The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

After I had what I thought was a good performing Brunswick Panatrope 109 that I was absolutely happy with... Mishaps had to happen. My cat jumped onto the counter the Brunswick was on causing the lid to land down on the reproducer while it was still on the record damaging my good working Panatrope reproducer after only owning it for less than a week...

So has anyone else had one of these “Murphy’s Law” type accidents with a machine you love? When one minute, it’s working great and the next something goes completely haywire therefore putting the machine out of commission temporarily or (unfortunately) permanently?

Or could it be a time when you’ve tried to fix something only to break it even worse? (Happened to me plenty of times.)

I know I can eventually get another Panatrope soundbox, or have mine currently rebuilt and working better than ever, but now I have to spend extra money that I wasn’t planning on in the first place.

I’m sure most of us collectors has gone through this a time or two, so what’s your biggest “Murphy’s Law” moment with a machine?

You are really asking me to tell on myself and it was a disaster... I was making a minor repair on a Victrola and it required pressure from top to bottom. My initial thought was to take it across town to a friends and use his bar clamps. But I had the bright idea that I could accomplish the same thing with some weight. I thought it would be easy. So I glued the part, placed a 2' square of plywood on top and loaded two tubs of phono stuff ready for the next sale. Just to make sure I loaded one final box on top. That carton contained a Victor machine that was pre-sold and delivered to the next Union show. It was packed just fine to be placed in my trailer and unloaded at the Union. After this I jumped in the car to do some errands. When I hit the garage door button I watched in horror as the bar came towards the carton and swept it off the stack directly to the cement floor. Like I said, it was a disaster. The back left corner took the brunt of the fall and it was splintered. Now I believe we are nothing but care takers for our objects before they go to someone else. I take this very seriously. I was devastated and am embarrassed to tell this story.

My next step was to immediately call the buyer to tell that I was returning his deposit. But we have a fellow in Portland that is a magician with wood. While it was in his shop I received a call from someone looking for that particular Victor model. I replied that I did but it was in the shop to repair some cabinet damage. He asked if I had before photos. It never occurred to me to take photos. Why would I want a photo to remind me of my stupidity? I had confidence in the woodworker and told the perspective buyer that I would take good photos of each corner and he could make a decision. I followed that by saying that he was not obligated until he had seen the machine in person. The repair was perfect. The machine sold to the person that called. The repair was so good it will be lost to history.

That doesn't change the fact that I am embarrassed to tell this story but it is 100% true. It's important to be honest with everyone.

Jerry Blais

I would rather not say. Too embarrassing.

Not a machine, but a horn- The second machine I bought when I started collecting was a nice Edison Home Model "A" with a red flowered horn. This was in 1976 so there was very little restoration info that could be readily found. The machine and horn were filthy, especially the horn- layers of dirt from many years on a shelf in a barn. Being young, inexperienced and stupid, I grabbed some sort of cleaner off a shelf. I can't even remember what it was. -- I think the trauma was so intense, my brain blocked it from my memory.

I proceeded to get a clean rag and got it very saturated with this cleaner. I then started "washing" the outside of the horn with it, while spraying more cleaner with the other hand- The cleaner was literally running down the panels. Almost immediately the paint began to dissolve right before my eyes-- Everywhere that 'magic' cleaner touched, the paint disappeared and showed shiny metal underneath- Truly an ugly mess.

Fortunately I hadn't started on the inside of the horn, so there was no damage to the hand-painted flowers- I eventually had to strip the entire outside and repaint with a translucent red paint-- Looked pretty OK, sort of, almost-- but I had destroyed the original paint on a nice horn.

Lesson learned--> Always-- ALWAYS -- test any cleaner before using- and better yet, in this age of connectivity, ask the Forum folks before diving in to a project.

Brad Abell

Once I tripped while moving a machine and rode a 1922 Brunswick York down half a flight of stairs. It survived the cabinet restoration.

Another time I "refinished" a 1930 Victrola 2-65 and the case didn't fit together right afterwards. It did not survive restoration.

Third, I took a 1909 Victor III out to do some DJing and the crank let go when it was wound up--there was a bang and we found the crank all bent up and cracked in the middle of the street, the escutcheon torn out of the side of the case. it was never found. Fortunately it has been repaired.

Fourth, tuning up a noisy governor in my 1914 VV-XIV I accidentally disengaged the governor, then stuck my hand into the gears to stop it when it took off at a couple hundred RPM.

Fifth, I accidentally emptied the mainspring barrel of my 1909 Edison Fireside A--directly into, um, the front of my trousers, and proceeded to walk funny for a day or two.

Sixth, I blew mineral spirits and graphite solution all over the basement when I was tuning up a Brunswick motor. I opened one of the springs to wash it in an old glass vase. That was dumb. There was flammable broken glass all over the place.

Seventh--you know Zip-Strip? I accidentally inhaled the fumes.

Eighth, I poured roach fras all over the floor when I was unpacking a "new" Amberola 30.

Ninth, I crammed nine or ten machines in a 12x10 room and proceeded to live in there with them.

Tenth, I spent $276 for a beat-up Victrola XIV (which I love using, so not all bad )

Eleventh, I used some solvents to clean parts and got an incredible buzz/headache.

Twelfth, I found Victrola cranks can kick back if wound improperly.

Thirteenth, I blew up an Amberola 30 when a cylinder got stuck on it and I pulled the cylinder, thereby disengaging the governor and boom, sending the machine running at full speed.

Fourteenth, I sold my 1911 Edison Standard Model E. (Just kidding, you're a better restorer than I, Martin!)

Fifteenth, I bought not one but three 1940s cardboard portables.

Sixteenth, I made a homemade electric phonograph using a 1930s Grigsby-Grunow motor, a 2-tube amp from a Dynavox, a 1920s empty cabinet--and promptly blew it up when I turned it on. One of the new capacitors exploded like a gun-shot and fluff went flying everywhere. Fortunately my face was in the way, blocking it from getting on the carpet.

Someone else has got to have some horror stories.

I was taking the mechanism of my newly-acquired A-150 to be serviced, and in getting it out of the case I put the grille on top of the car.

I think you can see what's coming.

Driving back about an hour and half later, I saw a phonograph grille lying in the street down the hill from our house. At first I couldn't for the life of me figure out why a phonograph grille, of all things, would be lying in the street down the hill from our house.

Then, maybe 30 seconds later, the light dawned.

Ouch.

The grille sustained some damage in its ordeal. Fortunately, our very own Ken Danckaert, who already was working on the machine's mechanism, was able to patch it back together so you'd never know.

But as for me, cue the "Dragnet" theme: "Dumb, dumbDUMBdumb. Dumb, dumbdumbdumbDUMB!!!"

I'm a very absented minded person and have an "accident" at least once every time I work on something.

Just the other day I was working on an Emerson's lid catch because it was bent and I tried bending it back and it snapped like a twig. One of my worst blunders was putting a bottle of break fluid on top of a machine I was working on in my garage and knocking it over, spilling all over the side. I still haven't been able to completely clean it off.

That's me.

Had an Edison A250 take off down a flight of stairs when the rope I had it tied to a dolly with broke. Did a good bit of damage to the back of the cabinet and broke some wall plaster on its way down as well. The only good thing was the cabinet had been poorly refinished at some point, so it didn't create any additional work, save for patching the plaster!

I'mma take the Fifth on this one . . . in fact, the incident that occurred 20 years ago likely involved a fifth . . . <rim shot>

At any rate, I am hugely enjoying reading these, but all the while I keep having flashbacks of scenes from Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box.