The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I've seen it all, at least I thought I had. Victrola's painted in stunning, vibrant colors of house paint with tasteful upgrades like 1970's turntables and bookshelves upgrading the unrefined record storage areas below. Machines that have sat on dirt basement floors for decades, the wooden cabinets decaying and melting like butter in a hot pan as the dirt digests the wood into a soggy pile of detritus and mildew. Machines dropped on lids....machines submerged under water....machines covered in acidic smoke damage.....and machines that were once golden yellow turned chocolate brown from decades of cigarette smoke and re-run Woody Allen movies. One Edison cylinder machine, I recall, was restored by a previous expert who..... after bleaching the oak nearly white.....diligently used silicone caulk to seal all of the wood joints on the interior before applying a generous coating of marine urethane finish to it. Thus achieving a master finish like no other. This is VERY OBVIOUS to the keen observer and ADVANCED phonograph collector as a nearly perfected attempt at making the cabinet not only wind-proof, but water-proof as well. Maybe even buoyant.

We as a group have our collecting stories. The one that got away. The one I found in an abandoned house. And sometimes, we can't explain anything because we simply haven't got a clue as to WHY something is, or WHY something happened. But, of all the machines this could have happened to......believe me, I would have preferred it happened to a Graphophone Type Q. But, instead, it happened to a Bell Tainter.

As is my standard disclaimer, anybody here with a heart condition should consult your doctor before continuing.

Picture #1. THE LID
Picture #2. THE BULLET ENTRY HOLE ON THE SIDE OF THE LID
Picture #3. THE EXIT HOLE FROM THE SIDE OF THE LID
Picture #4. ENTRY HOLE ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF LIE
----and my Favourite one----
Picture #5. FINAL EXIT HOLE, TAKING VENEER WITH IT!

As imaginative as I could be, I have no way of explaining this. I'll leave it to your imaginations. BUT, the fact of the matter is....this needs to be fixed.

When undertaking a repair like this, it is important to find a piece of veneer that closely (or identically) matches the grain pattern and density of the surrounding area. I used some wood carving tools to square up the repair area, and bevel the existing veneer to accept the new piece of repair veneer. In doing this, we create an overlap of the wood veneers. It is my hope that when the high areas of veneer are shaved back, that the uneven nature of the repair will blend it into the existing veneer.

I traced the lid to get the right curvature for the repair piece. Because the Original veneer was slightly thicker than the repair veneer, I shimmed it flush with a piece of a business card. Hey, it works.

I applied a liberal coating of my Favourite glue....fish glue. Made from cod skins. Mmmmmmm...yummy. To hold the repair down, I put plastic sheeting and a new sponge above the repair, and weighed it down with a bottle of horse joint supplement.

The sponge will hold the veneer down flat over 80% of the repair, and keep it held down nicely in the overlap area.

I'll let it dry, and check in with you tomorrow!

"Decades of cigarette smoke and rerun Woody Allen movies".....

Judging from the photos, that must have been a pretty small caliber - BB shot, perhaps?

Bill

Updated. Shaving back veneer, coloring with tinted shellac to seal the veneer, then with tinted lacquer and an artists brush. I like to thumb rub 200 grit sandpaper into the finish after it cures a bit, to add texture to the surface. After it cures, I'll so some more spot blending to reduce dense spots of color along grain line.

Amazing work as always. Thanks again for sharing your techniques.

Andreas

Wow - you'd have to look for that repair to see it! Nice work - -

George P.

"Judging from the photos, that must have been a pretty small caliber - BB shot, perhaps?"

No way a BB Shot. No way. You can plainly see from the holes that the round tumbled sideways. You are looking at a .22 cal bullet hole as it loses velocity. It must have been shot from quite a distance.. (At least 50 yards or more, or hit something else first before it hit the Phonograph and went through it). Even a .25 cal or a .32 cal of the day would be a bit bigger hole, but the bullet would not leave such a "tumble" mark as a typical lead .22 of the day which is a much longer bullet than that of the .25 or .32. This hole "for sure" was shot with a .22 caliber rifle from a good distance.

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

Yeah, I agree that whatever hit this was bigger than a BB. Hey, a new field of research.....PHONOGRAPH BALLISTICS!

Here is a series of pics of the other hole patch. The repair veneer needed to closely match the surrounding area, and also be sanded with bevel edges so it would fit into the area I cut out with my carving tools. On this side I didn't use tinted shellac to dye the wood, instead I tinted some clear lacquer and brushed it on. Shellac sometimes eats away at the surrounding original finish, and makes touchup a little more difficult. No matter how thinly I apply it. I think in future I'll go the matte lacquer route.... only trick is, testing the touchup on a scrap piece of veneer to make sure the color is SPOT ON. If it isn't, it makes a MUCH larger job to fix, as shellac is more forgiving in that respect.

Wyatt, you blow me away (no pun intended) with your seamless repairs and this one is no exception! I want to be you when I grow up. Thanks for posting!

Martin

Wyatt,
That is fantastic work!
Bravo!

John

Very few people can perform restoration of this caliber.

George P.