Accidents Will Happen

[PeterF]

You know how the flight attendants always advise caution upon opening the overhead bins after landing "because contents may have shifted" during the flight?

Well, this is also true here in seismic California, where we have lots of little tremors and don't necessarily notice many of them.

I had recently acquired a pretty large stash of 2-minute wax cylinders, and temporarily stored them in the garage. Imagine my dismay when I opened the door a few days later to see the slow-mo descent to ground level of a tray of some of them. It's amazing how you see things happen in real time that you don't want to happen, and everything seems to slow down but you are still powerless to stop anything. They had been set firmly atop a stable location, but somehow they'd gotten moved up against the garage door, and when I opened it, they toppled.

This is the most I've ever broken, in years of collecting and the raising of two kids. The close-up is of one of the sadder losses. The others were mostly moldy, or awful titles. But it sure makes for a dramatic photo, eh?

So, maybe this can be the start of a thread on accidents (and dumb things) that have happened over the course of our phono adventures. Any good stories?

[NEFaurora]

That Imperialism by William Jennings Bryan was a loss, but Hopefully, The rest were all moldy Hawaiian tunes!

Sorry for the loss, but at least that it wasn't a machine! That would be much worse In My Humble Opinion!

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

[Player-Tone]

Oh my, what a shame. Nothing a bit of glue can't fix though, eh?


I was repairing an Edison Triumph for a customer last year. The customer had given me a two minute cylinder to test the machine with since I only have 4 minute cylinders in my collection. After repairing the motor I went to test the machine with their 2 minute cylinder and was completely unaware that the record shaver had been depressed; I put the record shaver right down on a celluloid 2 minute cylinder!! The motor quickly came to a halt but not before a big chunk of the cylinder was neatly shaved right off. I offered to refund the cylinder cost.

Luckily the shaver was fine and my customer was not angry over the cylinder, like the post title says "accidents will happen".

[Phonofreak]

I had a misfortune with my William Jennings Bryan Cylinder, the exact same as yours. I had is in a safe, secure location. I went to open the box to check the cylinder, and it was dust. How it disintegrated all by itself is beyond me. Has this happened to anyone else? Another time was going through cylinders, I accidentally dropped a Blue Amberol Hawaiian record, and didn't know it. I stepped on it without realizing it and hear a CRUNCH. To a Hawaiian collector, I was saddened, but Oh Well, such is life. I'm sorry for your loss.
Harvey Kravitz

[FloridaClay]

Sad.

I seem to have a similar experience with wax Amberols, albeit not all at once. They seem to break if I even just look at one.

Clay

[VintageTechnologies]

Sad.

I seem to have a similar experience with wax Amberols, albeit not all at once. They seem to break if I even just look at one.

Clay

I'm scared to even enter the same room as my Shackleton record! I avoid 4M wax as much as possible.

[PeterF]

In my earliest years of collecting, I was seated at a table near a window on a quiet day. I forget why, but I'd stood an unboxed 4M wax amberol record on the tabletop. It wasn't a hot day, but as the sun moved, the record was eventually no longer in the shade and the sunlight from the window had gradually begun to shine on it.

I was reading or something, but heard a very quiet "tick" from the record. Upon examination, a perfectly straight longitudinal crack revealed itself.

Tender, so tender they are.

[FellowCollector]

The close-up is of one of the sadder losses. The others were mostly moldy, or awful titles. But it sure makes for a dramatic photo, eh?

Hmmm....I see an Edison Amberola 1A in the original picture of your broken cylinders. Yikes! Shouldn't she be in the house where she can sing to you sweet melodies?

Doug

[edisonplayer]

OUCH!!!To coin a phrase! edisonplayer

[howardpgh]

That looks so sad, I would be so upset over that.

The mice ate a box of my wax cylinders.