My first Talking Machine

[Mr-Lee]

Hello All,

I was offered this, my first Talking Machine yesterday and I jumped at the chance.
From my brief research i have dedeuced that it is a Rexonola 78, it came with one record and two tins of needles. One is immaculate, and one is ever so slightly worse for wear.
the wooden case appears intact, save for what I would presume is a leather handle that is no longer present.

the crank has been broken, but repaired(poorly I might add) on the the end that is inserted in the machine. I will endeavour to get some hi-res pictures up soon.




Cheers
Jason

[Wolfe]

Here's a neat Rexonola site, if you haven't found it already...

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~mikechap/gallery.htm

[gramophoneshane]

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. I quite like the Rexonolas. I've only got 5 acoustic Rexonolas in my collection (and a rare Rex radiogram) but would love to add a few more. Most of their machines perform quite well, and they're good looking machines imo.

[Mr-Lee]

My error, its a "Rexoport", I had "Rexonola" in my head for some reason.

[Mr-Lee]

Here 'tis

[gramophoneshane]

Nice Rexoport Jason. It should clean up really well.
Even though they're a very basic machine with the simplest horn design ever made, they can sound quite good once the soundbox is restored- particularly with pre-1925 acoustically recorded discs.
It's good to see you have the original aluminium soundbox on yours too. It seems a lot of people must have upgraded to a soundbox designed for electrical recordings on this model- probably hoping to get better sound quality, even though the main problem was the horn and not so much the soundbox.
I've had 4 of this model over the years, and none of them had the right soundbox on them.
I've still got 2 of these, and I am yet to buy the right soundbox for both machines. The originals are very light weight compared to most, so record wear is kept to a minimum. Both mine now have Rexonolas "prismaphonic's" on them, designed for electrical recordings, but they are probably one of the heaviest soundboxes ever made, so mine dont get much use unfortunately.
There was a lot of variations on this model over the years, and yours appears to be one of the last type produced, before the new range of Rexophonic machines was introduced in 1927.
The turntable on your machine looks like the type with a groove around the outer edge for the felt to tuck into. from what I can tell, Rexonola first used this type of turntable in 1924, so I'm guessing your Rexoport dates from between 1924-1927.

I've poste a few before & after pictures below, of the 2 Rexoports I have. The main difference between these & your example, are the brake and decal (transfer) have changed position, & non-lockable siutcase style fasteners have replaced the earlier key lock style.
Your machine also appears to have a 10" turntable, but both mine are 8"- probably why the brake & transfer were moved.
I've always thought one of the more endearing features of this model is the needle tin screwed to the machine instead of the usual needle cup. Talk about cost cutting lol.

rexoportrestoration006zu3.jpg (73.71 KiB) Viewed 1591 times

rexoportrestored004jy2.jpg (81.11 KiB) Viewed 1591 times

[Mr-Lee]

thanks! I'm glad you posted pics of yours, now I know what that wire clip is for in the lid!

also, could someone post a picture of what angle I should have the needle at for playback? I dont wish to ruin the only record i have. (only OLD record,I mean. I fancy myself as a bit of a DJ, hence My appreciation for the old machines. They are where my equipment began)

My motor is the same as the first picture you posted, not cast iron/alloy like the second pic.

Also should there be some kind of ornate cover over the diaphagm?

cheers
Jason

[gramophoneshane]

You must have seen the second motor picture shortly after I posted it, because I removed it after ½ an hour. It was in one of my Rexoport photo folders, and after posting it I realised it was a double spring motor, which wouldn't fit in the base of these machines. So, I opened the machine, and it too has the same motor as yours & the remaining picture.
I think the other motor is from my Rexonola model 20, so how it ended up in my Rexoport folder I have no idea

Your soundbox is complete as is. Most mica diaphragms were never covered by a mask (but there are exceptions). Masks became common once aluminium diaphragms were introduced for playing electical recordings, because the diaphragms were extremely thin and could be damaged easily.
The soundbox should be adjusted so the needle sits in the groove as shown in the Victor diagram below.

I was also wondering how badly damaged your crank handle is.
I have a spare that I use with my Peter Pan cameraphone as the original was missing, but it's actually 1" too long for that machine. I was going to cut it down to the right size, but I dont like doing that to parts that are perfectly good as is.
I wouldn't mind so much if the handle was already damaged, so maybe we could do a clean swap?
It might save you the hassle of repairing yours & me destroying mine.
If you're interested, I can PM you a few photos so you can see it's condition etc.

[Mr-Lee]

Thanks, thats what I thought.


On the crank swap: I'll sort a few close ups of it next to a ruler, so you can see what has been done.

Cheers
Jason