The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Selling my Edison C4 Radio/Phono. Electronics were restored by Chuck A. It plays beautifully and looks great. Asking 1250 OBO.

I'm located in New Jersey

msarnold1990 wrote:Selling my Edison C4 Radio/Phono. Electronics were restored by Chuck A. It plays beautifully and looks great. Asking 1250 OBO.

I'm located in New Jersey

Thank you for sending me a PM before you listed this. I didn't respond right away; as I was trying to find information on this particular type radio phonograph and would have requested photographs of it also.

My big question is, what are the 4 knobs on the front of the radio for? I ask this because all of the C-4's that I have seen and owned in the past only had three knobs--the large one for tuning the two smaller ones. Does anyone know when the fourth knob was added? All of the owners manuals that I have ever seen have had the radio face with just the three knobs.

Was this possibly a marriage of an Edison Radio to and Edison phonograph at the end of production? I ask this because I think that all Edison Radios produced had an input for a separate electric phonograph.

Maybe Chuck A. can shed some light?

Once I find out I would be willing to discuss a price and shipping at my expense. I'm located in Central Ohio and have been shipping and receiving jukeboxes, radios and phonographs to and from my home for years with never a problem.

Thanks for contacting me and listing this!
Mark

Have to take your word that the machine looks great because the machine looks black in two of the three pictures.

I assume the controls are similar to those of the C-2, which on mine are:

RH knob is power on/off.
LH knob is Radio/Phono selector
Mid knob is for radio tone if I recall correctly
Big knob for tuning

Turntable volume is located on the motor board near the tonearm.

-Rob

BusyBeeCylinder wrote:I assume the controls are similar to those of the C-2, which on mine are:

RH knob is power on/off.
LH knob is Radio/Phono selector
Mid knob is for radio tone if I recall correctly
Big knob for tuning

Turntable volume is located on the motor board near the tonearm.

-Rob

There was a tone control factory modification available for the R-4,R-5,R-8 & C-4. It cost $4.50. The factory modification was a new volume control and switch assembly that replaced the power switch so no additional holes needed to be drilled in the front panel. There is no date on the service note so I don't know when it was first offered.

The unit shown doesn't have the factory modification, just has the addition of a control and condenser by a technician at some point in its past. I have seen a number of these field modifications, I never could figure out Edison didn't have a tone control on any of the models until the R-6 & R-7 models.

Chuck

Is this my old C-4?

Matt

Very Nice! I always wondered if these Edison’s use a self starting motor or a motor where you have to give the turntable a turn by hand to start it?

You don't have to push the turntable. You just release the brake and it's on. A neat thing about the C-4 is that the shut off mechanism works due to the location of the tonearm on the record. It's underneath the motor board. When the needle reaches the dead wax, it shuts off. You don't have to set it, so it's fully automatic. And the record doesn't have to have an eccentric groove, like a Victrola Orthophonic to work. It works on all 78s except the very old ones where the needle doesn't go deep enough into the dead wax. The C-4 is historically significant in that it is arguably the last phonograph produced by the Edison Phonograph Co. along with the portables P-1 and P-2. These machines played lateral 78s only. Edison still made some radios in 1930 being the R-6 and R-7. They don't have phonographs, but they do have phono jacks. I now own a 1928 Edison C-2, the only electronic machine made to play both Edison Diamond Discs and lateral 78s, and the 1930 R-6 and R-7 Edison radios. I have even put my C-2 close to my R-7 and plugged the tonearm leads into the R-7 making my Edison radio a phonograph!

Price reduction to $1100 or Best Offer