Wax Amberol Records: what's your opinion?

[Stephen_Heatherly]

I've been collecting and restoring phonographs since I was 12 years old. I'm 24 now and still very much into the antique phonograph hobby. In the last 12 years I've only had one wax amberol record which I accidentally broke when I put the warm record onto the cold mandrel of one of my machines. Fortunately the record was in bad shape anyway so it was not a major loss. I've recently purchased several more wax amberol records that I have been playing on my edison home model a with an S reproducer. Some play very well, others not so much. While the ones in good shape play surprisingly well they seem to lack the volume and depth that the edison gold moulded records and blue amberols have. What has been your experience with the wax amberols?

Stephen

[estott]

The material was not up to the task- even a few plays could start wearing the high notes. Customers at the time noted a rapid degrading.

[Chuck]

Wax Edison Amberol 4M cylinders are unique.

I have a strange sort of fondness for them even
though they are so delicate and unpredictable.

Part of that goes way back for me. I heard my
first one of those over 50 years ago.
When I was a young boy, my father and I would
sometimes drive to local antique shops in the Milwaukee
area to look for cylinders. At that time, many
wax Amberols were to be found.

I still have and play many of those records.
Some of them cracked, others started skipping.

But overall, if they are handled with care and not
played too much they generally last fairly well.

That, plus the selections to be found on them is
unique, many never got put onto Blue Amberols.

Black Wax Edison 4M Amberols are a mixture
of things. They are kind of sad things, but they
can also be very enjoyable too.

My favorite is #110, "Choruses of 6 popular songs"
Barbershop Quartet. Wonderful!

[melvind]

I have a number of 4 minute wax records. I have several opera recordings on both the 4 minute wax and the later release of the same recording on a blue amberol. I have to say I think the fragile 4 minute records are the quietest surface cylinder records out there. There is a big difference in the quality of the sound between the two versions and I prefer the wax versions.

Now, given that, they are so fragile I am afraid to play them more than just once or twice. And, I would never buy them online and have them shipped. They can break in your hands when putting them on a mandrel. Imagine what could happen when shipped in a box!

[gramophone-georg]

I have a number of 4 minute wax records. I have several opera recordings on both the 4 minute wax and the later release of the same recording on a blue amberol. I have to say I think the fragile 4 minute records are the quietest surface cylinder records out there. There is a big difference in the quality of the sound between the two versions and I prefer the wax versions.

Now, given that, they are so fragile I am afraid to play them more than just once or twice. And, I would never buy them online and have them shipped. They can break in your hands when putting them on a mandrel. Imagine what could happen when shipped in a box!

I've shipped bunches of these worldwide. The key is double boxing, making sure that the cylinders and containers positively cannot move in the inner box. A nice layer of shredded foam rubber or packing peanuts in between the two boxes in all directions, making sure the inner box can't move in the outer box, provides cushioning and protects against temp extremes.

I also advise the buyer not to unpack the cylinders till the box has sat at least 24 hours in the room it is to be unpacked in.

[VanEpsFan1914]

I know this--if I had a player for them, I'd have a huge collection of them. There's some great music on 4m wax!

[Lucius1958]

I have a handful of wax Amberols, and have had the mortifying experience of some self-destructing on me. For all their fragility and tendency to wear, though, I have never seen one suffer from mold.

There are some great titles that were never reissued on BA: and I thank folks like Norman for making resin copies of them. I just wish there could be more.

Bill

[rhammond]

Like most collectors, I have a bunch of the 4 minute black wax amberol cylinders. They are very delicate, fragile, and they did not wear well. Edison had complaints early on with them. When they did start the celluloid blue amberols, many of these were remade into celluloid but not all. It seems that the lower the number on the black wax, the worse they seem to wear. This is just my opinion and experience on these. One of my favorites is "Mama's Boy" by Len Spencer. I would love a blue amberol copy of this one but I do not think that it was ever made in celluloid. If anyone has got it in BA and wants to sell it, contact me.

[Stephen_Heatherly]

There was a wax amberol with the title The ghosts' dance. I believe it was a British series record. I would really like to find a copy of this cylinder but, I imagine that would probably be rather difficult.

Stephen

[Lenoirstreetguy]

The repertoire on wax Amberol is truly interesting, especially after Edison hired Victor Herbert...the composer and conductor... as a consultant. That didn't last very long, and soon Herbert was back at Victor...although not as a consultant. It's sad, consequently, that so many fascinating selections are found only on wax Amberol for all the reasons mentioned. But they do vary in terms of surface. The company was continually fiddling with the formula in the vain hope of creating a more durable cylinder. I suspect the self-destructing ones have the hardest surface, but they seem to be the most brittle and the most sensitive to temperature change. And rest assured: the rarer the cylinder the greater the probability it will split untouched in the box. I have a two of the " premium" series: the ones given to you if you brought the dealer a new customer for a machine. They're really uncommon. The last time I played the Albert Spalding cylinder a chunk the size of a quarter flew off and smashed on the floor. They're a recipe for heartbreak and disaster.

JRT.