The Plumber-o-Phone

[nostalgia]

I have to show you this one...for sale on an auction site.
Personally I here and now named it the Plumber-o-phone... ...even if it is sold as funny gramophone.
Look at the "soundbox"...

[Curt A]

Obviously, winding this machine was not a big priority... maybe it originally had a tall, thin, matching column to sit it on.
I love the graceful back bracket...

You ARE going to add it to your collection, aren't you?

[nostalgia]

Curt, I am considering swapping it with the Pathéphone

[Inigo]

The thing about this machine is that it is near my (and maybe someone else's) idea of making an entirely new gramophone from off-the-shelf modern available materials... PVC/brass/copper plumber piping and parts, etc...

[mrrgstuff]

The thing about this machine is that it is near my (and maybe someone else's) idea of making an entirely new gramophone from off-the-shelf modern available materials... PVC/brass/copper plumber piping and parts, etc...

I rather like it, and it's the sort of thing I would try to build. It is an interesting mixture though as there does appear to be some genuine parts. Somebody has gone to quite a bit of trouble to fabricate it, yet the issue with the winding handle and the orientation/construction of the soundbox suggests it was not built to work, nor was the constructor overly familiar with gramophones. I may be wrong though ...

[tomb]

Are they selling the record albums with it?? It is an odd duck but interesting. By chance have you heard it play ?? Tom

[nostalgia]

I have not heard it play, it is sold through an auction site, together with the records: https://auctionet.com/en/1794995-funny- ... l-and-wood
I also can appreciate the concept of bulding a gramophone from scratch, but being sold this way, the returns would not cover the cost of the build materials,,,and I still do not understand how this machine can play the records that go with it...

[Inigo]

This gramophone would benefit greatly I if the new owner reversed the tonearm and mounted the soundbox in the opposite side and angle... In the current configuration it has a negative offset!
Pity that the crank is at the left side.

[Orchorsol]

This gramophone would benefit greatly if the new owner

... drove over it with a steamroller.

(Apologies, couldn't resist it!)

[Inigo]

But seriously, I can't resist the temptation to make every gramophone copy I've met to sound. Years ago I bought a plastic toy gramophone that didn't sound, nor was intended to. But it was built such that it could be made the real thing with only few modifications. It has a motor and working turntable, a tonearm and false soundbox, and a horn. And the sound conduit is all there, ready to play, from the soundbox to the horn mouth. The only thing was the false soundbox. It only needed to be opened, and to insert inside a working diaphragm and a needlebar. I made it, and it is capable of playing small 78s (those of 5" or less) from which I happened to have a big bunch I bought for most nothing, a lot of French Inovat band records. It also plays modern (1970s) doll plastic records, from which I also acquired a small collection. Now I have it dismantled again, trying to make a better diaphragm arrangement with a revolving elbow or something that allows playing both types of records at once (the dolls records are vertically recorded).