The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi -I'm new here and just picked up my first Pathé phonograph.

By way of introduction, I have a couple Victrolas - a 1912 XVI L-door, red mahogany, original finish, about a 9+ on a 10 scale - beautiful, fully operational. Another Victrola, Oak, smaller (forget model0, again, absolutely beautiful and functioning. Two Edison working phonographs, one large, one small (upright, the large was refinished by someone). An Edison cylinder player in great cosmetic and working shape. I also have many radios - a couple from the '20s, one with external horn, and another with external electric speaker - both have hinged lids and a row of large tubes inside. I haven't plugged these in as they haven't been tested. Also a fairly large collection of wood and Bakelite tabletop radios. A large '30s floor model upright Victor, with phonograph in top, and a true jewel - a '47 Philco that is huge and showroom condition.

The Pathé: It's a console - cabinet is in great shape, finish (original) quite nice - no real dings, some scratches. Went over it with Kramer's Antique Improver to even things out (responded very well), and filled in a few scratches with pens - looks really nice. Motor has broken spring(s), as handle just turns and turns, almost no resistance. The reproducer is frozen. Also, I don't understand the "works" up top - there's some kind of metal lever or something that sticks up in the air. I'll try to get some pics up.

Question: There remain a couple areas on the cabinet that are a little "cloudy" - not quite smooth, but only visible when light reflects in a certain way. Does anyone here know what I mean? How can I smooth that so that things are uniform?

Thanks for listening - I'll get a few pics together. - Dave

Can't help you with the cloudy finish, but welcome to the board!

Welcome to the board. You've got quite a collection already.

Regarding the metal thing sticking up in the air on your Pathé, could it be the tonearm rest that some Pathés have? The permanent sapphire needle is quite delicate and expensive, the tonearm rest is supposed to prevent it from being damaged. Just a thought...

Andreas

Is it a auto shut off lever? I thought I saw a lever on a Pathé that extended up to contact the arm but it might have been another machine. If you could load some photos it would be nice, this site has pretty easy loading as long as you have the photo in your computer.

The finish is probably shellac. It can be whitish looking from dampness. Some of the furniture cleaners and restorers will remove a top layer of the finish which usually gets rid of that, but it might be something else as well, without seeing it its hard to know. Also from rereading you post it may be the finish is crackled which shellac often does on machines, the darker ones more than the oak ones. I have used 600 wet dry sand paper and rubbed it lightly with a bit of oil to level the surface as much as possible. Usually after that kind of aggressive work on the surface one needs to put a new coat of shellac which is not always easy to accomplish without any experience. Sometimes just waxing will bring it back as well, but be aware if your waxing or going to recoat the cabinet that if you don' t get all the wax off it will cause the finish to not take and you will then have a real mess.

Larry