Upmarket for an Academy?

[kirtley2012]

I just today received a HMV 130A that I bought which cropped up locally, the grille is smashed in, but aside from that it's pretty good, he asked if I wanted the other gramophone he had, when he showed what it was I initially said not really, but my curiosity got the better of me and I asked how much it was, for 20 quid I thought there's no going wrong, at the very least its a good stand for my HMV 31, it was practically worth it for a record in the small stack that was stored in it with a Columbia British issue Arthur Collins record I didn't know existed (I love Arthur Collins), partial crack which I'll repair but a great record.

It seems to be a bit upmarket for an Academy gramophone, it's oak, with a cool pull out flap type door, but some nice carving on the cabinet, I always envisioned these lower end gramophones being very plain utilitarian machines, but this one has a bit of class to it.

It's got a Garrard Junior B motor which seems to be a decent little motor, the soundbox it came with is a bit pants and likely not what it originally had, if I ever use it I'll put a meltrope on it, I got it running and tried it with one and it didn't sound too bad, of course not amazing, but I've heard worse! the horn is folded in there so it has a bit of length, probably a 3 foot horn or so, it's missing the escutcheon, which is annoying.

There's something fun about these cheaper machines, good fun to play around with

[Marco Gilardetti]

I agree in full: those carvings are simple but nice.

What a clever and unusual horn design. This machine should sound very decently, very well worth restoring it to its best. Does the horn's mouth fill the whole front grille aperture?

[IainW]

Does that door when open then become the shelf? A very neat design feature.
I am intrigued by your comment about repairing a cracked record. How do you do this or is there a thread on the subject you can point us to?
Iain

[kirtley2012]

Does that door when open then become the shelf? A very neat design feature.
I am intrigued by your comment about repairing a cracked record. How do you do this or is there a thread on the subject you can point us to?
Iain

Not really, it folds away under the bottom, quite clever

It's fiddly, I do it with liquid shellac I mix up, there's a couple records I've done repair work to, but it's not something I would necessarily do to more common records just for the time involved with setup and cure times, I'll do it to this one though because I really like it

[kirtley2012]

I agree in full: those carvings are simple but nice.

What a clever and unusual horn design. This machine should sound very decently, very well worth restoring it to its best. Does the horn's mouth fill the whole front grille aperture?

Not quite but nearly, its a decent sized horn for what it is, there's some fun quirks in these lower end machines

[Curt A]

IainW: I am intrigued by your comment about repairing a cracked record. How do you do this or is there a thread on the subject you can point us to?

Record crack repair:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8860&hilit=weldbond+glue

[Steve]

I appreciate that the horn wasn't mathematically computed for optimum sound but its a curious decision to not bring that 4th bend right back into the rear right hand corner of the cabinet (there is a lot of room to do it) which would have allowed the taper and ascent to the mouth of the horn to be far more gradual and perhaps even more exponential.

I'm spotting a lot of Garrard motors used in "off brand" machines lately. Garrard must have been a very profitable business during the 20s.

[Dangermouse]

I have an Academy portable in polished oak, pretty tip top quality, I think the thing is most people could only afford the cheaper models and few of the more expencive ones were sold and hence very few survive today. The survival of more of the cheap models gives a skewed view of the out put of the company.

[epigramophone]

I have an Academy portable in polished oak, pretty tip top quality, I think the thing is most people could only afford the cheaper models and few of the more expencive ones were sold and hence very few survive today. The survival of more of the cheap models gives a skewed view of the out put of the company.

I have never owned an Academy machine so cannot comment on their quality, but in terms of price they were at the lower end of the market, as these pages from their late 1920's catalogue illustrates. Apologies for the poor images, which are scans of old photocopies.

[Oedipus]

Academy gramophones were made by the Johnson Talking Machine Co (were they trying to be Victor in disguise?), and around 1929 were apparently taken over by Columbia; look at the fret design in this clearly 1930s model, and you can see a family likeness. The 'Nippy' portable in the flyer is a budget version (wood case rather than steel) of the Columbia Cadet. Its sound box has a diecast front mask, but the backplate is the same as a Columbia 15B. Some Academies even have a Columbia type 'stereoscopic' horn. No doubt the cabinets, like Columbia's, were made by Houghton-Butcher.