharpie black enamel paint marker, not the Sharpie magic marker. I carefully touch up the edges and let dry. Then I buff the paint spots with a paper towel. That blends in the new paint with the old and is virtually indistinguishable. I've been doing this technique for years, and it works great.
Harvey Kravitz

Phonofreak wrote:That is a common problem with both Edison and Columbia machines. Through the years, the bed plates, carriages and other parts get worn around the edges. My technique is slightly different than Jerry's. I use a Sharpie black enamel paint marker, not the Sharpie magic marker. I carefully touch up the edges and let dry. Then I buff the paint spots with a paper towel. That blends in the new paint with the old and is virtually indistinguishable. I've been doing this technique for years, and it works great.
Harvey Kravitz

This sounds like a much simpler solution so I think I will try this.