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Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 10:32 am
by Phonoboy
image.jpg
Just finished restoring the case of a Starr phonograph. Please tell me what you think.
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:02 pm
by MattTech
I think the picture's blurry.
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:09 pm
by djricksha
HI, it looks fine but camera is not. need a better picture.
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:11 pm
by Joe_DS
Right-clicking the photo and selecting "view image" gives me a better idea of what it might look like, but I agree with the others--the photo is way too grainy or blurry . In the photo, as it now appears, the cabinet seems to have been stripped and a a coat of danish oil or something similar applied. I'm sure you went to more trouble than that.
I was trying to find an ad or image showing the Starr table top model, but so far, no luck. I DID find this, in case you need it:
http://www.nipperhead.com/old/starr.htm (click on the thumbnail images to make full size for viewing/printing.)
Joe
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:30 am
by Phonoboy
I know I'm no photographer. The work needed to bring the piece to where it is took some doing. I believe it was probably left in a shed. The wood grain had opened up considerably, and the laminate (on top of the lid) was gone. I lightly sanded the rest all to smooth, and relaminated the top. With out removing all the original stain I applied more slain then waxed all. I do apologize about the picture quality. Thank you all for your input.
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:37 am
by Phonoboy
djricksha wrote:HI, it looks fine but camera is not. need a better picture.
I took the picture with an iPad, but the image was to large, so I took another further back and cropped it.
Electronics hate me
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 4:48 am
by Joe_DS
Phonoboy wrote:djricksha wrote:HI, it looks fine but camera is not. need a better picture.
I took the picture with an iPad, but the image was to large, so I took another further back and cropped it.
Electronics hate me
I don't own an iPad; not even a digital camera, but I receive photos from people who do, sent in a variety of sizes. Apparently, you can easily reduce the size of the original photo without sacrificing quality--other than the fact that it's smaller and if blown up or enlarged, will come out grainy.
Here's a short video that describes one method of doing it, without using a special application, simply by emailing a photo to yourself in a smaller format, and then saving it --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq8MYjS45mo -- Rather than deleting the original, as suggested in the video, you could save the smaller version you emailed to yourself under a new name.
Another option, of course, would be to use a photo processing app.
HTH,
Joe
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:34 am
by Phonoboy

- image.jpg (32.25 KiB) Viewed 1256 times
I think this is the best I can do.
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:25 pm
by Joe_DS
I can see, now, that it's oak, and it looks pretty good. It sounds like you did an authentic job of restoration.
Does it have all of its innards?
Joe
Re: Starr phonograph restoration
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:10 am
by Phonoboy
Working on it I repaired both springs, but it needs new gov springs, lower speed control mech, felt iwashers to isolate the motor from the motor board, needle cups, stop bar for tone arm, one tone arm nut, and a sound box rebuild.
Thank you for your comment.