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This is the first of the Diamond Discs that I've ever owned; quite a fun machine to take apart and look at. It's incredibly overbuilt. Everything on there is robust, heavy, built to last. From what little I've found these are some of the earlier Edison machines to hit the market, perhaps the first models sold (A-60?, A-100, A-150, A-200, A-250, and A-275. Wish we could find more A-290s.) Unfortunately I know practically nothing about this type of phonograph, being more of a 78rpm & cylinder collector.
- Tag!
This phonograph was restored by a fellow named Don, who's since deceased--he died not too terribly long ago, and he had collected some 25 or 30 phonographs and some of those huge carven cuckoo-clocks that stand four feet tall and look right at home in the tall-ceilinged hunting lodges you don't often see nowadays. He didn't have kids or a family really so he left it to a friend of his. The friend didn't use it, wasn't interested in it, got tired of it, and sold it. His son whom I bought it from (the son of the friend) didn't seem to know how to shut the lid. So the Edison sat down stairs in a hallway with the spring wound all the way up and got ignored until someone had the notion to sell it.
The finish is polyurethane and the horn paint is red maroon, like for a red Gem. Don also replaced the grill cloth and most of the wooden dividers in the record drawer, and he built a great little record library to go with the machine before it was given away, mixing country with jazz and whatever else--unfortunately these records were not only unappreciated; the people who had the machine did not even know how to turn it on.
Well, though I have no idea how to get everything working on it, I'm mighty glad to have it & it's one machine that (unlike my others) didn't come into the collection as a phonograph-shaped kindling pile with some rust sprinkled in it. Most of my machines start out pretty rough and need a ton of tampering and fettling to get back right. With the Gem being a colossal project in a tiny case, this is a big machine that's only a little bit of a project at the moment. I suppose I will refinish it in a more period-appropriate finish after college, and making a new mute ball for it shouldn't be a big problem.
And that's how I ended up with an Edison A-200. If I can get it to where all the controls work properly I'll let you know! The little rack doesn't want to tip up and disengage from the gear. I have to keep adjusting the height--and I'm not sure how to tell if a Diamond Disc is playable either. But so far I am kind of surprised that I ended up with an Edison DD machine and some fun records. Thank you Brett Hurt the "Dyslexic Genius" for both the encouragement to go ahead & get it, as well as the information on the A-200 in general. Your videos on setting the tracking & reproducer height for these are much appreciated.
