Help needed for a Columbia AB

[phonodesbois]

Hi,

It was late in the morning, I was wandering from yard sale to yard sale and getting hungry ; so ,when I found a « Mac Do » , I just bought it....

It seems to be untouched but a few pieces are missing ; so I need advices and/or pictures for one of them ; as I don't know how to name it, I just made a pic showing what's missing (weird wording, isn't!).

One more question : for the time being would it be a shame to use a reproducer #7 instead of the number #5 (as per Howard Hazelcorn chart)?

Thanks for your help,
Jeff

[clevelander]

Jeff,
Congratulations on your aquisition!.
The part missing is the reproducer lift which Columbia used on various machines.The part arrowed looks a bit like a replacement, and I have no idea what the hole would be for.
Sorry about the image quality, they are from my cellphone. If you require better ones I will upload some tomorrow.
Regards,
Alistair.

[ChuckA]

Jeff,

Your reproducer mount is missing the small pin that hits the lift finger on the #4 & #5 reproducers





Shouldn't be hard to make the missing pin.


Chuck

[flashpanblue]

Hi Jeff,
What an amazing machine to find at a garage sale!! If you need the slip on Concert size mandrel Jean-Paul Agnard has reproductions listed for sale on his Phono site for $75.00
Pete

[clevelander]

You learn something new every day!
Does anyone know when the reproducer lift mechanism was changed given that the the AB had such a short production run?.
My machine is Ser. No. 750858.
Regards,
Alistair.

[phonodesbois]

Hi and thanks all for the info and the pics !

Alistair , your machine is a bit older than mine (serial number 758938).

Chuck, does the lift finger come with all #4 & #5 reproducers ?

Jeff

[ChuckA]

Hi and thanks all for the info and the pics !

Alistair , your machine is a bit older than mine (serial number 758938).

Chuck, does the lift finger come with all #4 & #5 reproducers ?

Jeff

Yes

The #4 Grand was the original standard reproducer for the Grand machines, the #5 was the upgrade and replacement when the #4 was phased out. I prefer the look of the #4 over the #5, all of my Grand machines have that reproducer except for one.

I think Alistair's carriage was modified to allow a #2 or #7 style reproducer to be used


Chuck

[clevelander]

I don't believe that mine was modified as I have seen the same set-up on many other machines.
I believe there were only about 8,500 ABs made, mine is at the beginning of the run, Jeff's is at the end, it is likely that the carriage was redesigned at some point.
There is no indication that mine was ever altered.
Regards,
Alistair.

[ChuckA]

I don't believe that mine was modified as I have seen the same set-up on many other machines.
I believe there were only about 8,500 ABs made, mine is at the beginning of the run, Jeff's is at the end, it is likely that the carriage was redesigned at some point.
There is no indication that mine was ever altered.
Regards,
Alistair.

Considering how many variations there are in almost all Columbia models anything is possible. The only reason I brought it up was looking at your pictures it looked like the lift arm on the carriage wasn't a factory job. Maybe it was just a poor repair by someone long ago, usually the arm is a press fit on the ball socket. BTW mine is #752123

Chuck

[clevelander]

The lift has certainly been soldered at some time(Not by me), but the carriage is original,
Regards,
Alistair.