Removing the back panel from a Victrola

[Butleran]

I read somewhere that you could remove the back panel from some Victrolas. Can you remove the back from a VV-100? It looks to be solid. What would th purpose be of removing the back from a victrola? Just curious..

[estott]

The back panel behind the horn and motor compartment is removable- this is how the cast iron horn is put into the case. There's usually no reason to remove it unless something has fallen into the compartment and can't be gotten out from the top.

[Victrolaman]

Im not sure there is a way to remove one from a 100?? I dodnt relise there was a door back there on that model.
Some Machines like the Orthophonics have little screws that hold the back on to service the horn or do repairs, but those are clearly marked with the Screws. I have a Victor 17 that has a access door in the back but its screwd in to be able to remove it.
If there are no screws then its realy not made to come out. For some reason you see the access doors on alot of the high end machines.

[gramophoneshane]

I seem to recall someone saying the rear door was included on models that had an electric motor option, for the voltage regulator or something?

[Henry]

My plain vanilla, run-of-the-mill mahogany VV-XI has a removable access door in back, held in place by two round-head wood screws. So much for the high-end models theory, ditto the electric motor option. I agree that the back door permits the installation of the cast-iron horn, and especially if the wooden slatted end of the horn were already fitted to the cast iron, the whole horn unit would not fit through the motor board hatch. Of course, I haven't really attempted this myself, and my observation is merely that: by eyeball.

As an experiment I once removed the back panel to see whether the sound would be enhanced by bouncing off the wall behind the machine. Results were inconclusive. I've never seen it stated that VTMCo. had this in mind!

BTW, according to the original instructions that came with my XI, there were supposed to be two wooden knobs attached to the back panel, and indeed there are holes for same in the panel, but no knobs. My machine was otherwise complete and in original condition when I bought it, so I'm wondering what happened to those knobs. Were they never installed, or removed, or perhaps not furnished (even though they are mentioned on the parts list). I'll never know. I have installed small wooden knobs there (hardware store) but I have no idea if these bear any resemblance to the originals.

[estott]

I've never seen actual knobs but I've seen raised wooden buttons used to cover the screw heads.

[OrthoFan]

This ebay ad shows the (solid) back panel of a VV-100, originally equipped with a spring motor, but obviously re-motored with an electric one --

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... vi-content


Many of the later production (numbered series) cabinet models equipped with the standard spring motor did not have removable back panels. Even into the Orthophonic era, a few spring motored models, such as the Consolette, were fitted with a solid, finished back panel.

[Silvertone]

There are two questions here regarding the backs of Victrolas.

First, many of the later Victrolas had "finished" backs, meaning they were finished in the same way as the sides so that the cabinet looked good from all angles. The finished backs are not removable. Earlier designs had a door or panel in the upper part of the cabinet that gave access to the rear of the horn. The horns could be inserted or removed through this opening in the cases where the horn would not fit through the front opening. I think that when the cabinets were provided with finished backs the front opening was always large enough to pass the horn through. The electric motor doors referred to in a previous post are in the lower part of the cabinet and are a separate issue from the horn-access panel.

Second, when the Victrola was shipped it was bolted to a frame inside the shipping crate. These bolt holes were visible when the Victrola was removed from the crate, so wooden plugs finished to match the cabinet were provided in a separate envelope. The owner or store was supposed to install these in the holes, but they either didn't bother or the plugs fell out. The plugs are a loose fit, so it would be easy for them to fall out.

[hillndalefan]

I had a VV-300 that had a removable back panel, which was not so obvious. There were two screws holding the panel, through holes drilled up from the bottom of the bottom rail at the back of the cabinet. Some piano key slips are fastened by this method. I took a while for me to discover how to open it up for a cleaning I wanted to do. Bob Ault

[dennman6]

[quote="Ortho_Fan"]This ebay ad shows the (solid) back panel of a VV-100, originally equipped with a spring motor, but obviously re-motored with an electric one --

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... vi-content


Not only is that VV-100 "obviously remotored with an electric one", the cord for the electric motor just hangs out of the winding key hole-crude. Also-and I'm surprised no one else mentioned it-the tonearm & soundbox are from an Orthophonic machine. Whoever cobbled this one together had a lot of fun going through a parts box