The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I picked up an 8-35X here in my hometown today! Obviously needs work, but here are some preliminary pictures.

The pot metal reproducer is in fantastic shape and I disassembled it by hand with no freezing of the pot metal parts. (I know the pictures may appear sideways, but if you click on them, they should correct themselves).

-Connor

I love my VV 8-35. I found it in a barn nearby a couple of years ago. I have several orthophonic machines and none of them compares to the 8-35. Enjoy!

A worthy project! I have same machine. Love spinning records without winding and the sound is soooo good.

-bill

Nice find! I like playing mine too.
Tough to find them with the albums.
I did not get an original set.

Always nice to find these models!
My 8-35X is one of my total favorites.
Bob
Pics rotated for easier viewing!

You will LOVE the sound of this machine once you have finished the restoration, and the ephemera is a nice bonus. I once used the reproduction spines available on eBay (produced by a forum member) and they looked great! My VE 8-35 is my most played machine. My newest one came with original albums from Blytheville, AR by Way of Memphis, then Woodbury, TN. I’m the second owner with lots of documented history.

Matt

Hey, I have two Victrola 8-9s and I had Wyatt Markus rebuild the reproducer. You ought to hear the sound on that one! The late Orthophonic reproducers have much better pot metal than the earlier ones, except for the brass ones of course. One of my 8-9's is an 8-9X, which is pretty rare, less than 1000 built. So I'm going to sell my hand crank 8-9. As you know it has the same large metal re-entrant horn as the 8-35.

Hey toydk, are those original albums? How about a better pic of your 8-35 with the doors closed. Marc.

toydk wrote:I love my VV 8-35. I found it in a barn nearby a couple of years ago. I have several orthophonic machines and none of them compares to the 8-35. Enjoy!

I like the light you installed in the machine, it is quite smart. The playing area of this machine is pretty deep and dark, and sometimes I have trouble placing the needle at the right start position. How did you do it? Did you have to glue it to the wall?

marcapra wrote:Hey toydk, are those original albums? How about a better pic of your 8-35 with the doors closed. Marc.

Here you go. Overall the cabinet is in good shape. I want to replace the veener on the top eventually.

The albums have the reproduction labels on them.

I bought the LED light at Walmart for about $10. It attaches with velcro to the space above the data plate. I just realized this morning that of you turn the LED’s towards the back of the cabinet you still get sufficient light without the glare.

Thanks toydk for taking and uploading those beautiful pics! Did 8-35X's originally come with a light under the lid? Boy the guy that made those repro spines sure did a good job. I have a set of those which I am planning to put on my Orthophonic standard albums. I no longer have an 8-35, but it had a set of very nice original albums which took me years to accumulate. I even had to buy an entire 8-35 in New York just to get the albums! I understand that the 8-9 also had those fancy albums in the shelves under the horn, so that's why I bought a set of spines. When I emailed the guy who sells the spines in order to buy more, he never responded. Maybe he is finally out of spines? Marc.