Columbia 229 turntable

[Mark R]

Here is something I repaired a few months ago. A direct drive prewar turntable, that plugs into the gram sockets of your valve radio. Unfortunately the pick up coil had gone open circuit so it had to be rewound, rewire the mains and change the 0.7uf caps in the motor, change the screened wire in the Marconiphone arm and away you go!
I must admit it does sound nice.
Just have to decide if the cabinet needs to be refinished.
What do you lot think?
cheers Mark

[Steve_P]

The one risk here is damaging or losing the label on the lid. Apart from that, I'd just touch in and french polish the lid, The rest looks OK.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Mark R]

I should also point out the cabinet had to be glued back together with big sash clamps.
I know what you mean about the transfer Steve, I thought of scraping round it the covering it in Vaseline whilst re-polishing

cheers Mark

[Radio Fixer]

Yes! similar to the HMV 122 restored by me and written up in a BVWS mag, maybe a year or so ago. Good players and its possible to add some equalisation which makes a subtle difference on good class radios.

Gary

[Retired]

Hi,

This is a tough call to make Mark. A lot depends on what you want to achieve; you could try as Steve suggests by touching in and applying a couple of rubbers of French polish but I wouldn't go near it with Vaseline as it might pick up in the polish.

As there are a multitude of scratches it would be a painstaking job to try to touch each one in individually. As the scratches are down to bare timber one idea I have would be to experiment with grain filler trying to match the colour as near as possible then use something like an old credit card and merely use this to wipe over all the scratches to fill them removing excess filler before it sets. Once the scratches are fully filled flat the entire lid to remove all traces of wax etc. but take a great deal of care not to damage the transfer; apply a few rubbers of shellac and hopefully this will freshen it up. For all the old fashioned finishing materials such as fillers and pigments you could try Restoration Materials in Bury; not too far from you.

If the filler stands out then good quality artist's acrylic paint could be used to blend it in; I know using acrylic works because I've done it with Bronwyn helping me for colour guidance.

I suggest filler because although I've read of shellac being used to fill scratches it never does for me; I once used an artist's brush to add layers of shellac to a very small depression only to find the shellac would not sit in the bottom of the depression but ended up looking more like the sides of a volcano; the harder I tried the higher the volcano became; in the end I flatted the area and had more success applying shellac with a rubber. I'm also very careful when I apply brush coats of shellac to a cabinet because if I splash the shellac the drops don't just sit on the surface like paint would but end up as deep rings which are a pain to get rid off.

I've never tried this Mark because I'm colour blind and find stripping using a cabinet scraper then applying new French polish is easiest for me but you could always strip as a last resort; it would of course destroy your transfer.

This is only an idea and good luck with whatever you decide to do; it looks to be a lovely turntable.

Kind regards, Col.

[Mark R]

Col
not totally decided yet, going to let the weather warm a little before any polishing tasks, then I may experiment.

Gary
re read your article, many of the components are the same, the Marconiphone arm, and Brake mechanism along with the motor, Wish I had had the HMV service data for the brake when I started!!

cheers Mark

[Retired]

Hi,

Good luck Mark if you are waiting for the weather to warm up; I've given up on this ever happening and have just done a major cabinet veneering and French polishing job in the kitchen.

When I was a kid we had proper summers but that was over fifty years ago; two days sunshine here in Yorkshire and we now have a hose pipe ban. How times have changed.

Kind regards, Col.

[Radio Fixer]

Hi Mark

You dont say if you changed the rubber parts in the pickup? Maybe they are still soft, if not thats really essential.

As to refinishing a lot depends where you use it and what with? Mine is in the lounge and connected to a well refinished radio so it had to look good. No probs for me as the finish on mine was shot anyway. If it were me I wouldnt let the decal stop me doing it, would scan it at a good res and make a new decal in PhotoShop etc. Unlike Col I'm not into the French polish and would use cell lacquer. Seems to me that might be a tricky one to learn the FP art on anyway with the curved front.

See its a different motor mounting method on yours. Doing another 122 and the mounting has changed from the first so variations on that. Of course the HMV 119 is more like yours in that it has a lid. I do like the 122, nice little unit but its a real dust collector and not easy to clean.

Gary

[Mark R]

Gary
all the rubber parts were good, other that the coil being OC, rewired it all though.
Played it through and Invicta A40 I restored, sounded fantastic!
Those Marconiphone arms are so nice!

I need to decide on a refinish now the warmer weather is coming.


cheers Mark

[Radio Fixer]

Quote: "Wish I had had the HMV service data for the brake when I started!!" from Mark

Kinda hope the article added a bit, over and above that as well, including tips from my deceased friend Paul.

Gary