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I brought home a HMV No. 145 last Saturday. I think that I don't need to do anything more for the oak finish on the cabinet. (Picture 1). I am now working on the motor and still thinking about whether I need to clean and regrease the mainspring DIY or have the job done by an expert. I have a lot of fun keeping my hands dirty anyway.

However, I have two questions. First, the grille screen looks like not original. (Picture 2). The current screen has some oriental (Japanese) motif, which I am OK with. (Why not?) I would like to ask other people here. Does this grille screen look out of place on this HMV No. 145? I've seen many phonographes with original custom finish with oriental paintings. This could indicate that oriental deco was popular in the 1920s or 1930s. Should I leave it alone?

Secondly, the black paint on the handle of the crank is cracked and flaked. I could use my finger nails to peel away the black paint! (See picture 3). Should I leave it alone? Or is it OK for me to strip the black paint and repaint it?

The silk is not original. I think it's a little fussy for the cabinet but not offensive and it hurts nothing.

As has been said, the grille cloth is not original. But I would keep it, if I were you. It is next to impossible to find original cloth, unless you would stuble upon a wrecked 130 or 145 that you could use for spares. There are several sources that sell replacement cloth, but replacing the cloth is a hell of a job. I speak from experience: The cloth on my 130 was largely missing when I bought it, so I had to replace it.

If you really want to clean and re-grease the spring yourself: there are a few tutorials on YouTube. The best advice I can give you is to let the spring wind down completely before you open it up. If there's any tension on it the whole thing can come flying through the room and cause serious bodily harm.

I have figured out that in order to replace the grille cloth of this machine, I have to first take out the horn, which is fixed to the cabinet. It's not an easy job for a newbie like me. Besides, even I can replace the reproduction grille cloth, people will still comment: "it's not original!" Moreover, this "special" grille cloth on this HMV No. 145 is appropriate to its new owner.

How about the cracked black paint on the crank handle? Should I refinish it? Did HMV have crank handle with "natural finish" on the wood handle?

ewok wrote:Secondly, the black paint on the handle of the crank is cracked and flaked. I could use my finger nails to peel away the black paint! (See picture 3). Should I leave it alone? Or is it OK for me to strip the black paint and repaint it?

That's the one thing that bothers me on my HMV 102, it looks almost exactly like your crank. I'm curious to see what can be done about it.

the motor in the 145 is very similar to the one shown on the following repair guide. Although, I'd probably use a different type (brand) of grease (search the forum of spring grease recommendations). The one they used may work perfectly fine.

Page 1 and Page 2

A little messy, but fairly easy to do.

As for the knob on the crank, I don't see an issue with stripping off the last of the paint and repainting it. The crank is a pretty minor part with respect to value of this machine. Flaky seems to be normal for British cranks

Retrograde wrote: As for the knob on the crank, I don't see an issue with stripping off the last of the paint and repainting it. The crank is a pretty minor part with respect to value of this machine. Flaky seems to be normal for British cranks

The remained black paint feels like enamel to me. Am I correct? The original paint on the knob was painted way too thick. Did they just dip the part in black paint???

Thanks for the website for instruction. I spent about 3 hours yesterday cleaning and greasing the mainspring. I found out that soaking the whole spring barrel in degrease solvant overnight prior to taking the spring out made the whole process easier. I used white lithium grease from Walmart (about $3.50 for 3 tubes; only 1 is enough for this two-spring motor). I also filled the two pin holes on the aluminum diaphragm with shellac and filled the cracks on the white potmetal parts with J-B Weld.

The first few test plays were OK, although I figured out that more work on (or replacing) the HMV 5A reproducer might be necessary. The followings are the uploaded video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uELYB5QawY
I used medium tone needle on this "Orthophonic recording" record. By the way, Tito Schipa is my favorite tenor of all time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvUjPmbxISA
Soft tone needle was used here. This is a Columbia label record of Kate Smith. A very famous song, isn't it?

Retrograde wrote:the motor in the 145 is very similar to the one shown on the following repair guide. Although, I'd probably use a different type (brand) of grease (search the forum of spring grease recommendations). The one they used may work perfectly fine.

Page 1 and Page 2

A little messy, but fairly easy to do.

As for the knob on the crank, I don't see an issue with stripping off the last of the paint and repainting it. The crank is a pretty minor part with respect to value of this machine. Flaky seems to be normal for British cranks