Berliner restoration

[saxymojo]

Hi,
Some may remember I posted this machine that I had bought on ebay, it was poorly restored and had a few repro parts, when I got it i was very disappointed.
Well I have started restoration, I have replaced the top deck with quarter sawn oak like original, someone had poorly fitted a piece of straight sawn oak. I finished the case in the original golden oak colour and shellac. I also made a new traveling arm from quarter sawn oak, the one that was on it was a replacement made of maple.
I still need an original reproducer, turntable and turn table nut, but it is looking much better now.

This is how it looked when I bought it










Now, although not original, it looks much better











Regards Marcel

[MordEth]

Marcel,

Very nice work! Does Nipper appreciate the restoration?

— MordEth

[saxymojo]

Hi
I have two nippers, so now they both have their own machine, the other has the Victor Royal.



Regards Marcel

[gramophoneshane]

Lookin' good Marcel! The quarter sawn oak top looks like a perfect match to the rest of the case (and no hideous gap)
I take it you're back home then??

[Henri Laforge]

These are still very common in Canada. Hope you did not think this was an original Berliner?

Why replace the wooden top of a reproduction? The repro long throat reproducer and tone arm can be found on ebay.ca I would not spend too much on this reproduction. I am sorry, do you have the historie of this machine? Thank you.

[Starkton]

There is a conspicious streak of brown strain on the base plate which became visible after stripping the dark glaze. I doubt that the Berliner Co. of Canada used faulty oak on its machines.

[Henri Laforge]

I agree, it looks like a fake. Look closer and see the Berliner ID, also a fake, not the quality of a genuine US, England or Canada Berliner. So very obvious in these photos. Hope saxymojo did not pay typical Berliner prices.

We must beware.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Henri, are you sure the base is a fake? The fake ones I've seen floating around down here in Toronto didn't have the finger joint corners. But I've been wrong in the past, that's for sure!

Jim

[Henri Laforge]

The finger joints do look very good, I too wondered. But if you want to fool a seller, a little extra effort like these finger joint construction is worth the time, can't be sure 100% from photo.

I too could be wrong, but this machine has so many issues, ID, tone arm, reproducer, uneven stain, questionable wood combination, (oak just doesn't look that way), bullet brake, could have been reassembled from pile of parts. But certainly not up to Berliner standard at all.

LenoirStreet, originally from Montreal?

[gramophoneshane]

Does anyone have a good close-up of an original ID plaque so we can compare it to Marcels?
It would make it easier to spot the differences for future reference.

I must say though, I'm not sure why someone would go to the trouble of faking finger joints, but then put an obvious replacement top & traveling arm on the machine.