The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

https://desmoines.craigslist.org/for/d/ ... 80996.html $325

It could look better, but the concept is compelling.




James.

You'd be the only one on your block to have one.

Jerry B.

As Arte Johnson would say,
VEEEE-ry Interesting...

The tonearm linkage on the Amberola side is unusual: do both arms lead to a common horn?

Bill

I was wondering that myself. It would be interesting to see what lies behind the grille. I was also wondering how the Amberola motor is wound. There are two escutcheons, presumably on the right side of the cabinet, but the handle lying in front of the Amberola mechanism would be nowhere near long enough to reach the motor from there.

Must be an extension shaft inside the case

This is interesting as it looks like something that was made in contemporary times rather than a more recent fantasy. The owner might have been a real record enthusiast and quite proud to own a unit capable of playing two distinctly different types of records. I doubt many people had more than one type of machine. It would have been far more of a interesting status symbol then than perhaps it is now. Depends when it was put together I suppose.

I love restoring oddballs like this, is really amazing to see what some craftsman of the day cobbled together at times...

The guy selling it said his great, (possibly two greats)uncle built this (and the sellers dad is 95), their family was from New Hampton, Iowa. He also said he has pictures of his great uncle relaxing by it as if he was very proud of it. The construction is very good, heavy and many “genius” features. The cylinder shelves slide out by a double length( looks very well hand made) slides and hold 70 cylinders each and are full. He installed horn dampers for both units on the hand built wooden horns and are controlled by the two knobs located near the Victor tag. The back comes off in two parts. The upper part simply by turning the four catches to reveal the motors etc. The lower half un-screws to access a “hidden” compartment, which these old calendars had fallen into, from New Hampton businesses, years 1927, 1928. The Amberola 30 is in really nice condition and both units are wound up by using the Amberola crank with a pin installed out by the threaded end to engage into the homemade crank extensions. It does not thread in, simply insert, line the pin up with the notch and turn. Both machines don’t appear to be modified in a way that couldn’t be reversed and could be put back into there original cabinets if one chose to. I would say the Amberola(if not both machines), were installed when nearly new. The cabinet material, finish, and hardware suggest late 19-teens, which would correspond to the mid-late production Amberola serial number. Could a person buy machines without cabinets back then?

I think it's awesome, and would be proud to have it in my collection.

Best,
Fran

FYI, according to the Victor-Victrola Page website, the IV used would've been produced in 1919. http://www.victor-victrola.com/IV.htm

Cheers!