What's this, a Frankenphone?

[jboger]

Looks like the horn, tone arm, and bracket are all genuine Victor material, but the cabinet is throwing me for a loop. IMHO doesn't look very attractive whatever it is. What do people think?

[Curt A]

Frankenphone... look at the crank and the ID plate is from a Victrola...

[Torjazzer]

You could hang your washing out on that crank.

[Edisone]

Appears to be a Columbia 8-petal horn, too. I wonder how it's attached to the elbow...

[De Soto Frank]

Platter appears to be from an Orthophonic ( gold finish and brownish felt )...

It looks like it employs parts from "Real machines" ( as opposed to gray-market portables ), but it does look as though someone was cleaning-out their parts bin....

[estott]

The Samovar next to it is quite nice

[Nat]

That's not a crank - it's a bowsprit!

[jboger]

The auction's not too far away. I may run up and take a look. Maybe it has a mate, you know, Bride of Frankenphone.

[jboger]

If a Frankenphone is a machine assembled from scavengered body parts, then at least four different corpses went up to make this Frankenphone. First, the tone arm and the bracket are Victor, including the No.2 reproducer. The horn, as someone correctly surmised, is the common Columbia horn. If you looked closely you could see the threads where it goes into the elbow. The elbow looked like a Victor. It had the slot for the horn, as you expect. Someone had put a hole in the Columbia horn, and with a bolt, washer, and nut secured it to the elbow. I took the platter off and could see a good bit of the motor. I believe it was a Brunswick, but not sure. Definitely not a Victor motor nor a Columbia. That's three different makes. And the fourth was the case itself. Don't know who made that either, but do believe it was an early one. The back bracket, however, was not original to this case. You could see the outline of where a different horn had been. I did not stay long enough to see how much it sold for, so sorry can't tell you that.

[Phonofreak]

If a Frankenphone is a machine assembled from scavengered body parts, then at least four different corpses went up to make this Frankenphone. First, the tone arm and the bracket are Victor, including the No.2 reproducer. The horn, as someone correctly surmised, is the common Columbia horn. If you looked closely you could see the threads where it goes into the elbow. The elbow looked like a Victor. It had the slot for the horn, as you expect. Someone had put a hole in the Columbia horn, and with a bolt, washer, and nut secured it to the elbow. I took the platter off and could see a good bit of the motor. I believe it was a Brunswick, but not sure. Definitely not a Victor motor nor a Columbia. That's three different makes. And the fourth was the case itself. Don't know who made that either, but do believe it was an early one. The back bracket, however, was not original to this case. You could see the outline of where a different horn had been. I did not stay long enough to see how much it sold for, so sorry can't tell you that.

Also, the elbow is one of those clunky Aluminum elbows. Even thought the bracket and tone arm are Victor, it's hard to say if they are original or not. It's just as well you didn't get the price. Whoever bought it will be in for a big surprise.
Harvey Kravitz