Here comes the scary part...

[withnail]

So I was at work one day, and a guy I know comes up to me and says "You like old things, right?"  For a second I thought he was insulting my husband, but then I realized my 1950s cat eye glasses, my constant crochet work, and my Jeep stereo blasting XM's 40's Junction in the parking lot might have been a clue... so I said "Yes.  What's up?"

He went on to tell me that a close friend of his had "an old gramophone cabinet" that he had to get rid of because they were moving.  It had been their great-grandmother's.  I asked if it was just the cabinet, because I'm fairly handy with antiques, I love working with wood, and was thinking maybe I could repurpose it into a bar cabinet and resell it.  He said yes, he thought so.  I asked to see a photo.

A few days later, he emailed me a photo of this pretty, dark wooden cabinet, and I told my coworker to tell his friend I'd give him $60 for it.  The friend agreed.  We picked a date, and his friend came over to my house with his dad, driving a small old Ford pickup truck with a cab on the back.  I wandered out into the driveway to watch the proceedings, and was slightly concerned when I saw them take a carpeted dolly out and put it on the pavement behind the truck.

See, I already have a cabinet gramophone.  A lovely Columbia Viva-Tonal that I grew up with, and that my mom was kind enough to give me so that I could enjoy Al Bowlly the right way.  It's a petite, almost delicate piece of furniture, and comes up to just about my waist. 

Back to the pickup truck...

The two guys lifted the hatch at the back of the cab, dropped the tailgate, and started pulling this gramophone cabinet out of the back.  And kept pulling... and pulling... and it kept coming out... and coming... this thing was a MONSTER!  Once they'd wrestled it onto the dolly and wheeled it up to my front door, I realized there was no going back. This beast was coming into my house - my tiny little cottage - and there was nothing I could do about it without hurting some feelings.  During the trip from the truck to my door, the older man was telling me how this belonged to his great grandmother, and it was killing him to let it go, but he thought I would take good care of it.  I have a soft heart, and I found myself promising him I would take wonderful care of it, and I meant it!

Because I had a suspicion I was getting a really good deal, and the guys worked their butts off getting that thing into my house, I gave them $80 instead of the agreed $60.  Then they handed me a bag of parts, and a record that looked like Frankenstein.  I said "Does this thing have all the guts in it?"  They said "Yes, but we don't know if it plays."  Then they trundled off in their truck, never to be seen again.

I walked into my house, holding the bag, as it were, and after poking around with a flashlight, I realized that I had just purchased a 1919 Edison Diamond Disc cabinet gramophone, and it looked like the only thing missing was the grill fabric!  HOLY CATS.  HISTORY!!!

 

(I am 5'7" tall, so you can see where this thing comes up to on me...)

After weeks of walking sideways to get in and out of the living room (the Edison is almost twice the size of my Columbia, in all directions) I finally started making decisions.  I had the choice to gut it and sell or trade away the innards, and just make the wooden cabinet into a bar, like I'd planned at first, but my vintage-loving heart just wouldn't let me do it.  Instead I found these great guys, Ray and Rod, of "Victrola Repair Service" up in Vermont, who offered to repair/restore the motor board, repack the spring with fresh oil, install a new diamond stylus, the works - all I had to do was mail them the goods (and pay them of course) and they mailed it all back to me!

But now comes the scary part.... I've got to put it all back together!

I had to watch seven YouTube videos to figure out how to take the horn and motor board out... I wonder how many I'll have to watch to get it all put back together???  Maybe I'll just start by putting the new grill fabric on - that's something I know I can handle!

Wish me luck, peeps.

[lucius1958]

Nice Chippendale!

I remember when I got my C250: I decided to remove the horn & motor, as well as the drawers (iirc), to lighten the load before I stuffed the cabinet into my car (NOTE: a C250 cabinet, minus the casters, will JUST fit into the back seat of a Toyota Corolla). That made it easier for me to wrestle the cabinet into my condo; still, it was something of an ordeal.

As long as you remember how you disassembled the motor (a good thing to do for basic cleaning), assembling it again is pretty much the same process in reverse.

Good luck, and enjoy!

BillS

[withnail]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the good word. The C-19 was given to me with the lid prop swingarm latch disconnected, so today I have to find a screw/hex nut to connect it with. I got the motor board screwed into place okay, and the horn is where it should be. The hard part is going to be figuring out how to reassemble the parts that hold the horn and swing the reproducer. Also, I just received my motorboard back from the workmen who refurbished it, but the turntable brake does not seem to be working at all.... I would have thought they'd have made sure that was functional... argh.

I did get the new grill cloth installed, so there was some progress.

This is one of those things where you think you're going to get everything done in a day.... but that's not happening.

Onward and upward!

[lucius1958]

The main difficulty with horn reassembly is adjusting the height of the reproducer when in playing position: the pin on the reproducer weight should be about halfway from the bottom of the loop when resting on a record. This involves a good deal of fiddling with the set screw on the shaft, while holding the horn up in position.

As for the brake, it's mainly a case of making sure the pivots are set right, the coil spring has enough tension, and the brake leather is projecting far enough.

BillS