Okay, first off I wish to express my appreciation for how awesome this forum is!!! Thanks a bunch. Ya'll been fantastic helping a new member!!
Some of ya know i grabbed this Talk-O-Phone salesman or Trade Show trunk. I've been convinced I now need an actual Talk-O-Phone....and i have a sickness that well, seems to agree
Have an opportunity to buy this Talk-O-Phone from a member here. Yes, he knows i'm posting to ask for unbiased opinions, thoughts, concerns and any other things someone could contribute. I literally know NOTHING about these machines and would truly appreciate feedback in regards to condition and "fair" value.
Thanks again!!!
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Last edited by LShaped on Tue May 05, 2020 11:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Looks like a nice little Talk-O-Phone to me. Nice decal, aluminum elbow, and it looks like it has the original slotted crank. I'd say it looks trunk worthy.
Jerry B. wrote:Looks like a nice little Talk-O-Phone to me. Nice decal, aluminum elbow, and it looks like it has the original slotted crank. I'd say it looks trunk worthy.
No junk going in that trunk...especially if that is Jerry B's or Phonofreak's workbench. Not sure whose bench it is really. But the phonograph looks great and the TMF crew are some of my favorite people to share a hobby with.
This is a very nice clean looking Herbert model talkophone. I always love the parrot decal! It was the entry level machine and is fairly small compared to your carrying case. I would suggest getting measurements and then visualize it inside the case. There are likely packing components missing from the case that held the base in place as well as the arms and horn. I would think given the size of the carrying case it may be more appropriate for a Sousa or Clark model.
I have always loved talkophones... they are well made and have a good look. I also think they are undervalued as there is not a lot of information available about the models etc.
Lynn Bilton has a nice talkophone primer in his website.. link below. Also a link to a Sousa that sold recently on eBay.
zonophpones7 wrote:This is a very nice clean looking Herbert model talkophone. I always love the parrot decal! It was the entry level machine and is fairly small compared to your carrying case. I would suggest getting measurements and then visualize it inside the case. There are likely packing components missing from the case that held the base in place as well as the arms and horn. I would think given the size of the carrying case it may be more appropriate for a Sousa or Clark model.
I have always loved talkophones... they are well made and have a good look. I also think they are undervalued as there is not a lot of information available about the models etc.
Lynn Bilton has a nice talkophone primer in his website.. link below. Also a link to a Sousa that sold recently on eBay.
tyvm...That Sousa looks cool, but 1k more. Would the sound quality be noticeable? Also, the Larry Bilton link didnt work, altho, i checked out his page.
LShaped wrote:... Would the sound quality be noticeable? ...
I know next to nothing about Talk-o-phones (I'm mostly an Edison/Victor/Pathé guy), but as a general phonograph comment: this machine is of a type known as a "front mount." The horn, reproducer, and all assorted mounting hardware are attached to a pivot on a fixed arm extending from the front of the machine, and their full weight comes to bear on the record in play. As a result, such machines tend to be real record grinders. By all means buy this or another, bigger, working Talk-o-phone as a display piece to go with your travel case--they'd make a spectacular showing--and enjoy playing it as an occasional treat, but if you want to play records on a spring-driven machine regularly, get a second internal horn machine (Victrola, Grafonola, etc.) or, if you're feeling flush, a "back mount" open horn machine (that is, one with the horn supported entirely by a bracket in the rear, from which a much lighter tonearm extends to play the record) as your "working machine."
See how this hobby works? You buy one thing, and immediately somebody comes up with reasons you should buy two more. By the time you've been at it a while, everything in your house will have a crank sticking out.
LShaped wrote:... Would the sound quality be noticeable? ...
I know next to nothing about Talk-o-phones (I'm mostly an Edison/Victor/Pathé guy), but as a general phonograph comment: this machine is of a type known as a "front mount." The horn, reproducer, and all assorted mounting hardware are attached to a pivot on a fixed arm extending from the front of the machine, and their full weight comes to bear on the record in play. As a result, such machines tend to be real record grinders. By all means buy this or another, bigger, working Talk-o-phone as a display piece to go with your travel case--they'd make a spectacular showing--and enjoy playing it as an occasional treat, but if you want to play records on a spring-driven machine regularly, get a second internal horn machine (Victrola, Grafonola, etc.) or, if you're feeling flush, a "back mount" open horn machine (that is, one with the horn supported entirely by a bracket in the rear, from which a much lighter tonearm extends to play the record) as your "working machine."
See how this hobby works? You buy one thing, and immediately somebody comes up with reasons you should buy two more. By the time you've been at it a while, everything in your house will have a crank sticking out.
My L-Shaped door Victrola is EXACTLY how this all started in the first place
Ah yes, the fatal attraction: in your case, you know exactly where it all went pear-shaped. (Or L-shaped. Because early Victrolas are cool.)
I started with a Crosley all-in-one.
Then I bought some 78s to go with vinyl LPs. Come from there I bought a Victor Victrola, but it was kind of old so I bought a portable Orthophonic to play newer 78s.
Then from there, a 1904 Edison Standard because it was cheap and it looked cool, then an Amberola 30 because I had already bought (for what reason I do not know) 18 Blue Amberols from a milk crate in an antique shop... then I bought a 1922 Brunswick console, purchased and traded a 1950s Birch 500 portable; next, a Edison Standard E, a Columbia Graphophone BK cylinder, a Victor III, another Graphophone BN for discs, a Phonola portable which turned into $$$ really quickly, a freebie off-brand British console, an Edison Fireside, an Oxford hornless gramophone, traded for a Grafonola portable, and then ended up diverting into four prewar typewriters, two Hamilton pocket watches, two ancient electric coffeepots, a 19th-century study bible the size of a toaster, two rotary phones, three old-time radios(1929 AK, 1937 Sparton, 1938 Crosley Fiver) a Toyota Corolla one year away from being antique, an iron sewing machine, a silent movie projector, books and books and books, a 1920s imitation-mahogany side table, a pair of centre-draft kerosene lamps and an Art Deco waffle iron.
Yes, I pared down the collection! I had to pare it down due to lack of space and want of funding. But at the moment there is still enough to essentially live like WWII hasn't happened yet...
Antiques and vintage things are moderately addictive; it's a lot of fun to mess with old junk and bring it back to working order. So that is what happened and that is why I wouldn't recommend a Victrola to someone without feeling like something of an enabler. Antiques are wonderful and the machinery of the past is quite usable in the modern age as well.
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