Mounting a Cygnet horn on a Fireside

[doctor t]

I recently bought a beautiful Edison Fireside and want to put one of those beautiful Music Master Wooden cygnet horns on it. What sort of crane would I need to mount this, particularly if I don't want to screw into the wood of the phonograph?

Thanks,

Tod

[Uncle Vanya]

There is nothing other than the original Edison Cygnet crane which will work. If your machines does not have holes for the crane in the back then it is probably a Model A Fireside with the front-facing reproducer. With this machine you would need the crane bottom with the short offset, so that the horn is far enough forward to allow the macnine to properly track.
If you would like to use a Music Master horn you might look for a Model B machine that is already Amb roiled and has the flat top carriage and holes in the back of th cabinet for the Cygnet bracket. The machine will be worth less than half th value of the horn. I suspect that a want ad posted in the marketplace section of this forum will tease out a nice example at a reasonable price.

[doctor t]

Thanks. I looked more closely and it is a Model B with the flat top carriage, but no holes in the back. IS there no clamping crane which can hold a Cygnet horn on this machine?

Thanks,

Tod

[Jerry B.]

You've got three choices as I see it. You can find someone that is willing to trade for your virgin un-drilled Fireside cabinet in exchange for a cabinet of equal condition that is already drilled. Second choice is to drill holes in your cabinet and buy an original Cygnet bracket and crane to hang your Music Master horn. The last, and worst choice, is to hang the horn from the ceiling.

Jerry Blais

[Edisone]

You could invent a way. I can think of how I'd do it, without touching the cabinet. A piece of very heavy sheet metal, big enough to set all 4 Fireside feet on it, with a piece bent up behind the machine - bolt the crane base to that. Cover the bottom of the thing with felt, so it won't scratch furniture. If you make the base big enough, you could set any size machine in there & have instant Cygnet-dom for your whole collection. You could probably engineer it so the horn would stay up even without a machine .

"No phonographs were harmed in the making of this comment."

[Valecnik]

I'd really avoid drilling the cabinet. There are plenty of Firesides out there already drilled properly to accommodate a cygnet. Eventually it will be hard to find one that's not drilled.

Also, with a bit of bad luck you could end up having it drilled badly and need to redo it or, accidentally break the back out or something. That wood is very old and brittle.

[FellowCollector]

If the ID plate on your Edison Fireside has been factory stamped as a model 'B' then, unless it is an extremely early model 'B', it really should have the factory drilled holes in the rear for the cygnet horn bracket. My guess, and this is only my guess, is that the cabinet on yours was swapped at some point in the past with a model 'A' Fireside that was originally equipped with the red Fireside horn and, therefore, the cabinet did not require the holes for the cygnet bracket. I've never seen a factory stamped model 'B' Fireside that did not have the horizontal carriage and the cygnet bracket (or holes for one). Again, it's possible that yours may be a very early model 'B' Fireside that used the red Fireside horn but I personally have never seen a model 'B' without the 4 cygnet bracket holes in the rear. As you know, all of the model 'B' Firesides were factory geared for 4 minute cylinders only (a blunder in retrospect, IMHO!).

If it were mine I would definitely not drill that cabinet. If you really want to set yours up with a cygnet horn (wood or metal) then look for a nice original Fireside cabinet that has already been factory drilled and put your model 'B' works into it. It will take you about 3 or 4 minutes. Until you find a cabinet you can get a Tiz-It or an elbow adapter for the reproducer on your horizontal carriage and play it with a regular horn of your choice.

Doug

[billybob62]

Post some pictures and we can tell better, and, if you decide to sell it, tell us your price. I am looking for a Fireside without the bracket.
Thanks.

[Lucius1958]

Thanks. I looked more closely and it is a Model B with the flat top carriage, but no holes in the back. IS there no clamping crane which can hold a Cygnet horn on this machine?

Thanks,

Tod

Does it have the 2/4 minute gearing? If so, it's a Model A. The Model B was 4 minute only.

Bill