Now THIS is a Vintage Turntable !

[Midnight Rambler]

One of my winter projects was going over my Victrola. It's from 1904 per its ID plate and belonged to my great-great uncle, Richard F. Outcault, the famed early American comic strip creator and also illustrator for Thomas Edison.

'Vics aren't hard to find, per se, but finding one in good condition and in good working order as well is a bit more difficult.

I went through all the mechanicals, esp. the spring and the associated parts of the governing system. The spring is in excellent condition and the system keeps excellent, consistent speed, so I'm happy. I polished the tonearm and soundbox, and they came out quite nice, although my crappy photo doesn't show it. The cabinet is in VG+/E- condition, and while it could easily be completely refinished, I chose to just maintain it as more and more people are going for the vintage condition as opposed to heavy restoration. The fact that it survived a massive fire that destroyed much of Richard's estate makes its condition that much more appreciable.

Along with the 'Vic itself I have over 400 records for it, including 22 by Al Jolson, several by Ted Lewis (my hometown hero), and a lot of comedy, which was very big during the time period. My favorite is called "Fido is a Hot Dog Now" and is the story of a very bad little doggie who died and ended up you know where.

You can hear "Fido" here, courtesy of the Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/3893