Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

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VanEpsFan1914
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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

Inigo wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:24 pm It looks as having a big exponential horn inside... Must sound very well ... although similar to other portables, those have the tonearm at the back, so the horn is a bit longer. In this one, the mounting of the tonearm suggests that the horn runs along the large side and then turns right along the short side straight to the back opening. Shorter and wider than the other horns. Anyway, summing up the length of tonearm, large and short sides, it could well reach a total length of four feet for the sound pipe... not bad!
The size of the crank & latches compared to the rest makes it look diminutive. I am sure it has more horn than the average Birch 500 or Waters-Conley Phonola one is likely to find in the USA so it is already a nice find.

My 202 runs great & looks great, of course, but it is just now starting to show pot-metal decline with the internal horn; I found a fragment of metal that had crystallized & dropped off the horn. I need to disassemble it, remove that section, and try building something new out of modern materials. Technology has advanced enough to make repairing it something more than a pipe-dream. I am not interested in letting it go to the bad.

This 125 is a cute design & I am thinking about picking it up, giving it a cleanup & a bit of oil, and putting it to work. The tonearm may be brass as the plating is in nice shape.

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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by epigramophone »

I have never seen a 125 before. The tonearm is similar to the larger American Viva-Tonal portables and the American inspired UK Model 113, so I would not be surprised if the 125 is an American machine.

The UK 202 and it's predecessor the 112a are well known for pot metal problems. The lugs on which the narrow pot metal horn pivots at the far end of the large sheet metal horn are prone to breakage. Repair is possible but tricky.
I very carefully drill through the lugs and their mountings, then pass a threaded rod through the entire assembly and secure the ends with nuts. Having done this to a Brown Crocodile 112a I swore I would never do it again, until an even rarer Green Crocodile 112a came my way. Only Blue, Brown and Red Crocodile versions appear in Columbia catalogues.
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VanEpsFan1914
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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

Wow. Thank you -- I hear the Columbia production endangered what was once a larger population of blue crocodiles. Along with the nauga, slaughtered in droves for naugahyde cushions, and the mo, flocks of which once roamed the Cotswold hills providing the raw material for the famous mohair fabric, these creatures are little known today.

I may try to get the 125 this week-end if all goes well; I do not fancy the 50-mile one-way drive to go pick it up but if I can I will be sure to get a good look at it.

On my 202 the pot-metal horn works fine and still pivots but I must replace the whole horn eventually, as preventive maintenance. Making a tonearm base will be the hardest part as it must be metal to metal--I may end up eventually needing a lathe, before we're all done here, and machining a new base in either brass or aluminium so the ball bearings have somewhere to ride. It's a good machine & by the time I do that it may be a few years out. More I get into phonographs the more I am certain that a decent lathe is in my future.

Starting to think the 125 is an American pattern based on your guess. It is at least worth a look, if I have a chance to get over there and the car co-operates.

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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by Orchorsol »

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 9:09 am Wow. Thank you -- I hear the Columbia production endangered what was once a larger population of blue crocodiles. Along with the nauga, slaughtered in droves for naugahyde cushions, and the mo, flocks of which once roamed the Cotswold hills providing the raw material for the famous mohair fabric, these creatures are little known today.
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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by nostalgia »

VanEpsFan, I hope you get the Columbia 125, if you decide to drive out and buy it. I have never seen this machine in real life for sure, I guess it must be pretty hard to find... According to "our Columbia lindex", this is rightly a US Columbia machine, from around 1929. When I put together this list almost two years ago, I used the Columbia Phonograph Companion - Volume 2: (Robert Baumbach) as a reference for the US Columbia machines, and the machine is listed in that book.

Here is by the way also our very unofficial Columbia index, if someone want to have a look: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44585&hilit=japan+columbia

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

Well I have messaged the seller and should be picking it up Saturday, for the sake of satisfying all the curiosity here about the Model 125 Columbias. Supposedly "it works" but I am sure I can find something wrong with it.

Thank you @nostalgia for the link confirming this was an American machine built one year in 1929. Portable phonographs are harder to research here than tabletop or cabinet machines. The English firms, rather than American builders, raised the portable gramophone to an art form but occasionally nice machines left American plants too. I'll have to get a good look at it.

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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by nostalgia »

I am re opening an old thread, because of this Columbia 112, that landed on my doorstep yesterday. It looks nothing of what I was expecting it to look inside. The sound box is not original for the model, but...the motor board, and the tone arm and its base? I was expecting a straight tone arm, and a completely different tone arm base.
What are your views on this machine?
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epigramophone
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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by epigramophone »

I suspect that the pot metal horn assembly suffered a breakage, and that a previous owner fabricated a new motor board.
They also sourced a replacement tonearm and soundbox. A lot of work to save a very common machine, but such things were done during the depression years when money was tight.

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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by Steve »

epigramophone wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 4:27 am I suspect that the pot metal horn assembly suffered a breakage, and that a previous owner fabricated a new motor board.
They also sourced a replacement tonearm and soundbox. A lot of work to save a very common machine, but such things were done during the depression years when money was tight.
I am quite sure, you've nailed it. That is exactly what it looks like to me.

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Re: Columbia portables..the endless enigma?

Post by nostalgia »

I agree, totally. Nothing to keep.

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