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Looking for a Winter restoration project, I was tempted by a sad looking HMV511 on eBay which was not impossibly far from home.
I did not expect to win it for £56, but the gramophone gods must have been smiling on me that day.

My good friend Alastair Murray (Old Country Chemist of this forum) and I collected it from deepest Gloucestershire yesterday, and the pictures are from the original eBay listing. Supplied new by Harrods, it is a purpose built 511 and not a converted 510. It is complete and working but with many areas of loose veneer, the result of storage in a damp garage. The case is however free of rot or woodworm.

Only two small areas of veneer are missing, but I have a large collection of veneers which belonged to my late Father-in-Law who was an accomplished amateur woodworker. What I do not have are any woodworking skills of my own, so I am in for a steep learning curve. Meanwhile I must try to resist the temptation to start work now, otherwise there will be no Winter project.

Nice machine! What a lucky finding!

Great find Roger!, I was eyeing that up myself, but firstly it was very far from me, and secondly, I absolutely do not need 2 511's, you got a mighty bargain, you basically got a stinking good deal on a gilt No.4 soundbox with a free 511 attached, can't complain at that!, looking forward to seeing how it comes out in the end.

Well done Roger---an excellent bargain although the reveneering may well prove testing, not to mention time-consuming ! Lovely project though and a top machine with lots of satisfaction at the end of all the work. The No.34 motor is as good as it gets and they sound wonderful don't they ? If you have any problems with the horn I have a spare available.

Brilliant! So glad to see it's gone to the right hands

It's amazing how good the hardware looks in comparison to the rest of it. They're really good performers for sure, all the best getting it into top tip shape!

I saw this on Ebay the second it was listed and thought to myself the buyer, if there was going to be one, must be an incredibly brave, patient and highly skilled cabinet restorer if he/she was going to ever make something out of it.

Good luck, Roger. We await your developments with interest. I'm especially interested to see how you attempt to reclaim the original colour of the finish. I've not seen anyone achieve that yet so it'll be a great bonus if you can crack that particular code!

Steve wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:59 pm Good luck, Roger. We await your developments with interest. I'm especially interested to see how you attempt to reclaim the original colour of the finish. I've not seen anyone achieve that yet so it'll be a great bonus if you can crack that particular code!

Does that veneer have a faux finish? If not, what kind of wood is it?

Curt A wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 4:53 pm

Steve wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:59 pm Good luck, Roger. We await your developments with interest. I'm especially interested to see how you attempt to reclaim the original colour of the finish. I've not seen anyone achieve that yet so it'll be a great bonus if you can crack that particular code!

Does that veneer have a faux finish? If not, what kind of wood is it?

This is an Oak 511, HMV did them in Oak and the slightly more expensive mahogany, at the time the 511 was the top of the line, so HMV would have tried to use their more attractive veneers on them

Curt A wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 4:53 pm

Steve wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 2:59 pm Good luck, Roger. We await your developments with interest. I'm especially interested to see how you attempt to reclaim the original colour of the finish. I've not seen anyone achieve that yet so it'll be a great bonus if you can crack that particular code!

Does that veneer have a faux finish? If not, what kind of wood is it?

It's oak veneer on blockboard, typical of the furniture of the late 20s period. The main problem people encounter, assuming you can match the pattern of veneer and successfully re-glue it, is colouring the case when you apply your new finish. The original medium oak colour had a slightly greenish grey tinge to it and invariably the internal faces survive well, making the matching of the external faces all the more critical. Certainly whenever I've tried to bring a new external finish close up to the original inside finish it just looks very brown and flat against the original. I know some people prefer to strip good condition inside faces in order to ensure the end result all looks identical.

What I'm referring to is the unusual (at least to me), dark striping on the veneer. I can see the oak wood grain (red line), which angles on the sample shown, but what are the vertical dark stripes (green line)?