polish or not to polish ...

Hi Kerry [,mate].........does new strings count? well i still have the original ones but der a bit played out lol........steel strings rust of course with the sweat offa yer hands etc......i mean Bass strings are as thick as wire used for fencing......only much more plyable and stretchy der called wound strings.

 

hahaha . mate I don't know . for all I know about guitars , they probably come new without strings .
which is why I was laughing at my own comment .

cheers,
kerry

 

For me, "restoration" is about bringing something back to showroom condition or as close as possible to... Some parts may not be available or may be very rare, in which case the nearest match that makes the lamp look as good as possible gets used.

OK it may not be absolutely authentic or "original" but the way I look at it, no lamp leaves the factory looking like this either...



Yes it tells a story, but it's one of neglect and I'd far rather see it painted up with one of Steve's fine hoods on top!

 

Now that's a fair point.

Such lamps as I've ever restored, I've tried to take back to what I assume is the state they left the factory and I'm happy with that.

But if Tilley ever had a showroom - they had shops with prominent London addresses - the lamps and lanterns on display would surely have been given some sort of 'extra special treatment' for that purpose. So if we display our best lanterns, either at home or elsewhere, then maybe they deserve that extra special treatment too...

 

"I suppose you are an lanternologist?"
"Not quite so ambitious as that sir. I should like to put eyes on the individual entitled to that name. No man can truly be called a lanternologist, sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence for grasp."

Claus C

 

Neil and one or two others have had a pretty good go at it, though!

 

This pic from Gneiss of a bialaddin300x, is a prime example of what I mentioned in the last sentence of my previous reply.
Where I said we can all so go to in leaving a collectable original and not restoring.
Not on here or over on CCS, I have seen a program in fact one of my favourite American pickers where there have been items that have been picked in a similar condition if not worse, and either Mike or frank has mentioned this is how they like to find things and restoring etc takes away all its history, I have heard this from many a collector on various programs.
But to me on this there is little history of its use and being aged like it.
It has been used for a short while and just left and abandoned neglected for decades in a cold wet environment and not cared for.
To me the best for this is to fully restore it to its former beauty, and in full working order bring it back to life doing a job it was made for.