My phonograph was at my grandfather's beach until I brought it to my parent's house. There was some damage done to the machine, which I am in the process of restoring. I oiled and polished the exterior or the cabinet, removing years of grime as well as restoring moisture to areas which had been exposed to the sun. I polished the brass knobs and the crank, returing them mostly to their original shine.
There is still more work to be done. Foremost, the grill cloth needs to be restored. I will do this by using the cloth that is still there and placing cheese cloth behind it to back it. Also, the wood portion of the grill needs to be repaired. There are two knobs which are missing which need to replaced. There are also some minor blemishes in the cabinet which need to be repaired. On the interior, the turntable, bedplate, and the motor have yet to be cleaned. The record holder has been removed from the left record cabinet and needs to be rebuilt.
While there is still much to do, the phonograph does operate in great condition. I have thirteen Diamond Discs, including two of Sergei Rachmaninoff performing one of his piano concertos.
These are pictures of the phonograph I have taken, some of which show some of the damage which has already been repaired. Click on a thumbnail to see the full picture. (Warning: The pictures are very large and will take about 2 minutes over a modem connection at 56K.) More pictures will be added when I develop my roll of film.
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