1917 Victrola XVI Phonograph - Walnut Veneer - Professional Complete Restoration

Description

Antique 1917 Victrola VV-XVI (Model16) Phonograph with American Walnut (rare) – fully remanufactured top to bottom to museum quality condition.
This Victrola has beenprofessionally restored from top to bottom, nothing has been overlooked. Everything is original to the unit unless noted below.  A Victrolarestored to this detailed condition is extremely rare.
I have been remanufacturingVictrolas in the New England area for many years and have a fully equipped shopwith professional tools and supplies.  The remanufacturing-restoration processI use is very detailed and involves complete disassemble and reassemble thatincludes:
Wood Cabinet:
Bottom:
cleaned, sanded, original shipping holes patched withtwo part wood putty, stained and sealed to prevent future water damage ormoisture getting into the storage area.  The castors removed, holesfilled, new sleeves installed, trim rings cleaned and polished and castorsinstalled.
Outside:
stripped,sanded, dyed with color matched (mixed) to original finish Mohawk Dye, sealerapplied, grain filled, multiple coats of high quality Mohawk Finishers Choicelacquer sprayed with professional spray setup and sanding in betweencoats.  The final coat is Mohawk Buffcote lacquer mixed to the propersheen to match original.  After final cure, the entire unit is handpolished.
Inside:
Cleaned from top to bottom, tops of shelves scuffsanded and dyed if necessary and entire insides sprayed with Mohawk finishersChoice lacquer with multiple coats. The underside of the top is scuff sandedand clear coat restored saving the original Victrola Logo. The underside is thetop is used for the outside dye color match.
Internal Horn:
Woodportion separated from metal corner with mounting flange, old gasket materialscraped off where the metal and wood were connected.  The metal isdegreased - cleaned and painted with color matched brown or black paint, woodsection horn with slats is cleaned and sprayed with clear coat and reassemblyincludes clear silicone seal inside the joint where the metal and wood connectto prevent air (sound) leakage..
Spring Motor:
Entire motor and governor are fully disassembled and partsincluding springs soak in mineral spirits for a week.  Then eachspring, part and chassis is fully cleaned in a degreaser detergent and allnickel plated and brass parts of the motor and governor are polished with 0000steel wool.  The governor shaft and main worm gear drive shaft gettheir ends lightly ground and polished to remove the dent where they were theywere riding on the ball bearings and brand new high quality carbon steel ballbearings used when reassembled.  The main springs are re-installedusing top quality Amsoil Synthetic Polymeric grease with 5% Moly for very longlasting protection that will outlast the original grease.   Thegovernor gets new flat springs where the weights attach.  The speedcontrol and speed indicators where they touch the governor get new top qualityrawhide leather oiled with Mobile 1 synthetic oil and the entire motor isre-assembled with Mobile 1 synthetic grease and oil on allgears.  The Motor is then fully tested and adjusted if necessaryuntil it runs as good or thanks to the advanced lubrication, better than whenit was new.
Tone Arm:
Fully disassembled, cleaned, and polished with Simichromepolish.  Tone arm mount is degreased, scuff sanded, repainted withblack lacquer paint, new gold pin striped painted on using 24k goldpaint.  New carbon steel ball bearings are used where the tone armrides on the mount and are lubricated when re-assembling with Mobile 1grease.  This makes for an extra smooth moving tone arm.
Sound Box:
The reproducer sound box is fully disassembled, cleaned,polished and reassembled using new gaskets, mica and rear rubberflange.  The tone arm elbow that connects the sound box is lubricatedwith Mobile 1 synthetic grease during assembly for extra smooth operation.
Platter/Platen:
The platter has its felt removed, the original adhesivechemically removed and then the entire platter is fully washed-degreased withedge polished with steel wool and Simichrome paste polish.  New topquality precision cut green felt is applied using Krylon spray adhesive.
Brake:
The automatic brake is completely disassembled, the frictionrings are scuff sanded, and the entire unit is cleaned and polished, newleather installed and oiled with synthetic oil, spring adjusted andreassembled and tested.
Crank:
Wood handle removed, scuffed and repainted with black highgloss lacquer and brass retainer screw and washer polished.  Themetal crank is cleaned, degreased and polished.
Speed Indicator:
The speed indicator needle is sanded and repainted withblack lacquer paint, the bezel polished, the scale is reproduced with an exactcopy and installed and the original (yellowed) plastic window is replaced witha duplicate polycarbonate copy that will never yellow or break.
Hardware, knobs &Hinges:
All brass knobs are cleaned and handpolished as are all the brass hinges.  Every screw for the entireunit has their heads polished to a bright shine using a polishing wheel.
Final adjustments andtesting:
The entire unit is tested using a78rpm strobe disc.  The speed indicator and speed adjustment arecalibrated if necessary.  The Victrola is completely tested forperfect operation before being shipped out.
I professionally pack and ship toanywhere in the continental United States.  Included are Needles and somerandom 78 Records, a copy of the original owners manual and a guarantee theunit will work when received and email or phone support if anyquestions or issues are encountered after receipt.
Unfortunately most Victrola’s outthere in original condition have not been taken care of over the years and wereimproperly stored in basements, attics, storage sheds and other unsuitablelocations because when radio and vinyl records came out and they were no longerall the rage and considered obsolete.  The fragile original shellac finishis almost always ruined beyond reasonable repair and in a lot of cases, blackor alligatored or both.  The spring motors originally were lubricated withsomething similar to Vaseline and graphite, this is almost always dried up andas hard as a rock.  Victrola phonographs were very well made and usedbeautiful wood veneers that can normally only be seen in their entire beauty ifthey were either very well taken care of in the first place or restored likethe Victrolas I sell.  Now that these are 100 years old or more andrecords have become popular again, a fully restored high end Victrola like thiscan be not only entertaining to discover old 78 recorded music that some ofwhich was never released on any other format, a beautiful addition to anyhome and can also become a cherished family heirloom.  I truly believethat the restoration methods I use will withstand the test of time and preservethese phonographs well into the future.  The others that have beenneglected and are falling apart will slowly get scrapped, parted out etc.making the ones left in good condition more and more rare if they were notalready to begin with.
I am a professional Victrolarestorer with many years experience in the antique restoration businessand  have a very good reputation in the industry as a leading restorer. Mylistings typically sell fast so please make and offer or contact me if you areinterested.
Here is some info about the VictrolaXVI from the Victor Victrola Website:
The “VV-XVI” was the originalinternal-horn Victrola; officially introduced in 1906, it remained the Victrolaflagship model for many years. Although it was originally advertised as“Victrola the Sixteenth” (XVI), the metal identification tag used a “VTLA”designation in the early years. This was the first commercial product toenclose the horn inside a stylish cabinet.
During its long production run, XVI models could be purchased in a variety of optional finishes, some costing hundreds of dollars above the list price of a standard model. The most commonly chosen extra-cost finish was walnut, which added .00 to the list price. Initially, only Circassian Walnut was offered, but American Walnut also became available after 1918.
The XVI
initially
sold for a whopping 0.00, itbecame an immediate hit. (this unit has 0 on it’s inside tag – 0 in 1917equals ,032.80 in 2021 money)