Victor VV-X-A Restore guidance

[RNaylor]

I got my hands on my Great-grandfather's Victrola.

My dad turned it into a Hi-Fi cabinet in the 60's. I've taken it upon myself to restore it to it's original state. It's only missing the tonearm.

I've already begun rebuilding the motor and replating parts. My main questions are with the cabinet. I've already read on this forum about filling the gouges in the legs.

And I think I'll be able to clean up the original finish without doing a full strip and stain. But, the frame around the motor board was cut back.

Should I use original cabinet parts from eBay, or just wood from Lowe's? What type of wood was used? There's also holes in the shelf under the motor. Are they supposed to be there? Will they affect sound quality if left?

For the cast portion of the horn, is it okay to powder coat it, or just spray?

And since the diagram on the bottom of the motor board is pretty much gone, should I leave it as is, or put on a reproduction?

Thank you to all the contributors on this forum. I have already learned a lot and am excited to complete this project.

*Update*
The motor is finished.

And the turntable has been cleaned, refelted, and i plated the edge.

Now I am debating restore vs refinishing. I think the motor board may need refinishing.

And I've noticed the putter cabinet is more of a light brown instead of the inner Mahogany, so I think that will be a refinish job.

Can anyone tell me if this model had shelves or anything in the lower cabinet?

[Lucius1958]

You're making a good start!

The wood is mahogany, judging by the interior finish: if you have the equipment for woodworking, some mahogany stock will do for the interior pieces. For the exterior, it is best to use original cabinet parts: the VV-X was a fairly common model; so there should not be too much difficulty there.

The holes will not affect the performance, as the sound will come entirely out of the horn. A good spray paint should suffice for the horn throat.

- Bill

[RNaylor]

Thank you Bill. I'll pick up some Mahogany this weekend. I'll keep updating this post as I progress.

[Curt A]

This is a cool project and you are well on your way... I wish I had ANYTHING that was my great-grandfather's... Good luck with your project, I'm looking forward to your progress.

[Jerry B.]

It pleases me that you are restoring a family piece. It would mean so much to me if I had such a piece. Can you tell us what you need such as:

Turntable
Tone arm
Sound box (reproducer)
Crank
Other parts?

Is there a paper label that's survived on the machine that would give a clue for date of manufacture? That motor was used for a long time and I think it bridged the transition from the skinny tone arm to the fat tone arm era. Could someone with a similar machine chime in?

I'm glad the ID tag survived with the machine and I'm sure you'll get it back where it belongs back near the tone arm base.

Jerry Blais

[phonojim]

The motor style places this as a 1917 or later machine. If you can post a clear pic of the nametag, we can date date this fairly closely.

Jim

[VanEpsFan1914]

That's so neat you're doing a restoration like this on a family piece. Good luck--and the work you have already done is looking nice!

As far as the cast part of the horn, de-rust it first with something like Naval Jelly & a brass bristle brush. You can get a round brass brush & spin it in a power drill to speed things along. Or you can just get one on a handle and scrub. Get it nice & clean because rust is going to ruin whatever finish you put on it.

As for painting it my first guess would be to go to a hardware store and get a can of that brown Rustoleum primer & go for it, but my Victrola is not in the greatest of shape. It was abandoned in a barn since the 1960s or something, longer than I've been alive, and the back panel was missing off of it. So that might have been rust or it might naturally have been a deep brownish color honestly I didn't check too closely as I was just getting the grease drippings and wasp nests off it and buttoning it up together again. (My first attempt at fixing one of these--I wasn't really good at it.)


For maximum sound, you'll have to seal the horn again after you take it apart & repair it. The thing is, it's got beeswax in between the iron and the wooden parts. You can pretty easily make a long piece of beeswax & get that in there with a hair dryer. I never took the horn apart on mine though, but then again, I wasn't replacing the entire top of the horn either.

The No. 1 best place for you to go for data is the Victor-Victrola Page: http://victor-victrola.com It's a great website and tells about the original materials for finishing these machines, how they worked, what is needed to fix them, and (in the data section) what year they were made, based on serial number.

And of course the No. 1 best place to hang out, find parts, talk to collectors and restorers and hobbyists, is right here.

And the No 1 best way to enjoy vintage music will always be a Victrola!

[RNaylor]

It pleases me that you are restoring a family piece. It would mean so much to me if I had such a piece. Can you tell us what you need such as:

Turntable
Tone arm
Sound box (reproducer)
Crank
Other parts?

Is there a paper label that's survived on the machine that would give a clue for date of manufacture? That motor was used for a long time and I think it bridged the transition from the skinny tone arm to the fat tone arm era. Could someone with a similar machine chime in?

I'm glad the ID tag survived with the machine and I'm sure you'll get it back where it belongs back near the tone arm base.

Jerry Blais

Thank you for pointing out the ID tag. I wasn't sure about that, but after reading your post I double checked and found where it goes.

From what I can tell so far, all I need is the time arm,, sound box, crank, and inner frame to mount the motor board.

[RNaylor]

The motor style places this as a 1917 or later machine. If you can post a clear pic of the nametag, we can date date this fairly closely.

Jim

Thank you

[52089]

The motor style places this as a 1917 or later machine. If you can post a clear pic of the nametag, we can date date this fairly closely.

Jim

Thank you

20200425_123728.jpg

Serial number puts it at 1918.
http://www.victor-victrola.com/X.htm