Need help identifying Columbia model

[Benjamin_L]

Perhaps you could give each of us a Black Patti record, or a copy of Kansas City Kitty on Blue Amberol or Edison Needle cut?

OrthoFan

Now I demand an Edison Needle cut

[WillysVA]

Thanks everyone for identifying the model.
Now that we know it was a Harmony Model 1, made by Columbia, does anyone know what years they were made?

[VanEpsFan1914]

Thanks everyone for identifying the model.
Now that we know it was a Harmony Model 1, made by Columbia, does anyone know what years they were made?

Maybe I could hazard a guess at 1925-1929, and (if this guess be correct) this might explain why you have found one of the most interesting of the 1920s lowboys: think of it kind of as a "last of the Mohicans." Warning, as I said, this is just an educated guess.

Harmony (with that particular lettering in the title) is on some records in my collection too that were actually pressed by Columbia Graphophone as a "dime store" label, and they sound amazing just like your phonograph will when you have got it fixed up. What happened was, Columbia Records had built a very large new studio with updated and redesigned "acoustical" recording equipment, you know, the old stuff where you recorded through a horn instead of a microphone, but they'd taken that and built probably the world's best acoustic recording studio, ever.

Plot twist: it's 1925. Victor Talking Machine, Western Electric, and RCA have gotten together and developed the "Orthophonic" record which marked the marriage of hi-fi with vacuum tubes (and great expenses.) New records had a wider frequency response and they called for a different sort of phonograph to optimize the sound, like the Orthophonic Victrola with the exponential horns. Viva-Tonal was Columbia's response and it made them redesign all their Grafonolas to keep up with Victor. (Meanwhile back at the labs, Edison is still selling Diamond Discs and Blue Amberol cylinders.)

Columbia had the new acoustic studio but couldn't afford to rip out the new equipment to update it for electricity. However, there was a huge market for inexpensive but good records (a quality acoustic record will sound great on any kind of antique phonograph, from the Orthophonic stuff all the way back to old 1900s models) so with the best acoustic studio around they went to making budget discs. First was Harmony Records in 1925, the last label ever to go over to electrical recording which they did in early 1930.

HERE is where your phonograph gets to be a bit more interesting than the standard 1920s lowboy. The tonearm looks like something you'd get on a Columbia Grafonola from about 1918-1923. That's fine. That was all you ever needed to play an acoustic record and the large reproducers had incredible sound quality (bass response sometimes out-performing an older model Victrola and treble that stayed pretty smooth across the range.) So it was a perfect tonearm for this--like Harmony Records themselves, it was excellence forced into obsolescence. Furthermore, it was cheap to make, lots simpler than the complicated procedures Columbia was doing to make their Viva-Tonal Grafonolas--which was good because a Harmony Record cost about 50¢ and if you built your record collection out of the 25¢ Challenge and Conqueror discs, 50¢ Harmonys, Orioles from McCrory's Stores, and whatever, you wanted a less expensive but good-quality phonograph.

So I don't think it's as old as 1917, or even 1921. It shares parts with the then-costly Columbia Queen Anne. But I think it instead is a value-line piece made to give music to the masses in the closing years of the Roaring Twenties, a reflection of the sea change in recording of 1925, of Columbia's mistake in continuing the acoustic record line. These kinds of phonographs are getting scarcer by the day as, due to a lack of collector's interest, they are being scrapped for repurposing projects or for spare parts. With its post-1925 heritage as a product of Harmony Records, I would say that this is a machine which deserves to be preserved--and enjoyed.

Because all that earlier about Harmony's studio being state-of-the-art for acoustics, is correct. Harmony (and later Diva Records I think; they're laminated pressings which might mean Columbia) have got incredibly clear & crisp sound quality, rivaling some of the Victor Orthophonics of 1926 (Those sometimes hiss.) This is a great find as far as budget consoles go; it should be able to play great with that big reproducer. The silk grill cloth goes on the back side of the grill--a bit of Howards' would clean up the scratches in the finish. If you haven't done the mechanical overhauls that shouldn't be too hard. With this machine you have got a lot of history in a very small package. Good find!

[WillysVA]

Thanks VanEpsFan1914 for such a detailed explanation. Every time I do a search on Harmony, I get all kinds of stuff on the record line, but no information on the phonograph. When I purchased it, the tag said the motor and reproducer had been rebuilt. I suspect the name plate was removed by the antique dealer, thinking a Harmony made by Columbia was less valuable then just saying it was a Columbia. But I'm not a collector, just someone who likes old things.

I'm not solid on the model number, because the data plate had been removed. But it looks just like the ones others have posted links to. Maybe someday I'll locate a data plate.

During a thunderstorm, when the power went out while we were baby sitting the grandkids, we cranked her up and played records to keep the kids entertained and not worried about the storm.

[OrthoFan]

I was able to do some web searching and came upon this paragraph from the Dec. 15, 1924 issue of the Talking Machine World -- https://archive.org/details/talkingmach ... ch/Harmony

I had read "1924" cited as the year the Harmony line was introduced, but had never found any confirmation until now.

Your model probably dates from about that time as "VanEpsFan1914" noted.

OrthoFan

PS -- You can find more issues of "The Talking Machine World," an invaluable resource, here:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=%2 ... 20world%22

[WillysVA]

Thanks OrthoFan
That clearly places production as starting in 1924!!!

[WillysVA]

I found this ad in a 1925 Talking Machine World (Apr pg 27). It appears the Columbia Harmony was a transitional piece. It came with a windup phonograph, but also with an easy up sell for the salesman to convince the customer that he also needed one of the new Radio's. It appears the cabinet was already built to accept the radio unit, that was basically a bolt in option. From the ad "Directions: Remove the screws of the panel in the phonograph cabinet - Insert the Telletone Receiving Panel instead - Easy - Quick."
Kind of like when early automobiles didn't come with heaters, but the dealer could install one for an additional price.
I found two threaded metal inserts in the wood on the left side compartment, but no indication that anything had ever been installed. So I suspect for my unit, the original purchaser didn't go for the up sell of adding the radio.
I also suspect the concept was to use the more basic and less ornamental cabinet in order to make the final cost with the added radio, within a certain price point.
It appears this transitional concept didn't take off, so I suspect there are only a very limited number of these still around.
The Harmony name appears to have been introduced because of this dual unit concept they were attempting.
This was the only ad I could find, but later I did see where Columbia started using the Harmony name on lower cost portables. Kind of like how Chevrolet was GMs lower cost automobile then came Pontiac for a little more money, then Buick for a little again and then finally Cadillac.

[VanEpsFan1914]

WillysVA,

That's an amazing ad for converting a Harmony into a radio! There is a VV-80 Victrola cabinet from I think 1923 or 1924 at the Johnson Victrola Museum. Craziest-looking thing I saw. It was a Victor Talking Machine radio --the Victrola horn worked as the speaker and you put the lid up to change the channels. Batteries went down inside the record compartment.

That battery radio you have pictures of there is pretty neat, but by 1927 the RCA Radiola was coming with electric plugs; Atwater Kent jumped on the AC radio bandwagon in I believe either 1928 or '29? There's a '29 A-K radio here but it's not by any means their first model.

All the history turning up on your Harmony is great, but I was personally just tickled to hear that you & your grandkids were enjoying it during a power-outage. That's the other side of collecting--sharing a little music, history, and good fun.