Updates on the Antique Phonograph Project

Hello All,

It's been a while since I have posted anything new on here. Just wanted to add some updated photos to show my progress with that Antique Phonograph I have been working on over the past few years. I finally made some serious headway this summer, which is very exciting.

For those that are new to this, I was given an old Crank Phonograph from a friend that had suffered some serious moisture damage to it's cabinet. Mice had also taken residence in this thing at some point as well. He wanted to see if I could salvage any of it or if it was just a write-off. He was willing to pay for a restoration if one was even possible.

As you can see from the photo to the right, it was in very rough shape. Two legs had fallen off and the side panels were completely rotten and falling apart in thin sheets. The cabinet doors on the front were also completely rotted. The good news was that the chamber that held the actual phonograph parts and the surrounding surfaces were still in excellent shape. The gear system for the turntable was also still intact only because it was completely covered in grease. In the above photo, all of the chrome and hardware is being stored in the blue container to the left of the cabinet.

It's been almost 3 years since I started this project and I am very proud of how far I have come with it. It took a lot of work to determine what was still usable and what would have to be replicated. Then to strip down what was still good and refinish the entire cabinet to as close an approximation as I could. It was also lucky that the mechanical parts are still working almost as good as they did in the day. Just a little bit stickier than they used to be.

The photo beside was taken before I put the new front doors on it. All I have left to do now is put the bottom back on and insert the record storage assembly. Then it will be complete.

The unit works really well and is very loud, especially on the high notes. Being that many of the records from it day are either Opera or Orchestral in nature, high notes are in abundance.

The funny coincidence is that I found a Christmas themed record stuck inside the frame itself. I will have it done before this holiday so that will probably be the first record I play on it for it's proud owner.

I would definitely tackle another project like this down the road if one was presented to me. I really enjoyed working on this.