The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi there,

As many of you know I now have a HMV 102C gramophone, internally its all good on the outside its good, but a bit plain with black everywhere and no accent pieces.

As this is a 'common' black 102 would it be frowned upon to tweek it a bit? I am not thinking crazy painting or anything, but I can see that the corner protectors are black with black screws and there is a recessed design (well rectangular design) on the top lid.

Would it be ok if I were to change the corner protectors with brass/silver and inlay the recess with either silver/gold or maybe some wood?

I am just thinking it needs a bit of a 'lift' externally as internally its pretty cool as it has the recessed wooden motorboard rather than the later flush mounted blackness lol

I guess I am just asking permission on the forum to be able to tweek it a bit

Personally, I wouldn't do it if the corner posts are in good condition, but that's only because I view myself as a temporary owner of any given gramophone or Victrola. I reason that, after I'm gone, someone else will get it, and why confuse future generations of collectors by making modifications or "improvements?"

Looking far into the future, I see something along this line:

EBAY, CIRCA 2110:

"This extremely rare HMV GRAMOPHONE is equipped with brass and silver inlay corner protectors! Since all records about gramophones were lost during the Oil Spill War between the United States and Great Britain in the early part of the 21st century, there is no way to tell whether these were original, but it's suspected that these may have been a custom option for buyers at the time. Buy it Now: $1,275,000.00." ($40.00 in today's money)...


... .....actually, I really don't see any harm in it, as long as you save the original corner protectors, and screws, so they can be re-mounted if you eventually sell it.

Haha nice lol hmmm I might just keep it as is then, you don't play the box, so even if its tatty it will still play the same as if it was gold plated lol

I think I might just give it a good clean over and bring it back to how it was originally and go for the 'less is more' approach I have already re-waxed the motordeck to give it a better shine and to protect it