2 piece knobs?

[Pat Taylor]

The knobs that came with my Phantom were quite worn down. I found this unusual, since you don't grab the front of the knob to turn it, you use the side. 

So I decided to clean them up and inspect them. They are not all wood! The top came off, and appears to be some sort of chalk. Makes no sense. The bottom is wood only. I checked the six I had, and they were all the same. Were they made this way?

[David C. Poland]

Curious. Repwood over lay?

A number of radio cabinets with intricate detail resembling carving were actually made of repwood - a sawdust and glue like combination formed under high pressure. Crosley had a number of early 1930s cabinets with fronts made of it - like the Buddy Boy and Elf. And also a 1930 FADA lowboy I had with front panel made of it. I retrofitted a Scott Masterpiece into that cabinet and discovered what that control panel was really made of.  Stained and finished it appears like wood, but with time and humidity, it warps and distorts.

Maybe the word to the wise is avoid water and use paint thinner on  Scott "S" knobs for a cleaning agent and then stain and spray lacquer for appearance. I have in my knob collection a knob just like the "S" knob but without the "S" and otherwise all the same pattern detail.

[Scott Seickel]

I have a good amount of these from various sets and everyone is made of walnut.  

Maybe these were an early reproduction? 

Hard to imagine that EH Scott would change the process as walnut isn't all that expensive in the tiny quantities need for these. 

[Pat Taylor]

Definately not rep wood. Like I said, they are chalk-like. You can scrape them. They are all like that. I used lacquer thinner, and it took the finish off and left them white.
David C. Poland said:

Curious. Repwood over lay?

A number of radio cabinets with intricate detail resembling carving were actually made of repwood - a sawdust and glue like combination formed under high pressure. Crosley had a number of early 1930s cabinets with fronts made of it - like the Buddy Boy and Elf. And also a 1930 FADA lowboy I had with front panel made of it. I retrofitted a Scott Masterpiece into that cabinet and discovered what that control panel was really made of.  Stained and finished it appears like wood, but with time and humidity, it warps and distorts.

Maybe the word to the wise is avoid water and use paint thinner on  Scott "S" knobs for a cleaning agent and then stain and spray lacquer for appearance. I have in my knob collection a knob just like the "S" knob but without the "S" and otherwise all the same pattern detail.

[Pat Taylor]

Would you be willing to sell me some? These look terrible. I actually need both pinch knobs, the large and small tuning knobs, and all 5 of the round knobs.

Scott Seickel said:

I have a good amount of these from various sets and everyone is made of walnut.  

Maybe these were an early reproduction? 

Hard to imagine that EH Scott would change the process as walnut isn't all that expensive in the tiny quantities need for these. 

[Scott Seickel]

They are all either on sets, or are going to be on a set that is in the works.  The only "extras" I have right now is a full Masterpiece set with all escutcheons.  I won't break that up.  They do occasionally come up on Ebay, buy you could be looking for a long time.  I would suggest just using plastic knobs at least for now.  The earlier Philharmonics used plastic. 

Pat Taylor said:

Would you be willing to sell me some? These look terrible. I actually need both pinch knobs, the large and small tuning knobs, and all 5 of the round knobs.

Scott Seickel said:

I have a good amount of these from various sets and everyone is made of walnut.  

Maybe these were an early reproduction? 

Hard to imagine that EH Scott would change the process as walnut isn't all that expensive in the tiny quantities need for these.