The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My friend's wife bought a Victrola 100 at an Antique Shop (over paid) ---my friend says it has a white haze to it. I haven't seen it but figure Pledge furniture polish. If so, how can they eradicate the haze and what should they use on the finish.

It's hard to say and I doubt if a photo would help. But I would always start with something gentle and move to a more aggression product if the gentle one did not work. I would start with non-pumice GoJo and go from there. Jerry Blais

Hard to say without seeing it, but it almost sounds like it may have been refinished in lacquer under humid conditions. White haze, or blush as some call it, is the end result of this.

I bought this Panatrope on an auction last Thursday for the opening bid and you can see how oxidized the old lacquer is on it. This is from sunlight though and not wax. I figured it must have been in a bright sunny room or under florescent light for a long time and the auctioneer said it was in a sun room. It's in really nice shape otherwise though. And it's just as white in person as it looks in the picture. Some people at the auction thought it was made into "blonde" in the 1950's when that was the rage, but it's just old oxidized and faded lacquer. I'll refinish it next year, but when a finish is faded like this, I don't know of any simple way to "restore" it. It's been my experience that a finish like this is past saving and even if you could get some of the color back, all of the life is out of the finish and it will start coming off the wood every time you wipe it off. This one is definitely starting to do that.

Good luck with your machine now. Earl