The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I bought the gutted cabinet of a Victrola 210 today with the intent on converting it to a bar.

However, the lever which allows me to leave the lid up is missing. Also, I was thinking of adding a crank handle if I could figure out an easy way to do that. Lastly, I have a piece of metal running the depth of the cabinet which looks like it was the support for the turntable. I see holes on the opposite side so thought I might get that piece then cut a piece of glass and make a shelf.

I've seen a few sites which sell parts but wanted to check here for advice. Thanks.

First, this is a "wanted" post and should be posted in Yankee Trader, making sure to follow the guidelines there.

Second, the folks here generally frown on people making bars out of old cabinets. We'd much rather see you get another motor, turntable, etc. and turn it back into a working phonograph. As such, it's not likely you're going to find a lot of people cooperating with your goal.

Having said that, if you do decide to bring this back to working condition, we'd be more than happy to help you.

Yeah... We generally just make jokes about people turning these old machines into bars. (and cringe a lot). Don't mean to come off as just being mean, but we are collectors of vintage phonographs here. This is literally the cardinal sin (almost as bad as just trashing a machine).

I hope you reconsider this plan and sell it to someone who would fix it up "right".




-Travis

I don't disagree with the prior posts. But please know that the Victrola 210 is a common machine with a low value. Plus your machine has already started downs the path of alternate uses. You could spend a fair amount of money buying the parts to complete your cabinet into a functional Victrola only to find that you've spent more than it is worth. As long as you don't make major modifications to the cabinet it could be completed back to a functional machine in the future. I'd suggest you purchase a lid support and a generic crank and use the cabinet as you please. If you modify the cabinet it will probably never be brought back as a functional Victrola.

Jerry Blais

If you need a really nice cabinet that was already junked, and was even less desirable than a 210 Victrola, check your Private Messages. I have a 1920s cabinet that had been converted back in the 1980s to use a butchered works from a Columbia gramophone. I decided to sell the mechanical parts to serious collectors and put in vintage electric parts making it an electric phonograph but was stopped when my first attempt at rebuilding a tube amplifier ended in a terrific explosion.

But the cabinet is super nice, and you're welcome to it for a modest consideration. It's a lot fancier than the 210, already has a lid support and plenty of struts inside to hold up shelves, and is never going to be a gramophone again, so it's perfect.

Thanks for checking in. Granted, yours is one I would love to have in 100% good shape but when they've been gutted I don't usually mess with them. Some folks have a knack for finding old parts. I don't.

Charles F.

Jerry B. wrote:I don't disagree with the prior posts. But please know that the Victrola 210 is a common machine with a low value. Plus your machine has already started downs the path of alternate uses. You could spend a fair amount of money buying the parts to complete your cabinet into a functional Victrola only to find that you've spent more than it is worth. As long as you don't make major modifications to the cabinet it could be completed back to a functional machine in the future. I'd suggest you purchase a lid support and a generic crank and use the cabinet as you please. If you modify the cabinet it will probably never be brought back as a functional Victrola.

Jerry Blais

I totally understand that the goal here is to preserve and restore. Maybe, one day, I can afford to fully restore.

My goal right now is to find the proper lid support.

Sorry for posting in the wrong area.

For parts go to the "Links" section of our Forum. I'd suggest "Great Lakes..." or Ron Sitko.

Jerry B.

While it's from a different model, this should work for you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Victor-ORTHOPH ... SwZGFdECTy

I might ask, or at least hope, that in your conversion of this piece, you don't paint it, as so many do.

JerryVan wrote:While it's from a different model, this should work for you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Victor-ORTHOPH ... SwZGFdECTy

I might ask, or at least hope, that in your conversion of this piece, you don't paint it, as so many do.

Thanks for the link.

I won't paint it. I just wiped it down with some furniture cleaner and lemon oil and it looks great. One side looks like it sat next to something hot that eventually cracked the finish but that just adds "character".