Out of the box, HMV 100

[Marco Gilardetti]

thanks for the greeting Marco, and very interesting to know the model 100 was your first machine.

Well, not really my first machine, but the first I went out and intentionally bought with my own money. As unbelievable as it sounds to me today, it was for sale in a used records shop in Torino downtown. Now that I have some experience on the matter, mostly thanks to this board and all the knowledgeable fellows with whom I can chat over here, having found it "on the wild" in that shop seems even more unbelievable to me - something that will never happen again, not even in the most remote future. Words can hardly express how rare gramophones are in Italy. Maybe some lucky star wanted my adventure in the world of gramophones to get off on the right foot, who knows.

Since until then I had only seen the Exhibition soundbox in photographs, I assumed they made a specific reduced version for this portable, as it looked so much smaller than I figured judging by pictures. I remember coming over here pretending to have the ultra rare "reduced" Exhibition soundbox until some gentleman took time to explain that there are no such things as "reduced" Exhibitions, and that 100s came with standard units. There still has to be that funny thread over here on the board, somewhere...

Well, even though your unit is not "out of the box" in strict literal terms, still it's definitely among the best kept ones I've ever seen. But mine is no joke either, which adds to my current amazement at having found it on sale in an ordinary city shop!

[nostalgia]

Thank you for telling your story, Marco. Much appreciated, and touching and interesting reading.

[Paolo_MK68]

Good evening,

pardon me for crashing into this thread after a long and unjustifiable absence, but I thought that adding a few photos of the model 100 I purchased last spring could be useful for the sake of additional information and comparison.
I read the preceding discussion and I'm inclined to think that this should be an early machine due to the presence of the metal ring around the hole in the record tray, and the pattern of the front lid catch. Not sure about the originality of the leather handle, which in any case has suffered from age (I would not dare to lift and carry the gramophone using the handle!). Another thing that puzzles me is the USA made soundbox. When searching for an HMV 100 on the web I found (and missed) some specimens with the UK manufactured Exhibition soundbox, and at least one with a n°4 soundbox. Despite my scarce experience and lack of reference books the number 4 soundbox looked incorrect to me for this machine so I asked the seller for a clarification and got no answer, and in the end passed on it. Could it be possible that Hayes factory was not ready to manufacture soundboxes in-house, and sourced them from the mother company in the USA at an early stage?

In any case I'm extremely happy with this machine, and to my greatest delight and surprise I discovered that using the BCN thorn (never-ending praise to that site!) instead of the standard steel needles greatly improves the overall sound quality. I would not say that the end result is on the same level of the 101/102 serie, but to my ear the thorn gives a richer and mellower tone reducing somewhat the harshness and metallic tone of the model 100.

Any comment welcome, kind regards.

[Steve]

Paolo,

The Made In The USA "Gramophone Company - London Berlin Paris etc" soundbox pre-dates this machine by almost a decade. It is inconceivable that an Exhibition of this age would have found its way onto a Model 100 in the Hayes factory by the mid 1920s. The in-house Hayes manufactured Exhibitions would have been used on all machines after the Great War period.

I would suggest that a collector or previous owner has put an earlier soundbox on it by accident thinking it is correct and probably to replace a non-HMV budget "after market" off-branded soundbox with aluminium diaphragm which another earlier owner used to replace the original Exhibition when it would have been rendered obsolete by the improved soundboxes of the late 20s / early 1930s.

That's my best guess, anyway!

HTH

Steve

[Paolo_MK68]

Good morning Steve,

thank you for your kind answer and sensible argumentation. So I guess that the only really original and correct soundbox for an HMV-100 should be the british made Exhibition, but let me please pose another question. You wrote that the american soundbox fitted to this gramophone pre-dates its introduction by ten years or so; are there any technical differences and/or improvements between the USA model and that manufactured in England when the HMV-100 was launched ?

Thank you in advance, kind regards.

[Steve]

Good morning Steve,

thank you for your kind answer and sensible argumentation. So I guess that the only really original and correct soundbox for an HMV-100 should be the british made Exhibition, but let me please pose another question. You wrote that the american soundbox fitted to this gramophone pre-dates its introduction by ten years or so; are there any technical differences and/or improvements between the USA model and that manufactured in England when the HMV-100 was launched ?

Thank you in advance, kind regards.

Hello again, Paolo,

No, both soundboxes are otherwise identical. The only difference is purely a cosmetic one: the engraved writing on the back-plate (visible through mica diaphragm) and the lack of serial numbers on the "His Master's Voice" later British made version.

Regards

Steve

[Paolo_MK68]

Thanks so much, Steve.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Ciao Paolo!

Congrats for your HMV 100, it's in remarkably good conditions, a very nice machine to be proud of. Coincidentally, it looks absolutely identical to mine, except - as you already noted - the carrying handle. I have also never seen another unit with this type of carrying handle, but on the other hand it looks very aged and "historical", so you never know.

Concerning the soundbox, I agree in full with the notes by Steve. It was surely fitted in recent times as the "closest matching replacement" on a unit that came without for one reason or another.

[Paolo_MK68]

Hi Marco, nice to hear from you and thanks for your kind words. You can bet 'm very happy with this machine and I can also live with the american made soundbox. At present it sounds remarkably well, but it can also considered a good excuse to start looking for an original british made Exhibition soundbox and go mad as the most likely result of the research.

[Inigo]

I've seen this kind of leather strip handle and supports to the case on early HMV 101s of the side-crank type, so it must have been in use for a certain period, it seems authentic.