Truetone record player cabinet restoration

[electra225]

I started a topic on the mechanical/electronic restoration of this little record player on the Record Player board. Now it's time for the cabinet restoration part.

I have everything apart and have all the rivets removed. I have the decals being reproduced, should be done sometime next week. Tolex should be here next week as well. This afternoon, I'll figure out what hardware I need. I want to do the hinges and handle like I did on the Magnavox, using those barrel fasterners instead of rivets. The wife is in charge of cleaning the grille cloth. It is still in good condition, but is horribly dirty. I have a few places in the plywood that I gouged while digging out those blamed rivets they used. I'll fill those places with Bondo and sand before installing the Tolex. This cabinet will be red and silver with white interior. The platter, knobs, tone arm and handle will be gray. The speed selector has been glued so much it won't hold anymore. I'll clean the back as best as I can, then use two small screws to attach it to the motor board.

[William]

It sounds like phase two is in the works and now that you have had the experience with the Maggie this one should be a piece of cake. I like your color choice.

Bill

[electra225]

The only flat pieces of Tolex on this entire cabinet is the inside of the lid, the top of the lid and the bottom of the main cabinet. Every other piece will have an angle to it. This cabinet will definitely require patterns, since I am still a rookie at Tolex. And I want it done the best I can do it. I have decided to use hookup wire for the piping on this cabinet. I can't find any small enough. #20 black hookup wire is the perfect diameter. With the wire inside for reinforcement, I can glue and staple one end, then just pull the rest tight and wrap it around the cabinet, then glue and staple the other end. I'll use a tool I use to put the ribbing in screens, the rubber stuff that holds the screen wire to the frame. I'll go to ACE hardware tomorrow and get the hardware I need to mount the mechanicals to the motor board, then I can test to make sure everything still works. I'll have to paint all the hardware, latches and that because they are just shiny tin and are tarnished and nasty looking. I'll use some bright aluminum paint and they will be fine.

[Firedome]

You'll certainly be THE Tolex expert here when all is said and done!

[electra225]

Shelf life on the glue is alleged to be only six months after the container is opened. I had to buy a quart and barely used a quarter of the bottle on the Magnavox record player I did earlier. That stuff is expensive. I want to make use of it while I can. I have this record player, the GE consolette, maybe my mom's old record player and a tube tester to do while I have the glue. The Tolex wrinkles in storage unless you wrap it around something, and I have plenty of the white to do this job and maybe the GE stereo. I'll buy red Tolex and silver Tolex for this job, then have enough left to do the GE stereo. Ecomonies of scale, as it were. I'll buy some black Tolex for the GE stereo, then have enough left to do the tube tester, etc. I enjoy doing Tolex. I have a lot to learn yet. I'm even considering building a companion speaker for the Magnavox record player. I found some wire mesh like is in the record player I redid.....

I learned another trick. I didn't have a small paint brush to spread Tolex glue. I used an old toothbrush. I squirted the glue on the motor board, then used the toothbrush to spread it around. The Tolex glue won't stick to a toothbrush if you wet the toothbrush before you spread the Tolex. Keeping a paint brush soft enough to work was the challenge with Tolex glue. This is a huge advancement in technology......

[TC Chris]

Not sure what your glue is, but modern spar varnishes tend to gel up quickly once they are opened. (Chris curses California regulations that punish all the rest of us). I try to slow down the decline by keeping them in the fridge. You might try that with the glue.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

There is a blurb right on the bottle that says shelf life, after being opened, is six months. No idea how to tell if it's lifespan has passed. No information on how to extend the life. I store the glue bottle in a ziptie baggie. I don't know if that helps or not. I've had it a couple of months and it still seems to be okay.

I have the mechanical parts back onto the motorboard.

All the electronics back in place. I moved the output transformer from the speaker frame to under the motorboard. I used a terminal strip for the speaker wires and one for the cartridge wires. The cartridge appears to be dead now. I'll swap the wires around to see if I have it wired wrong. I may need a new cartridge.

The platter looked pretty good until I replaced the Tolex. I will repaint it.

I don't have the tone arm rest installed yet. The paint was wet when I took this picture. I need to rig up a method to squeeze the speed indicator to the motorboard. Screws will look hacked. I'll try using Tolex glue to see if that makes it stay put.

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

Nice work, as usual !

