The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Howdy y’all! This self quarantine has been brutal but I managed to restore a machine while being stuck at home! I bought the VV-VI for $50, it was missing the reproducer (it’s came with a junk Silvertone one) and the one of mainsprings were broken. The finish was redone years ago and the felt on the turntable platter was rotted. I went online and bought a replacement motor with good springs and used it for parts. I opened up the spring barrels and cleaned and re greased them then I cleaned up the rest of the motor. I then found a rebuilt Exhibition reproducer and sourced the correct knobs. I cleaned up the finish and hand buffed the nickel components. I then replaced the felt and now she’s running smooth as a kitten. I have a little under $200 in it now which I think is pretty fair for a good running and serviced VV-VI. It feels really good to have gotten her up and running myself. YouTube is a heck of a resource for all this stuff!

Looks good... The VV-VI was one of my first machines and I got a lot of experience restoring it. Glad you were up for the challenge and did it yourself...

Curt A wrote:Looks good... The VV-VI was one of my first machines and I got a lot of experience restoring it. Glad you were up for the challenge and did it yourself...

It was tough but it gave me something to do. I know the machine itself isn’t too valuable so it wasn’t economically feasible to send it out to be restored and serviced so I did it all myself! I’ll keep this one forever.

I'm really glad to see that you got this one done. I have been following you decision making on here and Facebook - enjoy!

I do historical reenactment in the fall as an early 20th century general store keeper. Last year I took my VV-VI along and entertained the customers with my "state of the art and affordable new gizmo" - people really enjoyed it

Nice, but you bought a replacement motor for the springs?

Garret wrote:Nice, but you bought a replacement motor for the springs?

Yeah the frame was junk but everything else on it was good!

mick_vt wrote:I'm really glad to see that you got this one done. I have been following you decision making on here and Facebook - enjoy!

I do historical reenactment in the fall as an early 20th century general store keeper. Last year I took my VV-VI along and entertained the customers with my "state of the art and affordable new gizmo" - people really enjoyed it

That’s awesome! I wish we had something like that in Houston.

Bringing it back to life is a good feeling---but the feeling of accomplishment in achieving that will definitely enable you to go on with saving other machines. No need to give you a pat on the back, but you got it.

they are my favorite machine they make a great first phonograph

A VV-IV was my first phonograph. Yours looks like it may have been the rarer fumed oak version. Nice work on the restoration! Cheers, Russie