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Hi,
I ran into this VV-IX for sale and trying to understand what it takes to restore it.
I have no experience restoring a machine like this. I was looking for a VV-IX in a good condition as my first phonograph, but don't see better specimens for sale at this moment (I'm in NY/NJ area). The seller wants $100 for this one and claims that the motor runs well. I haven't seen it in person yet.
The outside finish looks very dark for mahogany - it looks almost black. I like mahogany for its deep red color. Could this be so dark because of a water damage or something else? Can this be restored to a nice mahogany color without stripping the finish? Will Howard Restor help here?
Metal parts are not in much better condition than wood. All metal parts are very dull (even knobs on sound doors), but it doesn't look like rust to me (or is it?). Can anybody tell whether the original shine can be restored without re-plating metal parts? Will Flitz or something similar help?
I am willing to send the sound box for the rebuild, but if restoration needs serious wood or metal refinish, I'd rather keep looking for a better machine. I'm not in the rush to buy, can wait until a better one pops up.
There is something that looks like a piece of corrugated cardboard sticking out where the sound box meets the tone arm. What could it be there for?
I appreciate the advice.
Thank you.

It's hard to give advice on an antique phonograph without inspecting it. From the pictures it appears that the seller is asking too much, (in my opinion). The cabinet finish will clean up nicely and won't require Howards. Restoring doesn't mean refinishing. The nickel parts will polish nice, but might not look perfect. Repairing the reproducer is easy and replacement parts are available here. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=195
I serviced the motor on my vv-IX so it's not too hard, but it requires some mechanical aptitude.
Here is a Victor IX that sold at auction in 2018. https://www.proxibid.com/Art-Antiques-C ... n/43068061
If you don't get this one, another will come along. Victor made a lot of them. http://victor-victrola.com/IX.htm

Oh yes, that is definitely restorable.

Welcome to the hobby, by the way! Lots of new members joining the T.M.F. lately.

I'm not a good appraiser and all that, but as far as the actual restoration: I like red mahogany too (and the English brown, but that's a 1920s thing more than 1910s) but this one needs a bath. There are lots of posts on here about cleaning them with GoJo non-pumice hand cleaner, and that helps to take away the blackness of the grime and coal dust and cigar-smoke and who knows what else is covering up the original beauty of this Victrola. After that, use some Howard's Restor-A-Finish to help smooth out the old finish, and you will have something rather pretty after a coat of paste-wax. Howard's is good, but unless you get the dirt out of there with something like GoJo or GOOP, you're just spreading the dirt around which won't give it that color you like. That isn't water damage so much as it's 100+ years of crud stuck to it.

Then as far as the metal, yes, Flitz will do wonders on that. I recently did a bunch of metal on a Grafonola for someone, and it was at least that gray. Now it's very bright again; I used Howard's Pine-Ola metal polish but I wish I had had some Flitz or Blue Magic on hand. It's not rust at all; it's just tarnished nickel. I don't see the telltale green look that means brass is showing through, so that means the plating should last a long time. The crank is rusty, though, and speaking of cranks, there is a crank stuck in the horn, and then the very large, quite rusty crank currently in the socket probably fits the bigger Victrola (an XI or a 90?) that the IX is sitting on. You also will need to find a crank escutcheon. This also may have fallen into the horn or is somewhere inside the cabinet, or it is just plain gone. The IX is a common machine, though, so you will be able to find the spare part.

As far as the reproducer, yes, you can send it off or you can buy parts & do it all yourself. The cardboard is probably because the back isolator is in bad shape. You'd be replacing that anyway on restoration; the only reason to keep old isolators is historical interest or to take the brass ring out of the back & use it for restoration parts (some people cast new isolators out of rubber, so don't throw it away.)

The needle cup should go back in the middle hole of the wood block, and the felt on the turntable is a common replacement. Pure wool in the right shades is available. Don't use a poly blend when you can get genuine wool felt.

Oh, and--why not try for a package deal on the upright Victrola and the IX on top of it? You can have two Vics then, and the big ones are great for storing records as well as listening to.

