I found a Bassanophone in Los Angeles

[Jwb88]

Thanks for all the input so far, everybody!

I tinkered with it a little today and got the auto brake working pretty well. What seemed flaky actually seems functional and fairly easy to get used to.
See attached photos, I tried to capture the two screw holes on the right that may have had a used needle holder or a reproducer holder. The needle holder on the left uses only one screw.

CarlosV, glad to hear you have one of these bizarre machines! Is yours the same as mine? It sounds like yours has a needle holder attached to the motorboard. Mine has no evidence on the motorboard, but rather the needle holder and screw holes are on the back vertical panel inside the compartment, which I thought was odd. If it is ever feasible I'd love to see a photo. I agree that there just can't be too many of these still around so any existing examples would be worthwhile to see. Hope you fix the spring one day. I know I'd be put off, considering how massive the motor is!

gramophone-georg is kindly sending me a diaphragm that sounds just right for the reproducer. The only thing I'm still thinking about is gasket material. There's about ¼" of space on either side of the diaphragm. I'm worried standard white tubing might be too thin. I wish I knew what the originals were made of. They seem weird, almost like they were window glazing or a putty of some sort. I could be wrong though, since it seems to have a very rectangular shape.

As far as the dummy providing balance, it might. The reproducer fits tightly into the arm with no way of securing it other than just how tight it fits. It wouldn't really need the other side, but that may have been the thought?

[Marco Gilardetti]

That's interesting... As soon as I've seen this symmetric tonearm, with dual tubing, I thought "well, this can't work; most of the soundwaves will cancel out with each other", and I actually had in mind to ask you how the sound was. But now that it's opened and it turns out that half of the piping is just dummy, it makes sense.

I ignore, though, the true reasons for this design, which quite obviously "promise" more than it actually delivers. There were terrible patents wars back then, and perhaps this design was just an idea that would circumvent other patents. It has to be said, however, that the symmetry at the join, although not strictly necessary, is a good thing in any case. Other "plus" aspects are the protection of the diaphragm, and also the fact that the "dummy" tubing offers a very handy grip when lowering or lifting the soundbox.

All in all, although obviously less groundbreaking than it looks at first sight, it's a quite clever and handy design methinks.

[CarlosV]

Thanks for all the input so far, everybody!


CarlosV, glad to hear you have one of these bizarre machines! Is yours the same as mine? It sounds like yours has a needle holder attached to the motorboard. Mine has no evidence on the motorboard, but rather the needle holder and screw holes are on the back vertical panel inside the compartment, which I thought was odd. If it is ever feasible I'd love to see a photo. I agree that there just can't be too many of these still around so any existing examples would be worthwhile to see. Hope you fix the spring one day. I know I'd be put off, considering how massive the motor is!

I took a couple of photos of my machine, it is indeed different from yours, mine has the two cups on the board as shown below, and nothing on the vertical panel. Otherwise they seem identical, also externally. I removed the soundbox to fix it, so the photo shows only the two shells.

[CarlosV]

For some reason the first photo above got uploaded upside down.

Another difference seems to be that yours is nickel plated (or looks like in the photos), while mine is all brass-finished, break included, except for the pair of aluminum soundbox shells.

[Jwb88]

Thank you CarlosV for the photos! They must have had slight differences then, because there's no sign of anything on my board (I would have liked it to have that big used needle holder yours has). Everything on mine is nickel plated except the aluminum parts of the arm and the lid support, which is brass. I have a feeling any existing machines found probably have quirks, but who knows. One thing I did notice is that there must have been a pin in the slot of the dummy tube to keep the reproducer from resting on the motorboard. Unfortunately mine is broken off. I'm not too concerned about it, but sometime I would like to have it drilled and replaced with something that would work.

I received a mica diaphragm that gramophone-George kindly sent me and it was a perfect fit. I winged it on gasket material though: I have a sheet of ⅛" thick natural rubber, so I cut out four gaskets. It needed two on each side and even still didn't apply much pressure on the diaphragm. I also didn't cut them too precisely, just with scissors, as that's about the extent of my ability! Luckily enough, this machine sounds very good! I'm very happy with the sound as it is, and that's with the springs on the needlebar all being fairly out of whack and all at different tensions. With a soft tone needle it's quiet and very pleasant sounding with almost no blasting whatsoever, no matter how many opera records I tried to dig out. As time permits, I'll fiddle with it if necessary.

