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There were 20 wax amberols in with this lot of cylinders I recently got. How unstable/ fragile are these records. Can I play them without any special precautions, or should I treat them as if they were egg shells and leave them on the shelf. I do not want more of these fragile cylinders to be lost to time if I can do anything to keep them safe.

1908 to 1912 Edison Black Wax 4 Minute Amberols or "Damberols" as they were appropriately nicknamed in their day do NOT do well in really hot or really cold environments and literally crumble with huge temperature swings. They are made of a much more harder, more brittle metallic wax than the much softer earlier Edison 2 Minute Black Wax cylinders.

Caring for them is to keep them in their Original Green and White "padded" cylinder cylindrical box or to keep them in earlier Edison 2 Minute "padded" cylinder cylindrical box if the Original Green and White boxes are not available. Bottom line is that they need to be in a "padded' box. They should be stored between 65 degrees and 74 degrees Fahrenheit. They are to ONLY be played with a Reproducer that has a Sapphire ONLY Stylus such as a Model "H" Reproducer. NEVER try playing them with a Amberola Diamond tipped Reproducer such as a Diamond A, B, Or C Reproducer like on an Amberola 30/50/75 machines.

They are very brittle and fragile cylinders from new, and adding 100+ years does not make them any stronger. Playing them will always be a risk, so unless you want to risk it, keep them on the shelf, and listen to the song off of the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive website. That's my suggestion...but to each his own.

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

:0)

Thank you for the information. All I have for 4 minute cylinders is a Standard witg 2/4 gearing and respective reproducers. All somehow have matching boxes with lids. They are currently being kept in a strong wooden ammo crate to keep anything from coming into contact with them.

Besides the precautions already listed, it is also advisable not to hold them too long. Just the heat from your fingers inside them is sometimes enough to cause a crack/split.

The other (probably largest) stress to 4-min black Amberols is placing them on the mandrel. Even with the mandrel and record at the same temperature, the stress of the record "gripping" the mandrel is great. If one is used to cylinders with a core (Blue Amberols or Indestructibles) which can be firmly pushed on the mandrel to seat them, it is easy to crack or shatter a black Amberol or even a Gold Moulded cylinder. The utmost care should be used in mounting one on the mandrel, gently pushing so that it will ONLY JUST stay without slipping while playing.

Despite their shortcomings I listened to authorities say that many of the finest cylinder recordings are found on four minute wax.

Jerry B.

Also, if you receive any in the mail, especially in the winter...wait until the next day to open the box or else you'll be making wax popcorn. Same goes for summer weather into an air conditioned home. And if the machine you're playing the record on is in another room, leave the record in the same room for a while before putting it on the mandrel. They are great recordings, but I don't usually bother with them.

I treat them like eggshells. I have put the Amberols I have on cassette tape.My friend Arthur Pare told me that he didn't have any problem with them back in the '70's.In 40 odd years the wax has gotten more brittle.edisonplayer

I have a fair number of the two and four minute 'wax' cylinders. Yes be gentle. I found out not to push to hard on to the mandrel. I ended up with a crack all the way across that way. So a lessen learned. Gentle.