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I've just acquired a tatty old HMV 104 for restoration. The wooden fretwork at the front of the speaker grille had disintegrated. I haven't tackled this sort of job before, so any guidance, tips or tutorials are welcome!

To repair/restore the original would be akin to assembling a jigsaw puzzle while having to make the missing puzzle pieces. Not impossible, just a bit time consuming, as pieces are fit & glued back into place a few at a time, until it's all built back up. It will take lots of small clamps... and patience. When the fretwork is mostly reconstructed it will most likely need to also be re-veneered. The trick is sometimes finding pieces of wood of just the right thickness to replace that which is missing. Having old, delaminated fragments of furniture or phono cabinets that have been flood damaged can yield just the right pieces, (while at the same time convincing your relatives that you're a hoarder of garbage... Such is the life of a restorer ).

Jerry's advice is correct, but since this is not an historically important machine, the easiest way would be to re-cut a duplicate grille and stain it to match. This is assuming that you are reasonably competent with wood work. Otherwise, there is a guy on the forum who makes grilles, not sure how to contact him... Last resort might be contacting UK collectors to see if anyone has a spare. Good luck with your project.

Curt

RonK wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2024 11:04 am I've just acquired a tatty old HMV 104 for restoration. The wooden fretwork at the front of the speaker grille had disintegrated. I haven't tackled this sort of job before, so any guidance, tips or tutorials are welcome!

I'm just wondering if that is actually a model 130, and not a 104. Very similar I believe, but the 130 has a bigger, more powerful motor.

If you lift out the used needle tin, there may be a little ivory coloured plaque with the details on

Either way, nice machine to have and will sound great!

mrrgstuff wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2024 7:48 pm

RonK wrote: Mon Dec 16, 2024 11:04 am I've just acquired a tatty old HMV 104 for restoration. The wooden fretwork at the front of the speaker grille had disintegrated. I haven't tackled this sort of job before, so any guidance, tips or tutorials are welcome!

I'm just wondering if that is actually a model 130, and not a 104. Very similar I believe, but the 130 has a bigger, more powerful motor.

If you lift out the used needle tin, there may be a little ivory coloured plaque with the details on

Either way, nice machine to have and will sound great!

Quite correct, it is a 130, not a 104. The latter was a very cheap machine using up the old "Victrola domed lid" style cabinet and fitted with a tiny single spring motor intended for the 101 portable machine and if I recall correctly (?) a 10" turntable. If it was a 104 I'd say it was a waste of time bothering to restore it. They are two a penny and no one wants them. The 130 is a completely different machine with flat lid (greatly improved styling in my opinion) and a No. 32 double-spring motor. With that said, the 130 sold well and can be bought here at auction for under £50. It's not really a machine to restore these days. In the States it will be different though and with shipping costs likely to exceed 5 times the value of the machine, getting one shipped would be nonsensical so this project might be worth the task. Maybe it might be worth buying a slightly wrecked 130 off Ebay and asking for just the 5A soundbox and grille to be shipped?

From your pictures there appears to be enough of the broken fretwork to enable you to remove it and trace the pattern onto paper.
This would enable you to get a new grille laser cut. Several collector friends of mine have found this to be the best option.

Yes, because it is symmetric left to right, up and down. You have enough left to replicate the complete shape.
The 130 has a small but powerful exponential horn, wider than those of the 126/127, and 104.

The grille assembly is quite easy to remove. There are two screws on the inside face of the panel above the grille (quite difficult to see unless you hold a small mirror upright on the turntable). Unscrew these and pull the top edge of the grille forward; it may be lightly held by varnish or grime, but it should soon came away and can then be lifted out. (It is located by a flange at the bottom which engages in a groove on the baseboard.) For my own 130 I had the good luck to find a complete grille for, I think, GBP24.00 on eBay.

I saw the listing for this machine and am glad to find it in the hands of one of our members who is clearly prepared to give it the attention it deserves.

Oliver Mundy.