The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently picked up an original Cygnet Horn for my Home 2/4 combo, with horizontal carriage.. The horn is in good shape physically but, or course, the paint is quite faded. Will repainting devalue the horn, and if I do repaint, should the original decals be masked off, or just replaced with new repros from Peru? Also, I will need to find a crane, hopefully, original, but if necessary, repro.

Any advice will be appreciated.

I think it comes down to your personal preference. I for instance prefer originality, preserving it in its original state; so some fading or scratches don’t another me much. If it’s too far gone then to preserve the piece I’ll get it restored back to what it would have been originally. I don’t really look at those items at that point as a source of value, as they have value to me.

If I was to get it repainted, I would send it to someone to specializes in painting the horns, and I’m sure they could direct you on what they would prefer on the labels!

I think ron sitko will be able to help you on the reproducer crane

posting a photo would help

I repainted a horn and it was a little difficult. I put new decals on it as the old ones were in bad shape. The hard part for me was straitening it. I did my best and got a lot of the 100 year old dings out of it. The other difficult part was putting the gold stripes and edging it. It took a while and now looks very good. My next project is a searchlight horn. It is rusted on 70% of the horn but not all the way thru. I am having a hard time getting motivated to do it . I have already brought the paint so one day I will get inspired. Tom B

Looks good... it was a great candidate for repainting....

Thank you J.F. and Tom B. for your replies and input. My Cygnet paint condition looks to be about the same as Tom's before he repainted. Tom's looks so good gloss black with the gold accents, it's hard to not want to do that. Still pondering, but leaning toward refinishing. I have ordered a crane from Ron Sitco and will make final decision after putting the horn on the phono and evaluating the look. Thanks again