new forum member introduction

[alang]

Hello everyone,
I have followed the discussion on this forum for quite some time now and wanted to introduce myself. I am a German expat living in Delaware and had a passion for 78 rpm music for many years. Unfortunately in Germany I was never able to find any decent acoustic phonograph, most were destroyed in the wars or already snatched up. Last year now my wife came back from a furnitute auction very excited and told me she purchased a real phonograph for our 78 collection. Well, it turned out to be an Edison DD BC34 Console model, which we love for its design, but obviously did not help with our 78s. Nevertheless I fixed it up nicely with lots of information I found on this forum and other Internet sites. This gave me the final infection and by now I have restored a Columbia 239 Console, a british HMV Model 1a table top, a VV-50 that just played the wedding march for my daughter, and have several projects in work including a VV-IXa, a Polly Portable, an Edison Home Model E with electro Universal Motor, a portable Viva Tonal 130, and an upright from Royal Phonograph of Chicago. As you can see, I am not the "typical" collector who looks for the big value, I am more interested in interesting machines (that I can afford) and the challenge of returning them to life. Also, since my wife has a big say in home decor, I prefer consoles to uprights, because they look more like furniture. Of course my goal is to get an outside horn disc machine at some point, but again, it has to be affordable and challenging.
I'm looking forward to future discussions.
Andreas Lang

[gramophone78]

Let me be the first to say "welcome to the forum".Remember,there is no such thing as a stupid question and to jump in on a thread if you have a question or a answer.As you may have already noticed we are quite a bunch!!!! .You may find it interesting to know we have a well seasoned collector in Germany on this forum "Starkton".I hope you find that useful.
Again,welcome.

Gramophone78

[alang]

Thanks Gramophone78.
I promise I won't be shy
I've been living in the USA in Delaware for 10 years now, so most of my machines are US machines. But thanks for the tip with user Starkton.
Andreas

[Tinkerbell]

Just wanted to say welcome, Andreas.

I am also a relative newcomer to this group, but have just started my journey into collecting. Sounds as though you have already caught the collecting bug, however. I, myself, am trying to contain the bug before it goes viral... but I'm beginning to think it may be a lost cause.

Again, welcome.

[alang]

Thanks Tinkerbell.
Yes, I'm afraid the bug has me pretty badly. Good thing is that I'm still limited by the capacity of my house, my founds, and of course the watchful eyes of my wife - who fortunately likes phongraphs as well.
Thanks again
Andreas

[EdiBrunsVic]

Since you live in Delaware, you are close to the Johnson Victrola Museum. It is a great place to visit, if you have not already been there. I am a "small time" collector, but have had "big time" learning experiences on this forum. Welcome!

[Valecnik]

Welcome Alan from an American expat living in Prague, CZ!

Nice to see you here and with an Edison Baby Council too! You may or may not know that with an attachment you can play regular 78s on your Edison. Better not to mention that to your wife. It could end up being justification not to purchase additional machines for playing 78s!

[Brad]

Welcome Andreas. Your style of collecting is the best IMHO. There is a lot of satisfaction in bringing a machine back to life and enjoying it. You can get an aftermarket lateral reproducer attachment for Edison machines if you wish to play your 78's on you DD machine.

Welcome and jump in!

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Welcome , and you'll find that being on a message board is great fun.

Jim

[alang]

Thanks everyone for the nice words.
I have not been to the Johnson Victrola Museum yet, I just heard about it a couple weeks ago. This is definitely on my list for this fall.
I have already found a 78 reproducer attachment for my Baby Console, because I think my DD reproducer has a chipped diamond ($$$). I think some of my 78s sound better on it than on my other phonographs.
cheers
Andreas