Two colorful Columbia portables, Model G-241

[nostalgia]

I decided to share photos of two colorful, blue and red, Columbia Model G-241. Manufactured by Nippon Columbia, (presumably in 1951 according to my research covered in this link viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44519&p=262818&hil ... 41#p262818, which also offer more photos of the motor on the G-241 ), they share many similarities with the later UK made Columbia/ HMV portables, but also offer some differences. The horn is the same kind of horn found on HMV 97/Columbia 204 etc, but the G-241 has a double spring motor.

The lid hinge reminds of the hinge found on the UK made Columbia 9000, but the auto stop parts look very different from mechanisms found on UK Columbia 204/205, if it is not found on Columbia 211, that I have never opened and checked. The case covering on some of these later Japan made Columbia portables are padded, but I am not sure if the G-241 has a padded covering or not from the photos...We can also see the winding key with the typical Nippon Columbia plastic handle, that is elliptical.

The key and yellow manufacture note are nice to see too of course.


The two machines are both for sale, but taking the red machine as an example, the price is around 800 euro plus taxes, packing costs, insurance and very expensive shipping to and from a packing warehouse in Japan, and then import taxes are not yet calculated Not my cup of for sure...

[Marco Gilardetti]

The blue unit looks clearly repainted to me. There are many details that are blue but shouldn't be blue, as a quick comparison with the red unit will immediately tell by the way.

[nostalgia]

Very good observation, Marco!! We can see the lid hinge is actually painted blue. I did not pay notice to this myself, but from the earlier thread with the G-241 and other Japan made Columbias, this model was only listed as manufactured in red color, and there is now no reason to correct this listing.

[epigramophone]

I would be surprised if the G-241 was post war. The Plano-Reflex tonearm disappeared from the UK catalogues in about 1937 when the 202 was replaced by the 206, a badge engineered version of the HMV102.

My G-208, which appears elsewhere on the forum, has the same unusual autobrake. With no manual brake it can sometimes disengage in transit, allowing the motor to run down completely and the spring to detach from it's location. This happened to mine on a car journey, but furious winding managed to re-engage the spring without recourse to dismantling.

[epigramophone]

I would be surprised if the G-241 was post war. The Plano-Reflex tonearm disappeared from the UK catalogues in about 1937 when the 202 was replaced by the 206, a badge engineered version of the HMV102.

My G-208, which appears elsewhere on the forum, has the same unusual autobrake. With no manual brake it can sometimes disengage in transit, allowing the motor to run down completely and the spring to detach from it's location. This happened to mine on a car journey, but furious winding managed to re-engage the spring without recourse to dismantling.

[nostalgia]

I will try to refind the information I found on the Columbia portable models with a G prefix. I read last summer on a Japanese website that this G prefix was put on all post WW2 portables, but I can for sure not confirm that this information is valid. I will anyway try to dig deeper into this, since it for sure would be an interesting task to find out why the Nippon Columbia at a certain stage starting to add this G Prefix.

[epigramophone]

I purchased my G-208 from the family of the original owner, who was in the Colonial Service. I was told that he bought it new in Hong Kong shortly before it fell to the Japanese in December 1941, but family memories are not infallible.

[Inigo]

Anyway... They're beautiful, aren't they?

[Inigo]

They have, though, the Garrard style speed regulator, which in my opinion is very imprecise, undoubtedly due to its 'high ratio' multiplication at the motor lever. It's based on that small sloped plate, which is moved up and down very slightly by the action of the hand lever. Slight gaps in the system produce great inconsistency in the speed. Just move the lever to high speed, then turn back to 78. Do the same coming from the low speed end. Then you'll notice that both 78 doors aren't the same! At least in my Columbia 113a, with the same system, it happens...

[nostalgia]

I was able to refind quite a few links that all tells that the Model G-241 were manufactured in 1951, and the link from Kanazava Phonograph Museum in Japan, is probably the most reliable one. It tells that the Columbia Model G-241 actually was the last portable gramophone made by Nippon Columbia... in 1951:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... 10_04.html

A beautiful machine for sure.