Have you ever given any thought to what it means to be successful? A news article I was reading last week prompted me to think on this, and I find myself returning to this subject when I get some quiet time to myself. I have a feeling that ten different people would have ten different … Continue reading What is success?

I've been wanting to blog for quite some time now, but a variety of things have come up. First and foremost... We have a new family member. This is Flash. He's a little over two years old, and has been with us for a little over two weeks now. He's a Siberian Husky, and we … Continue reading New things

The VV-XIV I'm working on has 4 mainsprings, one (at least) of which I knew was broken. So, fingers crossed that the break would be an outside/middle break, I dug into it today. I'll explain what an "outside/middle break" is in a minute. Got the main shaft out, and started checking the springs right to … Continue reading Found it!

In my last post I mentioned "hunting down some phonos to purchase to bring them back to life". Well, my first "find" is a pretty interesting one. A Victor VV-XIV IN WALNUT. American walnut, to be precise. You don't see very many walnut victrolas. Prior to 1918, walnut was an extra cost ($50.00, I think, … Continue reading An Interesting Find

Two weeks ago, I received a phonecall from an acquaintance regarding some repairs needed on his antique wind-up phonograph. A bit of history: I lived in Lansing, MI from 2001 through 2005 while I was pursuing my master's and doctorate at Michigan State. During that time, I ran an antique phonograph repair/restoration/sales business, called "Brown's … Continue reading A Visitor, Some History, and a Renewed Interest

This is new to me. This is ALL new to me. New career, new outlook on life, etc. My plan is to use this to share thoughts, ideas, and experiences I have as I make things in my shop. But rather than have rules regarding what I can and can't write, I'm going to also … Continue reading The Journey Begins