Edison London Upright - fixed up on the cheap
Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:34 pm
I bought a London Upright for a very low price. Now, I know a lot of collectors dislike these cheaper Edison machines, but I kind of like the looks of the London line. In my opinion they're modest and charming, yet I allow that they're cheap and simple to others. Here's something we can agree on: we'd probably all buy one if it had a Dance reproducer. This one did 
The machine was pretty trashed. Water damage, lifting veneer, white paint spots, very worn finish, missing grille, no turntable, no governor, broken spring. My plan was to keep the reproducer (I've never owned a Dance or Edisonic before and wow, I love this thing!) but part out the machine otherwise. And then it just sat there, looking like a beaten puppy.
I decided to experiment on the finish. I was definitely not going to refinish it. I'm kind of fascinated by the type of finish it has. I'm still not sure. There seems to be a silvery wash underneath, and I'd argue that the areas under the lid and inside are very pretty with a reflective metallic quality underneath some sort of brown obscuring finish. I've since found a 1920s ad that describes the LU finish as "antique". It's too bad so many didn't survive well. Anyway, I cleaned everything up, glued together the severely warped cabinet and veneer, and got it looking presentable with stain and wax.
Then I was lucky enough to find someone parting out an absolutely destroyed London Upright from the same vintage and I was able to get the motor parts that were missing very cheap. I got it up and running and I was surprised how much I like it. Firstly, this is one of the narrowest uprights, at only 17 ⅝" wide. Having a small space (or rather too many things), this is a plus for me. Also, as I've come to find out, this is an early LU, #10367, presumably from November of 1922 or so if Frow can be trusted (not always) and it retains the speed control! Having that made me like it more as it's easier to use a lateral adapter.
But what about that grille? It'd probably cost at least $40. Is it worth it? Should I bother checking? Who needs it.
That's when I remembered I had some very thin junk plywood someone gave me. Some of it had mahogany veneer. It might work, I thought, but it was too thin. I started looking online at photos of the grille and found one photo that was nearly head-on and very detailed. I played around with the image on the computer until I got it somewhat even and printed it out on two sheets of cardstock about the right size. I taped it together and cut out a stencil.
Then I had to figure out how to glue two sheets of that thin plywood together. Rather than ask anyone with real knowledge how or if it could be done, I just went ahead with a goofy plan: gorilla glue the crap out of two pieces and use screws to hold the pieces together while it dried, using the stencil to guide where I could put holes in the areas that would be cut out anyway. I also used clamps, just to make sure.
Amazingly, it worked. I used a jigsaw to cut it out. Not the best job, but with enough sanding and filling, plus the admittedly murky brown finish I was matching, it came out surprisingly well. And it was free! I went with a red grille cloth because for some reason it seems to look better with the wood tone to me.
I apologize for the very long story and photos, but hopefully it might help someone. If anyone has any tips on how this might have been easier or how the finish could be improved, let me know. There are still areas that appear silvery where the top coat looks worn away. Furniture wax helped.In the last photo I used a flash, so the wood looks at its worst and the cloth looks much lighter, but I promise it looks much better in person.
The machine was pretty trashed. Water damage, lifting veneer, white paint spots, very worn finish, missing grille, no turntable, no governor, broken spring. My plan was to keep the reproducer (I've never owned a Dance or Edisonic before and wow, I love this thing!) but part out the machine otherwise. And then it just sat there, looking like a beaten puppy.
I decided to experiment on the finish. I was definitely not going to refinish it. I'm kind of fascinated by the type of finish it has. I'm still not sure. There seems to be a silvery wash underneath, and I'd argue that the areas under the lid and inside are very pretty with a reflective metallic quality underneath some sort of brown obscuring finish. I've since found a 1920s ad that describes the LU finish as "antique". It's too bad so many didn't survive well. Anyway, I cleaned everything up, glued together the severely warped cabinet and veneer, and got it looking presentable with stain and wax.
Then I was lucky enough to find someone parting out an absolutely destroyed London Upright from the same vintage and I was able to get the motor parts that were missing very cheap. I got it up and running and I was surprised how much I like it. Firstly, this is one of the narrowest uprights, at only 17 ⅝" wide. Having a small space (or rather too many things), this is a plus for me. Also, as I've come to find out, this is an early LU, #10367, presumably from November of 1922 or so if Frow can be trusted (not always) and it retains the speed control! Having that made me like it more as it's easier to use a lateral adapter.
But what about that grille? It'd probably cost at least $40. Is it worth it? Should I bother checking? Who needs it.
That's when I remembered I had some very thin junk plywood someone gave me. Some of it had mahogany veneer. It might work, I thought, but it was too thin. I started looking online at photos of the grille and found one photo that was nearly head-on and very detailed. I played around with the image on the computer until I got it somewhat even and printed it out on two sheets of cardstock about the right size. I taped it together and cut out a stencil.
Then I had to figure out how to glue two sheets of that thin plywood together. Rather than ask anyone with real knowledge how or if it could be done, I just went ahead with a goofy plan: gorilla glue the crap out of two pieces and use screws to hold the pieces together while it dried, using the stencil to guide where I could put holes in the areas that would be cut out anyway. I also used clamps, just to make sure.
Amazingly, it worked. I used a jigsaw to cut it out. Not the best job, but with enough sanding and filling, plus the admittedly murky brown finish I was matching, it came out surprisingly well. And it was free! I went with a red grille cloth because for some reason it seems to look better with the wood tone to me.
I apologize for the very long story and photos, but hopefully it might help someone. If anyone has any tips on how this might have been easier or how the finish could be improved, let me know. There are still areas that appear silvery where the top coat looks worn away. Furniture wax helped.In the last photo I used a flash, so the wood looks at its worst and the cloth looks much lighter, but I promise it looks much better in person.
