The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Is the goose neck and elbows also made of Aluminum, too?
Harvey Kravitz

Oh, yes. It is both exceptionally lightweight and rigid.

The gooseneck is made from a gutta percha material and is susceptible to breakage. That is why they are so scarce.

Uncle Vanya wrote:Another forum member suggested that a bit more information would be meet, go here goes something for nothing:

The Ideal horn was designed by Louis Devineau, the same fellow who came up with the even more vanishingly rare "Biophone" attachment, which would ostensibly allow one to play disc records on a cylinder phonograph.

Oh my, my ears ache at the mere thought of playing my discs on such an attachment...the wow and flutter on that must have been unreal.

You need to find a way to get this to me. I do this Indian rope trick......

Seriously though, I have plastic tools for manipulating aluminum...in this case, we would just need to open the seam, and using a syringe place a bead (THIN BEAD) of fish glue in there, then roll the seam closed....I’d have to make a roller, probably out of oak dowel.

-Wyatt

I'm just back from a vacation and catching up...

Congratulations on the Ideal horn! I know of 7-8 of these now - - wonderful horns and yes, they sound great.

When our son was attending Case-Western Reserve University I visited the factory address in Cleveland where these horns (and the Biophone) were manufactured, but unfortunately it's now a parking lot.

By the way, the first of the Ideal Self-Supporting Aluminum Horns were made ENTIRELY of aluminum - including the elbow. Within a few months, gutta percha was substituted, which allows for the horn to be pointed in any direction. I've never seen an example with the earlier aluminum elbow.

Thanks for posting!

George P.