Antique reflector type floor lamp rewire project

I have had this old floor lamp which needed rewiring for a long time. Finally decided to check that task off my project list. Last week I bought the lamp wire and a new switch, and rewired it using the instructions at Antique Lamp Supply.

With these lamps, the three smaller bulbs are on one switch, and they can be lit with one, two or all three depending on where the switch is. The large center bulb is on its own circuit, and in most cases is a mogul size bulb base, which Antique Lamp Supply refers to as “useful for landing personal aircraft or signaling vessels lost at sea”, which really isn’t too much of an exaggeration.

Once the lamp was rewired and working again, I replaced the three smaller bulbs with visible-element vintage style LED bulbs purchased from Menards. I wanted to replace the mogul bulb with LED also. Mogul base LED bulbs are very industrial looking. I could not find any that were even remotely related to “pretty”. I could have bought or scrounged an opal glass shade for the center light ($40-50 if I could not thrift one), which would have made the looks of the bulb immaterial, or I could have given up on LED and just used an incandescent mogul base bulb (expensive on power, and a heat producer), but then I learned that there is another choice, an adapter to allow a “normal” (or E26, to be more exact) bulb to work in a mogul (E39) socket. And I could find many choices of large visible-element E26 LED bulbs that are attractive and reasonably priced. So that’s what I decided to do. The UPS truck just dropped off the adapter and a large globe bulb, and here is my lamp.

I really like the look.