victor victrola vv-iv wartime 1917, and post war 1918 

Late 1914 after the changes were made in the design that would continue into 1914. That's what the F suffix in the serial indicated. New style hinges, round shank crank, it already had floating cast iron horn since 1913.. Not a late production machine at all, not even the middle of the run yet that started in 1911, and would run to 1924 into the 700,000 serial number range.

All normal for the VV-VI in these years, only the very early models had the 10" turntable.

Yes, rear speed control was used on the cabinets that had the wood baffle style horn. The design was changed in early 1917 to the cast iron isolated horn, and the motor position changed. Look at the last video I did on a VV-IV a month or so ago, that machine has the rear mounted speed knob.

I have several earlier VV-IV's, my current oldest is 1914, newest 1923 unless you count the Victrolita. I know Victor farmed out cabinet work early on to Pooley for such machines as the VTLA ( XVI), but gradually brought everything in house as production facilities expanded. I have no information that they had outside contractors making the cabinets for any of the VV-IV's. Being that the 4th was the smallest, and most simple of all the Victrolas I would think they would keep it in house to keep the production costs down. There is nothing in the IV's cabinet construction to differentiate it from other Victrolas of it's era. From the small IV to the big XVI, the larger machines may get more fancy, and use some exotic wood veneers, but the construction quality is the same. Very high, I think I remember reading someplace that the company owned the land the oak trees ( as well as others) were being harvested from. I could be wrong on that and be remembering something about HMV in the UK. There is nothing wrong with the early machines that didn't have the floating horn, they still played well unless something was causing the motor to be noisy. In that event the machine could go back to the dealer for repair. Construction costs were higher, and production times longer due to the more complex cabinet construction. Strangely enough Victor didn't get away from using wood to make the horns entirely. It pops up again with the VV-2-60 portable in the mid 20's, it has a fairly complex wooden " folding" horn inside that requires many individual pieces of wood to pull off. It's isolated from the motor, but had to add costs to an already expensive machine, not to mention weight. Victor was not shy about making heavy portables in the 20's. I find in most cases you only hear the motor over the music if you are listening for it ( in machines with the motor suspended inside the horn) and then only if the motor is a bit noisier than usual. Biggest problem with that design is dust reaching the motor through the horn slats, so cleaning intervals need to be closer together.

I just recently bought a 1915 IV. Love it!

It started in 1911 at $15, and was up to $25 in 1924, it's last year of full production. Like all Victor machines of that era before the late 1920's it was a very high quality build. Later on they started using potmetal for some parts, and cheaper wood for the less expensive machines.

The entire machine needs to be serviced. This is just the common condition of any machine that's been sitting a long time. Rubber parts in the reproducer have been stone hard for 60-70 years, they last 25 years at most. Stone hard gaskets produce crap sound and damage your records. The motor needs to come apart, be cleaned, the spring needs to come out of it's barrel and be cleaned and inspected, new lubrication needs to be applied, adjustments made. Check the first video I did on the VV-IX 505105 to see how bad springs can get inside the barrel when neglected for 102 years.