The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I bought this 1918 VV-IVA a couple weeks ago at an antique store. I almost missed it because it was on the bottom shelf. It did not have a reproducer, but had the remainder of an Exhibition's flange gasket. The motor runs well and it sounds really good with a freshly rebuild reproducer installed. I also replaced the tone arm ball bearings and adjusted a slight bend in the base of the tonearm.
I'm not sure it is has been refinished, but the wood grain looks like oak, while the finish looks like mahogany.

*”Flange gasket” = ‘isolator’

Neat little Victrola--I think the finish is pretty as is. Are you going to be preserving it as-is, or freshening up the cosmetics too? It is at that point where it could go either way. It looks like it was made for that spot it's in now; nice display with the vintage lamp and needle tin.

How did you fix a bent tonearm? Reason I ask is, a collector acquaintance & Forum member gave me a VV-IV from 1917, which I just couldn't turn down even though I've put a pause on more phonographs. It got tore up by FedEx when he got it so it comes with a bonus of a slightly wobbly platter, crushed corner carvings on the top board, and (drumroll) slightly bent tonearm. Did you make a jig, or just brute-force it?


I also see a Smith-Premier typewriter, and it looks like one of the late ball-bearing models with a single four-bank keyboard, basically an old Monarch like P.G. Wodehouse used to use. THAT is also a cool find, and I'm low-key jealous. (I seriously love typewriters.)

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:Neat little Victrola--I think the finish is pretty as is. Are you going to be preserving it as-is, or freshening up the cosmetics too? It is at that point where it could go either way. It looks like it was made for that spot it's in now; nice display with the vintage lamp and needle tin.

How did you fix a bent tonearm? Reason I ask is, a collector acquaintance & Forum member gave me a VV-IV from 1917, which I just couldn't turn down even though I've put a pause on more phonographs. It got tore up by FedEx when he got it so it comes with a bonus of a slightly wobbly platter, crushed corner carvings on the top board, and (drumroll) slightly bent tonearm. Did you make a jig, or just brute-force it?


I also see a Smith-Premier typewriter, and it looks like one of the late ball-bearing models with a single four-bank keyboard, basically an old Monarch like P.G. Wodehouse used to use. THAT is also a cool find, and I'm low-key jealous. (I seriously love typewriters.)

That’s my Smith Premier 10 in the background with double keyboard. A nice machine to study and use.

The arm wasn’t actually bent. I should have said the ‘bell-shaped-part’ of the arm was slightly bent at the base. The rim of it was just slightly out of round and I bent it back into shape with a pair of needle nose pliers.

DOUBLE keyboard! Wow, my ID skills are pretty rusty. I'm surprised you're still using it; lots of people don't think the early dual-keyboard machines are really OK to use. That must be an interesting machine to use.

Thanks for the details on fixing the tone arms on the VV-IV's; I may have to take mine apart & see. I haven't pulled it apart yet. Always kind of neat to see collectors fixing up VV-IV's along with the bigger and more valuable machines.

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:DOUBLE keyboard! Wow, my ID skills are pretty rusty. I'm surprised you're still using it; lots of people don't think the early dual-keyboard machines are really OK to use. That must be an interesting machine to use.

Thanks for the details on fixing the tone arms on the VV-IV's; I may have to take mine apart & see. I haven't pulled it apart yet. Always kind of neat to see collectors fixing up VV-IV's along with the bigger and more valuable machines.

I have heard people say that about the SP10, but really it’s not bad once you get used to the slightly different placement of the keys.

I forgot to answer your question earlier. I am going to leave the machine exactly as it is. So far, I have only wiped down the cabinet with Howard Feed-N-Wax. It seemed to clean up the finish from when I first got it.