I love original, but that being said, I really get a positive vibe from taking
something that looks ready for the junkyard and "preserving" it for
posterity... You never want to mess with a machine that appears original,
working properly, etc. except maybe for some cosmetic issues.
Two examples of necessary restoration: I bought an H19 Edison, which I hate the
style of, just because it was sitting in an antiques shop for $60, with a grill
broken into pieces like a puzzle and a huge oil stain on the top - but
exceptional wood grain showing below. I spent hours on it and put the grill
back together by first gluing the pieces to a heavy file folder, then cutting
out the openings with an exacto and filling in the cracks with bondo. When I
was through, I took it to a collector friend who told me it was the best H19
grill he had seen in 40 yrs. The point is, I got something out of fixing it and
then got rid of it to a new owner who was very happy to have it. It wasn't
about money, because I spent way more time than the machine was worth, but I
learned some valuable restoration methods. I also replaced a leg on a sad
Aberola 75 which had fallen off a truck and broke a front leg. Someone had
nailed and Elmer glued it back together and it looked like s**t. It is
very hard to remove a front leg on an Edison because of the way it was built
with pegs into the frame. A thin kerfed hand saw did the trick for removing it
and I made a copy from a leg off a derelict no name phonograph. When done, you
couldn't tell that it was replaced. Two mediocre machines were restored for new
owners, but the education was well worth it for me.
> From: glast...@comcast.net
> To: phono-l@oldcrank.org
> Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 05:04:37 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Original or restored?
>
> I am a great believer in originality. I'd rather wait and find a nicely
> preserved machine than one that has been restored to "brand new". Granted,
> some machines are basket cases and have to be fully restored, but I've seen
> too many perfectly decent machines given the twice over too many times. A
> good friend of mine once said that he likes his machines to be in the
> condition that the original owner would have been happy with if it were ten
> years old.
>
> Best to all
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Jordan" <tom...@msn.com>
> To: "'Antique Phonograph List'" <phono-l@oldcrank.org>
> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 9:06 PM
> Subject: [Phono-L] Original or restored?
>
>
> >I have always believed in keeping my phonographs in as close to original
> > condition as is possible. Fixing them, but not stripping and restoring
> > them.
> >
> > I'm just curious... Is that the norm with most collectors on this group
> > or
> > do you like to restore them to look like new?
> > Tom
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Phono-L mailing list
> > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
> >
>
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