[electra225]

Thanks, Mr. Mogul. If I reversed the wires on the cartridge, would that kill it?

[TC Chris]

Cartridges don't much care how they are wired, as long as you're not putting a voltage across them. They're little generators. Wire 'em wrong and you might get some hum, except you've got a crystal cart that's not hum-sensitive.

Chris Campbell

[William]

It looks good, Greg and I hope your cartridge will still function.

Bill

[electra225]

Unfortunately, Bill, methinks it is kaput. Why it went kaput when I messed with it is anybody's guess. I reckon I'll use a stereo cartridge bridged for mono. I don't see mono cartridges still being available. I need a stereo crystal cartridge for a little GE stereo I have, so I guess I'll buy two new ones. This one has a Vaco/Varco cartridge that is not listed on Gary's website. I'll reach out and see what he has.

[hermitcrab]

Your getting good at using the tolex ... nice job!

[electra225]

Thanks, Elton! I enjoy working with Tolex. I overthink the process pretty badly, but it gets easier as I gain experience.

I've decided to leave the platter like it is. So there are a few fleabites here and there. It is 63 years old and those fleabites are part of its personality.

[hermitcrab]

Like you said once you get the hang of tolex , it is not that bad , and the gratification you receive from the new look and knowing you did it makes it all worthwhile...

[electra225]

I'm waiting for the decals and Tolex. I made some repairs to the wood on the cabinet, mostly where I had to dig into the wood to remove the rivets. I used Bondo to make the repairs. This cabinet won't take the work the Magnavox cabinet required. The wood on this one is nice and solid and hasn't been overly wet.

[electra225]

There is a topic on ARF right now about the fallacy of putting any kind of work into a "one-tube wonder". Then here I am doing a full restoration on one. I suspect the OP of the topic I mentioned would gripe if he got hung with a new rope, given the tenor of his past posting, so there is that.....

I put my two cents in on the above-mentioned topic, but I suspect my response will be ignored as per usual....

I am playing phone tag with the decal guy. As late as it's getting in the day, I won't get them until next week now.

[TC Chris]

It's nobody's damned business what you waste my time on. Or your money, for that matter. My one-tube wonder makes a good little portable device for checking out old records, plus it has sentimental value. I had fun restoring it. And then there's my Knight-Kit Space Spanner regen radio, a three-tube wonder (that includes rectifier), easily surpassed by any superhet, but still fun to tune around with on a cold winter night. Ignore the negative folks and do what's rewarding to you. This is the season when I spend way too many hours in a cold boat barn, getting the old sailboat ready for a 5-month summer run. I try not to calculate the prep-hours-to-sailng-hours ratio nor the dollars per sailing hour data. Most of you will recall my fondness for Oscar Wilde's quip about the kind of people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

OK, in private conversations I will share my opinion of golf as an activity, but beyond that I will let people choose their own pastimes and try to understand the reward they find in them.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I'm with you on the golf part, Chris.

You know who I'm referring to on the big forum. The guy spends lots of his time trying hard to be unhappy. Besides, orphans need love, too. Every record player can't be a Concert Grand. It would be too hard to carry one of those, in the first place.......

I like junk. I like fixing things people turn their noses up at. I like taking something really ratty and making it special again. Special because I put part of myself into it. I have elevated 45's to only being played with a diamond needle. I can allegedly now put a diamond needle into my little record player since Gary is sending me a new cartridge for it with a diamond LP needle already installed.

I'm going upstairs to dig out a new set of tubes for this thing, just because. I have run this thing thousands of hours in my day. I hauled this thing every place I went. I was the most obnoxious little kid you ever saw, dragging a record player around. If I had stored it better, it wouldn't be in such ratty condition.

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

Besides, orphans need love, too. Every record player can't be a Concert Grand. It would be too hard to carry one of those, in the first place.......

I like junk. I like fixing things people turn their noses up at. I like taking something really ratty and making it special again. Special because I put part of myself into it.

Greg,
Your thoughts align so well with my own on enjoying the work
on fixing record players so they work again.

I tell customers that my philosophy is that record players of whatever
style, are Muses, and their purpose is to be able to play Music again.

Whenever I have restored a family heirloom record player, there is a lot of appreciation
the family members exhibit.

I see the same appreciation you have for your family memories in
re-juvenating the Truetone.