I'm thinking about dressing up the cabinet. I used goop and it looks okay, but it seems to have faded on the outside. The finish isn't in terrible condition, but it does bother me that it's washed out compared to the inside. I could refinish it, I'm not too bad at refinishing, but I hate to remove a fairly intact finish. I think I'll bring it in the house a while and see how it looks inside (usually better than the garage!)

[Steve]

This is a "Hen's Teeth" item, even in the UK, let alone overseas.

I'm not sure if it's been noted yet but the motor is the largest motor ever installed into a disc gramophone / phonograph. If your example is running for 45 minutes then you are VERY lucky as you probably have one of the only surviving complete working examples left. Also the 1908 patent might not have clicked with you but this covers the automatic brake mechanism which is highly intricate and stupendously over-engineered. Did Victor have an auto-brake in 1908? No, I don't think so. The Bassanophone was ahead of its time and very well made by a small firm in Derby but was so expensive that few retail outlets sold it outside of Harrods and other prestigious retailers.

I've recently bought the exact same machine in great cosmetic condition, but similar to CarlosV, my machine isn't working due to governor and speed control issues. My motor might need a new gear cut but as the original motor is nickel plated and has obviously been taken apart and either polished or re-plated I'm reluctant to touch it for a while. Like Carlos' machine, my machine is currently silent. This is certainly the most impressive cabinet machine prior to the re-entrants.

[CarlosV]

I found the history of the factory, with a nice photo of the model in discussion, in a short article here:

https://issuu.com/imagespublishing/docs/south_july_2014

The factory was short-lived but certainly innovative.

[Steve]

Thank you, Carlos, for the link above.

As with most articles written for 'general consumption', if not exactly inaccurate, it is predictably full of misleading information. The £20 example sold at auction "against a £30-40 estimate" was actually the example sold in SAS Auctions some years ago with all four legs chopped off!

Another point of note is the patents covering the auto-brake - this brake was originally designed to cut the current from a battery driven electric motor. Not only was Bassano ahead of the game with the humble auto-brake mechanism when applied to a mechanically drive turntable, but his very same patent applies to the brake on an electrically driven turntable motor.

It appears they were all hand-made (pre-EMG), highest quality and sold exclusively through Harrods or Alfred Hayes of New Bond Street.

[Jwb88]

Steve, your comments make me feel justified about the fact that, last night, as I was listening to it, I thought, "I think this is my favorite machine." Honestly, it's somewhat bizarre, its working remarkably well for how little work I've done, and the auto brake is the best one I've used. Even my hmv 102 gets finicky sometimes. I played about 10 records last night and it worked on all but one. It just takes getting used to, but after that it's very easy to use. More importantly, it's a very nice, smooth braking action. Slow but reliable. I wish Victor had made an auto brake with this effect. It's already as reliable or moreso than any of the Victrola brakes I've used. It has a very high-end feel to it, and I think it must have been fairly expensive in its day. Harrods doesn't sound cheap!

So it really is the biggest motor? I believe it. I may try to lift it out sometime. At first I thought, no way, but the scaffolding looks like it makes it as manageable as possible. One thing I noticed is that it has a fiber gear on the spindle that meshes with the governor. It looks to be in good condition, but should I be concerned with it or do any preventative measures towards it?

CarlosV That article was interesting. It seems these had to be pre-WWI then. Too bad they didn't carry on, who knows what interesting photos they might have come up with, presumably in the electric designs. The one in the photo with no legs still looks great otherwise. I don't know if the finish is original but I'm thinking my cabinet should have been around that shade when new. Funny about the legs, two people that have seen my machine so far have both commented that it's a wonder the legs didn't get broken off! I guess it just does look like it's asking for it.

Thanks for the info guys. Still hope to one day find an ad or manual or--gasp--a key that fits the locks! That's what makes this fun.