The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi all. It looks like I am going to have to remove and replace the lacquer on a Credenza I bought. Just too far gone. Do any of you have a magic trick for doing that without harming the stain underneath? With the blended shading these have, I want to preserve the staining if at all possible.

Also, the cabinet is sound save for a chunk out of the lip around the bottom. What filler have you found to be the best?

Finally, anybody have a good source for the orange felt for Credenzas?

Clay

The shading effect is normally done with toner lacquers, and is a part of the sprayed lacquer finish rather than the stain underneath it.

It was only really done in the last few years of acoustic machine production, but it was far more widely used on radio cabinets, and the trend lasted for a good 20 yrs.
The Antique Radio Forum has dozens of threads on the procedure, and there's probably a few videos on youtube too.
Saving the original underlying stain is a good idea though, as that will give the right base colour to work with.
I hope you've got spray equiptment though, as it's extremely difficult to reproduce the effect without it.
You can buy lacquer & the tinted shading lacquer in pressure packs, but they're probably more suited to small items like a mantle radio. That said, I'm sure with some practise & experience you could tackle a large item like a Credenza with perfect results, but I dont think spray cans are a good idea for a first attempt on something so big. Cans just dont give you the same control as a spray gun, so I think mistakes would be much easier to make.

gramophoneshane wrote:The shading effect is normally done with toner lacquers, and is a part of the sprayed lacquer finish rather than the stain underneath it.

Thanks Shane. I had a nagging feeling in a back corner of my mind that might be the case, although hoping it wasn't. Living in a condo where most work gets done in my kitchen, I think this may be one time I will need to send the cabinet out to an antique restoration house with an adequate shop to do it right. I have wanted a Credenza for a long time and I want it to be right.

Clay

Found that the eBay store JAS Antiques has the orange Orthophonic turntable felt. Have ordered one and will let you know if it is a good match for the original.

Clay

The orange felt came today. I wish it were a bit thicker, but otherwise it is spot on. Crisply die cut to exactly the right size and the color is almost identical to the original. Looks quite good now that its installed. If you have this project to do for the first time, the seller also includes clear instructions.

Clay

One more question. I have now worked on a couple of Orthophonics that needed the lid "bumpers," for want of a better term, replaced.

What I have found is rather ratty old felt circles glued on at the front corners where the lid comes to rest. However, when I peal off the old felt it becomes obvious that whatever was there originally was attached with a tack or nail in the center.

So that makes me wonder if what was originally there might have been one of those black rubber bumpers with a tack coming out of the back of it to hold it on. Was it?

Clay

I've only ever seen felt circles, and none of them looked as though they were replaced anytime recently. Could it maybe be a manufacturing by-product of a counter-sunk hole for the felt?

Here is what I am talking about, and of the maybe half dozen Orthophonics I have seen to date with the bumpers missing, this is typical. Your suggestion is interesting, though. I guess it is possible that the hole was where the center of a drill bit went in. Old brace and bit drill large bits had a small protruding drill in their center to get the hole started.

clay