The Decca 75 in action

The Decca 75 gramophone in action:

Dean Martin 'Love Letters'

Finished at last!

Once the hinges finally arrived from the USA it was time to re-fit the lid and finish the job. I can't even describe how frustrating the lid-stay was to to fit. Some new swear words were learnt that day!

As you can see, I've relocated the Decca 75 logo from the inside lid where it was hidden from view to the front of the case.

Those long awaited rear hinges...

As you can see, I've not yet bothered to fit the 'Salon' Decca record flap...personally I think it makes it look a bit cluttered. I know purists will not like that...but they probably won't like the colour either.

 

Before and After

Originality and non-originality

I had planned to keep this as original as possible, but with the non-original exterior fittings it seems pointless being too anal about it. Besides, while purists may scowl its not going to bring about the end of the world. You may recall the Salon Decca record flap that sat inside the lid? Well, I managed to recolour that from burgundy to black using ink (as its made form leather-look paper on card). I then made up a foam backed black suede lining to go inside the lid to match the black horn, turntable and record flap. This veers away from originality but I'm not too worried about that now and it helps make the new colour scheme more cohesive....and will also keep the tonearm cushioned in transit.

Luckily I managed to salvage the original manufacturing specification label....just! Its pretty much intact thankfully and gives a nice bit of history to this gramophone.

Shiny bits

With the case re-upholstered it was time to re-fit the metalwork. I attempted to clean the fittings up using a drill fitted with a wire brush. But try as I might they were beyond redemption and remained dull. I then had a look on eBay to see what I could find. It turned out that identical zinc plated corner pieces were very cheap and looked a lot better than the old ones. I also needed a new handle to replace the white plastic monstrosity. I ordered a red leather one from the Netherlands but it turned out to be very different from the photo and was in fact burgundy! After much searching around it looked like I would never find a red handle so I opted for a handle similar in style to that used on the HMV models....and indeed most musical instruments ever since.

I also ordered some ornate art deco styled rear hinges from the USA....but had to wait 3 weeks for those to arrive. In the meantime I re-fitted the deck and motor into the base. It turned out to be a VERY tight fit due to the extra thickness of the leathercloth compared to rexine and paper. In retrospect I should have shaved a little off the edges of the deck before covering it. But after much swearing it went in.

Re-upholstering the case

I put this job off for a good few weeks while working out how best to go about re-upholstering the case.

I decided the best course of action was probably to glue the bases down first and let them set for a few days using PVA wood glue. After pushing out any air bubbles I left them to set with a large weight placed on top. Once they were set I could then freely experiment with the sides to see how to cut a pattern.

With the pattern cut it was just a case of folding and glueing. Not an easy task as it turned out. The PVA takes forever to grip the fabric and it can slip out of place easily. I cheated and used an industrial stapler (in non-visible places) to hold the leathercloth in place while it set.

The next problem was that the corners where the leathercloth was overlapping leathercloth were not sticking. Possibly because they were not porous enough for PVA to dry. I resorted to carefully superglueing the corners. I used duck tape to hold the corners firmly in place until they'd set.

Starting to rebuild

Using the old turntable felt as a template I cut a new one from black suede fabric. This didn't work as well as expected and for some reason was too small to fit. I ended up cutting another one a few centimetres wider.

I have sprayed the horn black and recovered the deck in a red faux leather imported from the Netherlands. Its quite thick and soft in a nappa style. I had considered using real leather but it was four times the price...and I'm not sure yet wether I'll ruin it.

The stripdown (2)

The internals are surprisingly simple. Here we can see the trumpet horn and British made Garrard 20 motor. Garrard began life as appointed Crown Jewellers in 1721, tasked with care and maintenence of the crown jewels. They went on to make quite a name in the world of HiFi and are still revered by audiophiles today. Their later turntables sell for thousands of pounds. http://www.garrard501.com/history.html

The covering on the deck turned out to be leather look paper and came off easily after soaking in hot water.