Columbia type B graphophone

[dzavracky]

They're right about stepped mica sounding better than anything you can get today! They are incredibly fragile but will work if you are gentle.

I had a 1906 Columbia BK Graphophone which had a spring-loaded Lyric reproducer. It worked great when I took the original mica (which I was going to throw away as the eyelet had fallen out) and repaired it with the celluloid cone out of the Amberola 30 reproducer. The little phonograph went to New York when I sold it to a collector who described it as the best-sounding 2-minute machine he had ever owned in like 40 years of collecting. It's called diaphragm compliance, and your ears will thank you!

$75 for a Graphophone, a new record, and a Vogue disc isn't too bad! That is a wonderful deal, really, and I'd be tickled if I were you to make a deal like that.

I would like to try and fix the reproducer myself. But maybe I should just save up my money and have Mr. Wyatt do it?

[dzavracky]

Yes that’s very true!!

I am first going to take apart the motor, and clean and re-grease it. Is there a particular kind of grease that’s good for phonographs. I have been using some red grease my dad used on his tractor. I don’t know what it’s called. “VanEpsFan1914” used it when he helped me with my Edison standard, but I don’t know if there is a better kind?


Also I agreed on $100 for the phonograph and a nice vogue picture record!

I'll tell you what I have been using with very satisfactory results... the red grease mixed with this:



About 25% red grease to 75% HyPerLube. Take a paint stirrer and do the Devo thing... whip it good. It'll make a flowable grease that won't leak out of the mechanism. No noise at all. Flows everywhere and clings. A couple full winds and full releases of the springs and then forget it. Good for lubing non fiber gears and other lube points as well. It should never harden up, either.

Oh how neat!! I’ll definitely give this a shot. The motor definitely needs a cleaning and greasing. Also is it just me or does it look like two springs are missing on the spring barrel

[dzavracky]

What year would mine be? Serial number is 194845

[phonogfp]

What year would mine be? Serial number is 194845

Late 1898/early 1899 in all likelihood.

George P.

[dzavracky]

wow that’s awesome. I’m really excited to own a phonograph that old.

I’ll be posting some pics on Saturday when I get home with it!

[dzavracky]

I got home earlier today with the machine!

Ive attached some pictures below. The Triumph record is very interesting, its a recording of the Charleston. Nice record and box. Sadly I cannot play it or the other cylinder I got today because I do not have a working Model C reproducer and this machine does not work yet.

I was very pleased and surprised the the motor actually runs! But it needs a very thorough cleaning. It appears that someone did some sort of work on this machine in the past and replaced one of the governor screws. Where do I get a correct one? I think I know how to re-attach the floating reproducer, but if someone could post clear pictures of how the screw is inserted that would be amazing. Are there rubber pieces between the metal and wood?

I plan on completely cleaning and taking apart the motor over spring break, I think I will even take the spring out and clean and re-grease it.

Anyways, I got this machine, the two cylinders, a small brass horn (which I am unsure if it is original or not), and 8 diamond discs for $80! One of the diamond discs has a brown paper label? Does anyone have any information about these Edison discs?

Any tips for either fixing the reproducer or cleaning/taking apart the machine would be great!

Thanks,
David

[TinfoilPhono]

What a fantastic bargain! And to sweeten it further, it has the remains of an original Sears Roebuck label pasted over the lower right part of the ribbon. Sears sold a lot of Columbia machines, especially Eagles, yet you rarely encounter them today with surviving labels. That's a great bit of history right there. PLUS -- it appears you have the base of an original horn crane, which is very rare indeed.

[dzavracky]

What a fantastic bargain! And to sweeten it further, it has the remains of an original Sears Roebuck label pasted over the lower right part of the ribbon. Sears sold a lot of Columbia machines, especially Eagles, yet you rarely encounter them today with surviving labels. That's a great bit of history right there. PLUS -- it appears you have the base of an original horn crane, which is very rare indeed.

I also meant to ask what that rod was but I guess it’s part of a crane! Sweet I was thinking about how I could attach a larger horn to this machine

[VanEpsFan1914]

Find or make the rest of the crane & there you go. What a great phonograph you found!

Hey, that record of the Charleston is pretty sweet, with your fondness for 1920s jazz. Now you'll want to hit up the Vulcan Records catalog.

[Lucius1958]

The "brown paper label" on the Edison disc is the layer to which the actual label was glued: these have a notorious habit of becoming unstuck and peeling off.

- Bill