Show us you phono-related Christmas gifts!

[Valecnik]

You guys all did quite well, nice discs, CDs, the columbia box and even a phonograph for Sonnyphono! My brother in law found a nice HMV 78 for me and that's about it. I was sorta hoping Santa would bring me that multiphone but I checked thoroughly and it's definitely not under the tree. I even checked the garage but no luck. I guess I was a bad boy.

[schweg]

Not exactly a Christmas gift but--This phonograph showed up at an auction within driving distance on Dec 27th so I decided to take a trip over and see if I could get a Christmas bargain. Not such a bargain after all, but I bought it anyway, figuring it was rare enough to go for even if not at a bargain price. There was a Phonofocus on this model:

http://victrolagramophones.proboards.co ... thread=437

and I now have a better understanding of the "arm and a leg" concept.

Anyway, here it is, an Edison DD A-375 with serial number 10532. The auction pics were not great and originally I thought it might be in walnut but upon closer inspection, it's mahogany, not as rare, but still attractive. Somewhat "alligatored" and some linear scratches on top, but not too bad overall.










It sounds good and came with 2 gold reproducers and a Kent adaptor to play 78's. A fairly long haul, but not a bad trip for the middle of "winter" (Houston definition= no rain the whole trip)

Steve

[JohnM]

Wow Steve! How nice is that???!!! Congratulations! Nothing wrong with that cabinet that a little love can't take care of!

[brianu]

what a phenomenal find, that edison... this doesn't compete by any stretch, but figured I'd throw it in... an early two-door victor credenza that for the past few years has been hiding behind some furniture in the back of the garage... had some help over christmas from someone who factored the assistance in moving this beast in as part of my present, so I'll include it in this thread... all cleaned up now as well and returned as it is to its original home in my apartment at the victor building in camden, NJ.

[Valecnik]

Not exactly a Christmas gift but--This phonograph showed up at an auction within driving distance on Dec 27th so I decided to take a trip over and see if I could get a Christmas bargain. Not such a bargain after all, but I bought it anyway, figuring it was rare enough to go for even if not at a bargain price. There was a Phonofocus on this model:

http://victrolagramophones.proboards.co ... thread=437

and I now have a better understanding of the "arm and a leg" concept.

Anyway, here it is, an Edison DD A-375 with serial number 10532. The auction pics were not great and originally I thought it might be in walnut but upon closer inspection, it's mahogany, not as rare, but still attractive. Somewhat "alligatored" and some linear scratches on top, but not too bad overall.



It sounds good and came with 2 gold reproducers and a Kent adaptor to play 78's. A fairly long haul, but not a bad trip for the middle of "winter" (Houston definition= no rain the whole trip)

Steve

Now THAT's a Christmas present! Great find. I'm a little bit surprised by the high serial number. I wonder if they started at 10000?

What's that extra knob for in the trim board in the front? Volume control?

It looks like the drawer contained individual wooden dividers for each record. My A250 and A300 are both set up that way. It's a bad idea. There's not enough space to slide in a record in any sort of jacket without tearing and sliding the records in between two pieces of wood cannot be good for the records!

Thanks for posting!

[schweg]

Thanks Bruce, I was happy to find this one "in the wild" in a location not too many folks would be willing to drive to over the holidays. Still, there was local competition but I was glad to be able to haul it home.

Regarding the serial number- Frow's book states that only 124 had been sold prior to the 1914 fire and this became the "B" 375 afterward. I wonder if Mr. Edison decided to start the numbering system at 105,000 and this one might be #32? Victor often started their numbering system at 500 so I wonder if Edison did something similar but with a higher number for machines that he suspected might not sell in large volumes?

As you suspected, the gold knob in the front is the volume control, I'll add a picture later on. As you suggest, maybe I'll use a new thread to add a few more pictures.

All in all, after the visit from my kids, this acquisition made the holiday more special than it already is for me.

Steve

[Valecnik]

Thanks Bruce, I was happy to find this one "in the wild" in a location not too many folks would be willing to drive to over the holidays. Still, there was local competition but I was glad to be able to haul it home.

Regarding the serial number- Frow's book states that only 124 had been sold prior to the 1914 fire and this became the "B" 375 afterward. I wonder if Mr. Edison decided to start the numbering system at 105,000 and this one might be #32? Victor often started their numbering system at 500 so I wonder if Edison did something similar but with a higher number for machines that he suspected might not sell in large volumes?

As you suspected, the gold knob in the front is the volume control, I'll add a picture later on. As you suggest, maybe I'll use a new thread to add a few more pictures.

All in all, after the visit from my kids, this acquisition made the holiday more special than it already is for me.

Steve

Steve,

The reason for the serial number will probably always be a mystery. My A300 pictured in this thread http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 37&start=0 was numbered 2503, even though Frow speculated it was among the first 25 made.

Also interestingly, the B375 you mentioned as a phonofocus item on Moo's board is number 214???

who knows!