Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
Post Reply
Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

What in the world is this little machine? Removed from a suitcase style player, or perhaps an oddly shaped child’s machine?

Image

Image

Image

User avatar
Inigo
Victor Monarch
Posts: 4577
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:51 am
Personal Text: Keep'em well oiled
Location: Madrid, Spain
Contact:

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Inigo »

It's a most economic form of gramophone. Several brands made this model.
Inigo

OrthoFan
Victor V
Posts: 2442
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:12 pm

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by OrthoFan »

Looks like a re-painted Madison phonograph --
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (45.01 KiB) Viewed 1537 times
SEE -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmTolwFPwDU

OrthoFan

Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

OrthoFan wrote:Looks like a re-painted Madison phonograph --
Capture.JPG
SEE -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmTolwFPwDU

OrthoFan
Great, thanks! Now that I know what it is, I can google away. I’d like to buy this little guy, I just don’t want to overpay. Thanks so much.

Edit. Well there certainly isn’t much info out there on this machine. Any idea what the body/horn is made from? I’m wondering what is under the black paint.

User avatar
chrisg
Victor III
Posts: 592
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 10:24 am
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by chrisg »

Ugh, It's 40 bucks on raleigh NC facebook marketplace
Attachments
Screenshot_20191012-202425.png
Last edited by chrisg on Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

Yeah I’m gonna go for it. Hopefully it plays ok.

OrthoFan
Victor V
Posts: 2442
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2016 7:12 pm

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by OrthoFan »

Psychophonic wrote:.... Well there certainly isn’t much info out there on this machine. Any idea what the body/horn is made from? I’m wondering what is under the black paint.
No, not much, but I did find this ad in the 1922 edition of the Talking Machine World -- SEE: https://archive.org/details/talkingmach ... /page/n163
Madison Phonograph.jpg
OrthoFan

Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

OrthoFan wrote:
Psychophonic wrote:.... Well there certainly isn’t much info out there on this machine. Any idea what the body/horn is made from? I’m wondering what is under the black paint.
No, not much, but I did find this ad in the 1922 edition of the Talking Machine World -- SEE: https://archive.org/details/talkingmach ... /page/n163
Madison Phonograph.jpg
OrthoFan
Thanks. It’s very cool looking. I’m picking it up tomorrow.

Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

Well, I brought it home. It’s an interesting little thing. The housing is made of tin or something similar. It seems to work properly, as far as winding the motor and seeing the platter spin. There are at least a couple of issues. I’m a noob with these machines, so advice is welcome.

1. The platter spins a bit lopsided, similar to watching a warped LP spin.

2. The bigger problem. The reproducer. The bottom of the reproducer makes contact with the record surface before the needle can make contact. I see no way to rotate the reproducer.

3. Not sure if parts of the reproducer are missing or not. Looks incomplete compared to the Madison in the YouTube clip.

Image

Psychophonic
Victor Jr
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:34 pm
Location: USA

Re: Pls Help ID This Small Gramophone

Post by Psychophonic »

Update. I’ve got this machine working fairly well. Had to order a small flat-tip screwdriver with a long shaft in order to get to the set screw that holds the platter to the rotating shaft. It still has a minor warp/wobble when it spins, but it’s much better. I will continue to try and fine tune it.

As for the reproducer touching down on the record before the needle makes contact, I was able to back out both set screws and rotate reproducer slightly. I was then able to tighten one of the set screws to hold it in place. It’s a snug fit and it solved the problem.

I ran across some 1905-1910ish Victor records recently, so I’ve been playing a few as I test and tweak this little machine. Good times.

Image

Post Reply