The Seashell Gramophone for sale

[snallast]

I´m selling this one of a kind:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/gramophone-un ... 1#viTabs_0

Håkan

[tinovanderzwan]

it looks like a lindstrom (maybe parlophone?) type machine

it seems like the case was made of uncut door panels
i have a lindstrom hornles (on the foto its on the shelf nearest to the window)and it has similar door panels

parlophone made quite a couple of weird machines

this machine seems to have been made of leftover wood parts of other hornles machines even the motor bord seems to be a recycle item it has motor holes that have been filled with wood plugs in a professional way and i've seen that before with these hornless euro machines they did that in the factory if they where out of a certain motor they would plug the holes and put in a different motor it doesn't mean its a frankenphone

i really like these weirdo's

thank you for sharing


tino

[Schlick]

Honestly... at first glance I thought to was doll house furniture as an April fools joke...
Shows you how good my eye is, eh?!

[Cody K]

What an odd little oddity! Håkan, how loud is it? And does the sound of the ocean interfere with the music? And -- question of questions -- what's behind the doors where a more normal machine would have a horn? Record storage?

This is one I'd love to see in a video on YouTube, to hear how well the shell is able to develop the sound. The custom in Pacific Rim nations of using a shell as a kind of a (sometimes very loud) horn comes to mind, although that type of use would use breath as Auxetophone-like amplification. In any case, it's a sweet, peculiar little thing, and I hope the sale goes well for you.

[gramophone78]

Actually, it was not Parlophone that made the "Wunderhorn".

These gramophones with mirrored horns and "wonder lamps" were made by Ludwig Braker from Hanau am Main ( in Germany ) and were sold under the trade name Heloisophone. He offered a complete catalogue with many different models. Models with oil lamps, with electric lamps and yes also floor models. Some of these were coin-op.

From what I have seen the gramophone cases were all Parlophone cases. Most likely he bought the cases and transformed them. These things must have been rather expensive, for instance: the model my friend has (see attached) cost 192 Mark. The horn alone 140 Mark !!.

The example shown by Tino is from a past Brecker Auction sale in Germany and sold for a large sum.

By the way, my apologizes for adding other info and machines to your "Ebay ad" post. I did not wish to high jack ... .

[epigramophone]

The Shell-o-Phone Talking Machine Company of Chicago produced a machine which used a Conch shell in place of a horn, and an example is shown on Page 176 of "A World of Antique Phonographs", but it bears no resemblance to the subject of this thread.

[estott]

The Shell-o-Phone Talking Machine Company of Chicago produced a machine which used a Conch shell in place of a horn, and an example is shown on Page 176 of "A World of Antique Phonographs", but it bears no resemblance to the subject of this thread.

Two of those machines have turned up, one of them discussed in some detail on the forum. The sound quality is reported to be very good but physical evidence suggests the company folded before the Shell-O-Phone hit the market.

[epigramophone]

The availability of suitable Conch shells would probably have limited production anyway, and as no two Conch shells are identical, every machine would have sounded differently.

[snallast]

Tino, yes that gramophone on the shelf looks quite a bit like the bottom part of this one. Though this one has no doors - it is just a box. Maybe the same people who made the one you have got an unusual order to build this one? If they had taken another gramophone - like the one you have - and used the bottom part and added the rest, I don´t see how they could possibly match the wood that well unless it was done in the same factory and at the same time? It is exactly matched - not a later addition. Tino - could you post a photo of your Lindstrom machine so that I could see in detail of they match?

As for the motor and the plugged holes, that´s more or less what they said at the Technical Museum (wow do they ever have a collection there!)- they thought they were the result of trying to fit the motor in a unique box - not from a motorchange. Also the machine is in such great condition it would hardly have gone through a motorchange from wear.

As to the sound Cody: well the gramophone comes with special little sea-sponge earplugs that filter out the ocean sound! Now that´s what I call organic acoustics!! Actually it sounds great, which is surprising since the soundbox hasn´t been touched - for that reason on my part - the rubber parts look very unflexible. It seems the whole upper part where the shell is somehow works as a loudspeaker or amplifier if you will once the sound is "out of it´s shell" so to say. A bit like those round "trench" Decca portables (like the one you see on the left in Tinos photo). Maybe I could post a video on Vimeo and add here - this will have to wait some 3 weeks, I´m not in Sweden at the moment.