The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well my dry spell has finally ended! I’m now the proud new owner of a 1913 VV-VIII! Bought it at one of those stores where they sell the stuff that the families didn’t want from their relatives estates for $85!

Now the issues I hope to solve: The exhibition soundbox is stuck on the machine and at the wrong angle too. Second part of the crank seems to be broken off inside where it screws in. And since this is a 1913 model, it takes the straight female connector crank so I will have to Figure how to get that out and hopefully no redneck fixes were done to the motor.

I’ve been wanting a cheap project machine to work on, so here we are!

I’m thinking of buying that Kotten Klenser kit with the wood feeder and beeswax to make it shine!

Apologies for the record on the platter it was there when I got it.

Pretty nice find for $85! The crank should be easy to remove. Maybe grab the nub with some small vice grips and turn in the opposite direction that it normally cranks. Looks like it might be the wrong crank anyway. Cheers, Russie

Before you try to unscrew the crank be sure it's not a slotted style crank, which should simply pull out, and not unscrew.


Actually, if you remove the crank bushing, you could very likely just lift out the motor board with what's left of the crank still attached. Then you could check out how it's held on and also get a better grip on it.

Congratulations! Looks very nice!

Well I ordered the gaskets and flange for the exhibition soundbox from Walt Sommers, this will be the first time I’ve ever rebuilt one of those.

For the Exhibition, if twisting isn't working, I would first try penetrating oil and let it soak in. PB Blaster is a good choice, but it's smelly and gets all over, so do it outside and cover everything else up with plastic, and/or remove the whole tonearm assembly first. That should work, but if it doesn't the next step would probably be to remove the screws holding the rubber isolator to the reproducer body, taking the body off, and then working on the stuck part. Let us know how it goes.

Or otherwise, oil the plug in the tone arm and remove the gooseneck part, then work on it from there. No reason to get too carried away if the gooseneck will still unscrew.

Tomorrow, I’ll bring it to my workshop (dad’s kitchen) and see what I can do. I’m sure when I get the Kotten Klenser or Kramer’s antique improver that circular mark caused by the crank will go away.

Ok! Today I was able to get the reproducer and crank off. The motor looks just fine, no redneck fixes thank goodness. It just needs a good ol’ teardown, cleaning, and new grease. The motors on these are simple to take apart right? But right now so far so good!

Welp. I hate to write this, but I’m gonna have to throw in the towel when it comes to the motor. When I was removing the governor two of the springs broke on me. Had a rubber washer fall apart on me. And I think I messed up the spring on the speed control. I’m sorry folks but I’m just gonna give up the ghost with this motor. I’ll see if I have a spare governor and felt washers in my parts bin, but unfortunately this has been a monumental fail on my part and I might as well give up before I lose my temper and end up spending even MORE money on parts that I wasn’t planning to. *sigh*. Hey I’m willing to admit my failures.

I swear, if Cal Stewart was alive today to record “Uncle Josh Restores A Victrola” he would base it on my experience tonight! “I lost the screw, I lost my patience, I lost my temper, I lost my self-respect, I broke the governor springs, I broke the speed control spring, I broke the 10 commandments, I broke my New Years pledge, and Nancy said the language I used was just shameful!”