Of course it is! Do not hesitate to buy it! We’re a friendly bunch, we will help you with it.

I’m very happy with all these new members coming. We don’t turn our noses up at you if you don’t have a rare or valuable machine.

Feel free to ask questions. As the expression goes “no question is dumb”.

Yes, the machine is restorable. I would start by a good cleaning with GoJo non-pumice hand cleaner. There are many threads here on the Forum about cleaning a cabinet. It would give you a good starting point. As far as purchasing a refinishing project, I would always recommend anyone's first refinishing project to be an oak machine. Personally, I would rather refinish two oak VV-IXs than one mahogany IX. I suspect the Exhibition sound box needs to be serviced including a new rubber flange. The piece of cardboard is a clue that it needs a new flange. Servicing an Exhibition is a job you can do at a modest cost. Everyone has an opinion on value and nobody is wrong. I personally think $100 is reasonable.

Jerry Blais

Yes. It is restorable. It should clean up OK. Often, the mahogany finishes darken and alligator with age. I would want to see the top of the lid to make sure it isn't damaged (peeled/missing veneer or water damage). It will probably not give you a beautiful red mahogany shine without some effort.

$100 is a fair price if the motor is functional. This machine is worth more than $100 just in parts. $50 for soundbox, $50 for motor, $20 for needle cup (which is often missing), $10 for speed control, $5 or $10 for turntable, $5 or 10 for brake, crank and so on. Everybody wants one cheap. But at some point, a seller can strip it for parts and put them on ebay and get more money for it.

If it is a local machine, you won't have to pay shipping, which is another cost to consider. I don't see a crank escutcheon, which could cost $20 or so from a dealer, but cheaper from a seller in Yankee Trader.

If you like the machine, buy it. But it is fairly common, so you could wait for another to show up if you are not impatient. There are many more Victrolas available in your part of the country than out west where pickings can be slim.

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Oh, and--why not try for a package deal on the upright Victrola and the IX on top of it? You can have two Vics then, and the big ones are great for storing records as well as listening to.

The machine below appears to be a VV-XI, pre-1918 by the corner post carvings. I have one from 1917 with the same detail. The XI would probably give better sound than the smaller IX, but they're essentially the same, or closely similar, machines.

Welcome to the forum and, prospectively, to the world of phonograph collecting!

A couple of side issues:

First, as often seems to be the case in "for sale" listings, the record on the turntable is not really suitable for this machine. That's an electric recording from the 1940s; the Victrola was designed to play acoustic recordings from at least a couple of decades earlier. Nothing says you *can't* play such later records on this Victrola, but they won't sound especially good and, because of the evolution of record material to match that of contemporary playback equipment, it will likely cause them more wear than it would the disks it was intended to play. Moral: consider what period/type of music you want to collect in choosing your machine. If you intend to focus on records from the era of fox trots and Sousa's band and vaudeville sketches, the Victrola IX is a good choice. If your interest is in ones from the days of the big bands and crooners, look for a somewhat later model, like one of the Orthophonic Victrolas (perhaps a so-called "Consolette" floor model). If you plan to collect both, consider buying two machines or getting something like a Victrola No. 4 reproducer to swap for the Exhibition when playing later records on this earlier machine.

Second, bear in mind that the IX is a table-top machine, meaning you need a good, really sturdy table of appropriate size to support it. You'll want space to set records down as you swap them on and off the turntable, and you don't want the machine to be sitting on something wobbly when you try to crank it up! If you don't have such a table, you may want to consider a floor model, which almost by definition will give the "works" stable support.

If the serial number is a 270XXX, according to the Victrola website this machine was made in 1916.

Good eye, Andy, for spotting that.

Oh, and one other thing-- If you don't want to buy this victrola, I am sure you can put a Wanted ad in the Yankee Trader. I have seen some rather nice phonographs in there for low prices lately, and they don't tend to sell quickly. If you put a Wanted ad out, you may find yourself a nice machine in a very short time. Most of us do our own repairing & can generally get a phonograph to work well, so that will save you some labor & repairs if you decide not to get the mahogany IX here.