The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This is my VV-90 that I got last week. The interior is nice enough but the exterior had water stains to the surface.

I figured that the original wood stain was still underneath the whitened shellac. It only had these stains on the top of the cabinet and around the upper front portion of the cabinet. There was no alligatoring of the finish anywhere. The previous owner said it had set in a garage with plastic over it so, I figure ground water vapor had risen to the upper interior of the plastic and water stained the aread where the plastic touched the cabinet.

I also think I have the wrong knobs on the cabinet, someone let me know it there were any knobs that originally looked like these.

What I did was clean the surface and then brushed over some denatured alcohol to re-activate the shellac. It worked for the most part but it is not as good as I hoped for.

Should I leave it like it is in its original, antiqued look or refinish the whole exterior. The cabinet looks fine on its back and sides. Just the top and front had bright white areas some of which are still kind of visible.

Below is a before and after shot. (excuse the poor quality of my camera)

I think it already improved quite a bit. I had reasonable good success with water stains using Howard's Restore-a-Finish and 0000 steel wool. I would definitely give it another try before removing all the good finish as well.
Andreas

is the Howard's restore-a-finish something easily found at a place like Lowe's or Home Depot? Where is some place I can find it?

You can probably find it at your local Home Depot or Lowe's, but if not it is easy to find on-line. Amazon, among other places, has it. It comes various shades--cherry, mahogany, walnut, etc. It is also pretty cheap.

Clay

I have used Howards for over 20 years.It works great to get those off color spots and rings. I get mine at Home Depot. Antique stores also carry it, but is more expensive.
Harvey Kravitz