Minster gramophone

[077tango]

Hello,

Many years ago purchased a Minster gramophone from a friend. Other than name, only information is on a small brass placque:

Supplied by
W. Hargreaves
gramophone Specialists
Hebrew Road
Burnley

It has four cabinet doors with storage behind the left two doors.I would post a picture if I knew how. Any information would be much appreciated.

Thanks


topic PS Just saw a picture of an exact unit posted by Scooter May 2009
Post subject: Re: Featured Phonograph № 16

[OrthoFan]

Hi Tango:

I'm afraid that there may not be too much information about this particular model. I've reread the post string you mentioned -- http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 6157#p7884 -- and did a little googling to see if there was anything online.

I spotted one reference concerning an article mentioning "W. Hargreaves," in The Gramophone -- page 41, published January 1927.

"On November 30th Mr. W. Hargreaves gave a technical talk on the gramophone, illustrating certain points by records. An interesting feature was the comparison of old and new recordings of the same music by the same artiste. . ..."

I'm unable to locate the section on the archive site, itself -- http://www.gramophone.net/

For whatever reason, detailed information about the UK gramophone industry is very hard to come by. There have been a few books profiling the major manufacturers--primarily the Gramophone Co. LTD --

See:

http://www.gramophones.info/gramhmvbook.html

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Portable- ... 1872727492

The famous EMG also rated a book -- http://www.amazon.co.uk/EMG-Story-Franc ... 1874538271 -- but sadly, it appears to be out of print and out of stock.

There's virtually nothing about the second and third tier UK companies, that I know of, online or otherwise.

[077tango]

Thanks for the reply,

I also searched and came up short, you would think some type of information would be available.

Do these have much value?

[OrthoFan]

It's hard to say what the value range may be, without knowing the condition.

If you have some photos, it's actually quite easy to post them on this site, providing they are not too large. I don't know the exact parameters, but if they're about four to six inches square, on your screen, they should be okay.

Here are the basic steps.

1) save them to a folder on your PC in JPG format.
2) make note of where you saved them.
3) Click on the "post reply" button and type a few words in the composer box, such as "here are the photos"
4) directly under the box where you are typing look for the "browse" button and click on it.
5) in the pop-up box that appears, click on the folder where you've stored the photos.
6) locate a photo, click on it to highlight it, and click the "Open" button.
7) Click on the "Add the file" button to download it to this site.
8) a new button will appear, "Place inline". Click on that and you'll see the photo attachment appear as a text note.
9) click on the Preview button to make sure the photo displays correctly.

You can repeat the above steps for each photo you want to post in your message.

When you're all done, click on the Submit button to complete your posted message.

HTH
OF

[077tango]

[estott]

In general cabinet machines of this variety are not of great value, selling for $200 or less if there is any interest. The unusual tone arm on this machine makes it a little more interesting. The same machine in an oak cabinet would be of slightly higher value.

[OrthoFan]

I must say, it's a beautiful looking cabinet. I agree about the price, though. These off-brand gramophones don't command much attention from collectors. In the Bay area, where I live, it would probably be initially priced at about $400 on Craigslist, but the price would be gradually lowered to about $250 before it's sold, or the seller gives up and donates it to the Goodwill.

In case you're wondering about the tonearm, it was designed to add length to the overall tone chamber, without increasing the size of the cabinet or horn, itself. This was done so the gramophone could more faithfully recreate the lower notes captured by the newly introduced (1925) electrical recording process. In the US market, most of the major manufacturers opted to produce larger cabinets, equipped with long--in many cases, folded-- and much larger horns.

I've listened to a few gramophones equipped with similar style tonearms, notably, the Gilbert -- http://www.gilbert-gramophones.co.uk/history.htm While they do, indeed, reproduce the lower notes--providing the sound box has been carefully restored--they still don't have the fullness or concert hall presence of the larger cabinet models made by the major manufacturers.

OF

[077tango]

Thanks for the information, guess I wouldn't have garnered a prime spot on the Antiques Roadshow!

Steven