Another trip down memory lane: Columbia AB

[TinfoilPhono]

Another tale from my distant past: the Columbia AB.

I had bought my first phonograph, a Victrola IX, in 1961, at the age of 12. My second was a Columbia BKT, bought a few months later. Those are both long gone, but I still have the third machine I ever bought, the AB.

My mother enjoyed going "junking" and I probably got the thrill of the hunt from her -- though she had no particular collecting focus in those days. On March 1, 1962, we went to a rather rundown area in Holyoke, Massachusetts to check out a junk shop. (That wasn't a derogatory term, it was actually how such stores called themselves). Tucked into a corner I saw a rounded lid and assumed it was a sewing machine. But on closer look I found it was a Graphophone, with a lovely gingerbread-style case. Lifting the lid, I found a pristine open-works machine with a 5" mandrel. Wow. Plus, there were 4 equally pristine Edison Concert cylinders with it. What it didn't have was a reproducer or a horn, unfortunately, but I was still glad to pony up the $20 asking price.

Shortly afterward my mother stopped for a quick visit with a friend in Holyoke, I opted to stay in the car to check out my new prize. As I was fiddling with it the mandrel tilted and fell downward. I freaked out. I couldn't believe I had already broken it! But then I saw there was another mandrel peeking out. Huh? I gently tugged the large mandrel and realized that it telescoped over a conventional one. Now I was really excited. It took only a moment to realize that the mandrel shaft could be adjusted upward to play normal cylinders. Obviously there was a third thing missing on the machine, the knob to hold the large mandrel in place.

My father was a machinist. He made me a knurled knob to hold the mandrel on. He could only guess at the appearance and size but his guess was surprisingly accurate -- much later I found that it looks just like the originals. I opted to keep the machine with his replacement knob.

I bought a horn and reproducer from a dealer in California. No one knew much in those days, least of all me, so I wasn't bothered by the fact that I got a 10" nickel plated horn instead of a 14" aluminum, and that the reproducer was a replica Puck, nothing like original. It wouldn't work with the lift lever but it at least let me play my new Concert records.

I took it all apart to clean it thoroughly and it became one of my most prized pieces in my collection.

When I moved west in 1970 it came with me, and has been with me ever since. If or when I move to a retirement home, that would be the one machine I would take with me. It's that special. Not just nostalgic but beautiful for its woodwork and open-works mechanism – and Grand mandrel. It is one of Columbia's most interesting offerings, in my humble opinion.

It has been displayed in various ways in my various apartments and houses over the past 56 years. At least once during that time I had recleaned it, but mostly it sat open on shelves collecting dust and tarnishing.

A few months ago I decided it was overdue for another full cleaning and oiling. I was amused to find a penciled inscription underneath the bedplate, which I had long ago forgotten. There's a picture below. I also inscribed my name in ballpoint pen into the underside of the cabinet, which I would never dream of doing today, and stuck a label with my “inventory number” of 3. Incredibly it still has the original stitched belt.

The last second and third pictures show the most recent before/after improvement. As with the BO, the nickel has deteriorated a bit from so many years of exposure. I decided to display it with the cover on from now on. The cover is one of its most appealing features, and it's like unwrapping a Christmas present each time I lift the lid and show off the beautifully nickeled open motor.

It's certainly not my rarest phonograph but it definitely ranks as one of my very favorites. I am endlessly amused by the very idea of a key-wind, open-works phonograph playing Concert or Grand cylinders. It's wonderfully absurd.

[Pete Stratford]

Rene,
What a great story! You sure started collecting at a young age.
Pete

[gramophone-georg]

Aha, so you are 10 years older than I am. I started down this road at age 10.

That knob made by your dad makes it really special. I wouldn't change it either

[phonogfp]

It looks great, Rene! I'm a fan of the AB too - there's nothing else quite like them (in the U.S. market anyway).

Great story - and I agree with keeping your dad's handiwork intact.

George P.

[JimN]

Rene, I can easily imagine a kid signing his $20 phono, back when they weren't valuable. Actually, I think your childhood signature adds value to the machine, since you're so well known for the advancement of the hobby. After all, in 2009 I saw a copy of your tinfoil book at the Edison Lab in West Orange, NJ in a drawer on the table holding the Edison Bergmann machine that is used for daily tinfoil recording demonstrations. No other author has that distinction. Too bad my photo doesn't actually show the book.

Jim Nichol