The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi all,
I'm a relative newbie to the collecting and restoring talking machines. I have a wonder victrola VV-XIV unit that got me started in collecting these very interesting machines. Well I picked up a Victor Orthophonic unit that from another collector that discovered that the previous owner had used poly urothane to refinish or coat it. I picked it up and discovered not only has the wood section of the unit been covered, the tone arm, controls, hinges, felt pads and most everything else was slathered on including several needles that are glued to the surface. The poor thing looks horrible and I'm starting to remove all of the poly from the unit and have noticed that more than likely, the decal on the underside of the lid probably will not survive the stripping and wondering if there are reproductions of this label. I don't think I can leave the poly on it ( gobs and runs all over the underside) and keep a matching color. I'm looking forward to bring this unit back to somewhat former glory and will post a pic or two while it's being redone.
Brandt

you got this from a collector? were these chemicals accidentally spilled all over everything? I can't imagine any reason why someone with any knowledge about these machines would coat everything - cabinet, hardware, components, needles, etc. - with something like polyurethane.

Greg Cline seems to be a preferred source for excellent reproduction decals. He already has a large number of decals pre-made, but can also create custom.
http://phonodecal.com/decals/scripts/main1.php#null
Good Luck!
Andreas

Not the collectors fault, he bought it on the cheap from someone on craigslist and when he got it home, found out the finish was poly. He just put it back up on craigslist and that's how i found it, he didn't want to strip it down nor did he have the time. He didn't want to part it out until he checked to see if someone was up to the task and glad he didn't, besides the finish fault, the unit is quite beautiful and mechanically sound except for the tone arm support.

I forgot to ask, please forgive the stupid question but what would have been the original finish used for this unit, shellac, varnish, etc

It would have been a lacquer finish on post 1923(?) machines.

Have you tried scraping the poly off the original finish?
Sometimes you can get lucky, and those plastic finishes can lift off a shellac or lacquer finish with the help of a knife or dull edged razon blade. A lot depends on what has been applied to the original finish in the past, and how well they prepared the surface before applying the poly.
The video below isn't the best example, but sometimes you can remove the top coat, give the original finish a light rub with steelwool & apply a coat of wax, & it comes up as good as new. Might be worth a try before you hit it with paint stripper.
I've saved numerous decals this way, but some fair better than others. I dont know about Victor decals, but I've found HMV's dont always come out undamaged. The gold they used for the trademark machine horn etc, was actually silver with a top coat that made it appear gold, and in most cases the gold adheres to the poly & you're left with a silver horn & accents on the decal.
I normally shellac over these decals & the orange shellac turns the silver back to gold, but it also colours the rest of the decal, so it never looks quite right anyway. I have no idea if you'd encounter the same problem with Victor decals though.
I suppose it might be worth experimenting if your only other option is stripping the decal anyway.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viotfPVqZ3U[/youtube]

I had a section up under the platter that was not coated and held the original finish, working from there I tried to take it off and wasn't very successful as I believe the poly has blended into the original finish. I have stripped the doors and proceeding to the parts I can remove and hopefully have it completely stripped by the weekend. Thanks for the tip on the decals as they have the exact one I have. The unit is a 1927 and I will more than likely put on a lacquer finish when I get there. Thanks for all the help and will put up a link to the photos of the unit.

By the Orthophonic era, Victor ( and most furniture makers ) had switched-over to pyroxylin lacquer finishes.

What model Orthophonic are you trying to rescue ?

It's a VV 8-12