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I just overpaid a Paillard Maestrophonic N° 19 soundbox that I urgently needed to test a Decca 130 that came with a mismatched generic mica soundbox.

The Paillard seems to play allright and "don't mess up what works fine" is my motto, however since I could find no literature concerning this soundbox, I'd like to understand if it has rubber gaskets or felts, if it's easy to open as it seems or if it's tricky, and all that kind of information that might come handy sooner or later.

Does anyone have any experience with this soundbox, or any period tech papers?

Thank you very much!

Hi there,

I too found nothing about Paillard Maestrophonic soundboxes so I posted my experience of taking apart a No 18.

Not sure if it helps but here is the post for what it's worth:
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =7&t=34167

Cheers

Darrell

Thanks for linkinkg to the other thread, Darrell.

It seems that the 18 and 19 are a kind of "reversed design" as the screws are all on the back on the 19. However, they also look very similar under other aspects, like the grid protecting the mouth and the separation between the back and the bayonet collar, so I tend to believe that they're also similar inside.

That said, I will not open the soundbox as probably there is no need of a "gasket" change and I wouldn't have the proper replacement anyway. What worried my is that the 19 has an end-of-stroke unandjustable limit behind the needle chuck, and it looks as there is barely any backlash between the two. However, the soundbox plays good so I suppose the end-of-stroke is not being hit, otherwise the sound would be audibly distorted, wouldn't it?

I expect you are correct re: being similar inside. As to the reverse design and screw placement I actually put one in backwards upon reassembling [always take pictures] and was puzzled as to why it wasn't 'catching' ... then I shrewdly recalled the heads were on the front.

I am truly surprised there isn't more information out in the wilderness about these soundboxes ... they are very common. But perhaps they are such a simple design there just isn't really much to say about them

burke wrote:I am truly surprised there isn't more information out in the wilderness about these soundboxes ... they are very common. But perhaps they are such a simple design there just isn't really much to say about them

Well... yes and no. They are common in the sense that they equipped portable gramophones that sold in huge amounts at their times, but if you need a decent spare complete and in working order taday... good luck finding one! Which is basically why I decided to overpay, as this unit was pretty much all right, and after having tested it I don't regret having done so.

Concerning information, as many times it has been complained on this forum, everybody concentrate on Victor, Columbia, Edison, full stop. Something is known about Zonophone and Pathé. Most books on the matter (99% I would say) are written by Americans. On brands/items like the one in topic, and on portable gramophones especially, there is an embarassing lack of knowledge.

Most books on the matter (99% I would say) are written by Americans. On brands/items like the one in topic, and on portable gramophones especially, there is an embarassing lack of knowledge.

You guys need to get writing...

Curt A wrote:You guys need to get writing...

Sure, you are right. In my opinion, there are many mixed reason why this happened only sparsely and will happen sparsely (if at all) in the future. I will try to list some of the mentioned reasons, which may weigh more or less in each specific EU coutry - Italy being perhaps the sole country in which all of them concurr heavily at the same time:

1 - there are too few gramophones available on the EU market to begin with;
2 - the few "serious" gramophones available cost a fortune;
3 - there is few people in EU owning a house / warehouse large enough to hold a true gramophone collection;
4 - there is few people in EU wealthy enough to put together a serious gramophone collection;
5 - wealthy people in EU tends to be less interested in philanthropy / humanities / diffusion of knowledge;
6 - EU collectors tend to live segreated letting as few people as possible know about their valuable collection, and they tend not to share knowledge / information with others in order to "snap" good deals to other potential buyers / collectors.
7 - different languages are spoken in EU, thus a country-specific book would have only a very limited market, and would need to be professionally translated in order to expand such market, and would need to be re-edited, printed and distributed by foreign editors in other countries, which is a costy operation for a book that will remain, in any case, a niche book.

I know we are straying off topic a bit, but the same lack of information applies to thorens motors as well. I took one apart I found in a tabletop "Savoy" that I gave to a friend and re-greased the springs ... sort of. For the life of me I could not figure our how to get to the second spring and ended up just putting some spray lithium in it. It worked but I'd rather have done it right of course.

burke wrote:the same lack of information applies to thorens motors as well

Exactly: whatever lays outside the Victor - Columbia - Edison triad, there is lack of information about. And also lack of reproduction spare parts.