1909 Victor Talking Machine Victrola

[vortalexfan]

Hello everyone, a couple of weeks ago an elderly lady that I go to church with gave me a 1909 Victor Talking Machine Crank-up Victrola that the mechanism and "tone arm" assembly were transplanted into a home made tabletop cabinet and the mechanism still works as it should but needs some work on the brake assembly and the speed adjustment assembly as they are really badly coroded because this unit sat in an outdoor storage shed for over 30+ years, and the motorboard needs to be replaced because the veneer is shot on it.

I would like to try to restore this home made cabinet and repair/replace the motorboard and get this up and running again, because I have many 78 RPM records that I would love to use on this unit.

I would love to know what I need to do to properly restore this unit, as this is the first time I've ever worked on one of these before.

[vortalexfan]

Anyone on here have any info on these old Crank-up Victrolas?

[MadMan]

I have a tabletop Victrola that I restored to working order recently. Mine was not so bad when I got it, it was presentable, and could just barely play a record. The most important thing for the mechanism is to lubricate it properly and get it some exercise. All you need is some regular grease and some 30w oil. Even basic modern lubricants are leaps and bounds ahead of the vaseline and non-standardized motor oils they had in 1909, so regular stuff will do.

Also, rebuild the reproducer. Some guy sells rebuild kits on ebay, reasonable prices. Remember they rely on rubber, and rubber doesn't generally keep its elasticity for 110 years. The diaphragm is usually mica, which cracks after a lot of use, or if it's been out in the elements. Also beeswax, which again, you can't expect to last through the eons. I do love how the materials old machines are built from make them such a product of their time. Brass, beeswax, leather, wood.

I rebuilt the reproducer on mine. Since I plan on fully restoring the machine at some point, and I don't want to take apart the reproducer again, I did a 100% job on it, polishing it and re-nickel plating it. Of course you don't have to go the whole nine yards. But for sure rebuild it. Adjusting it is the hard part. There are two springs that hold the needle holder in place. If they are too loose, the sound will be tinny. If they are too tight, the sound will be dampened. And they have to be perfectly equally tight. They are tiny, and it's a fiddly process. But the end result is a machine that plays perfectly. Once I had it right - mind you, this was the first Victrola I've even heard operate - I was very much surprised at the volume level and clarity of the sound.

A downside of having a shiny new reproducer is that it doesn't look like it's original to the machine, but it is lol.

My machine's tone arm was broken, and was just flopping around. I was lucky that the parts were all present. I needed to straighten out the flared base of the tone arm, and bought new bearing balls for it, and reassembled it.

Good luck with yours, sounds like a project. I'm by no means an expert, but I'd be happy to help if you have any questions.

Incidentally, a lot of parts are available on ebay, mostly used. You could probably find the brake assembly no problem.