Excited young collector

[Flying Dutchman]

I brought home a nice Edison W-19 Diamond Disc phonograph yesterday. It has a new home with 14 year old Tristan. He and his Father came to pick it up this morning. Tristan is very excited. I offered to give him this phonograph for free but they insisted on paying me back what I bought it for which was only $50. I have given away several old phonographs to young people with the desire to have one and learn all about them. Tristan already has two other wind up phonographs for 78s and also just acquired an Edison model B Standard. He has taken them to his school to share in his interest in old phonographs. Some of his friends are now also interested in them. He is definitely got the phonograph bug.

Excellent example for us all! I think we all have that machine we can think of that we would “just give” to the right deserving person who may continue the hobby into future generations.
As it’s been stated “it’s vital” to continue interest and this is certainly the best way to do so.

Thank you for sharing.

[Phono-Phan]

For our hobby to survive it is vital that we get youngsters into it. I am encouraged to see the revived interest in vinyl and I am sure when these young people come across 78rpm records and cylinders, they will be interested in finding machines to play them on.
Given them away is a great way to get the ball rolling. Both my kids have their own portables and I've even given one away to one of their friend who now keeps coming back for more records.
With that in mind I have put together a web page for beginners. I'd be most grateful for any feedback, positive or negative, so I can improve the page. A friend is already saying it's far too long.
https://www.gramophonemuseum.com/FAQ.html

Great web page. I forwarded it on to Tristan.

[drh]

...With that in mind I have put together a web page for beginners. I'd be most grateful for any feedback, positive or negative, so I can improve the page. A friend is already saying it's far too long.
https://www.gramophonemuseum.com/FAQ.html

Quite an impressive piece of work. I've not read everything yet, but I'll suggest one point that might do with a touchup. In the definitions section,

"HILL & DALE (Vertical cut records): Edison cylinders and diamond discs."

Hill & Dale/vertical cut takes in not only Edison; it also encompasses all cylinders by other makers and an array of discs, most notably by Pathé.

By the way, I particularly like the animated diagrams!

[Granby]

Awesome! This is a great way to get younger people interested in the hobby.... I was around 14 years old when I got interested, too! I remember when I was in my late teens and twenties getting some strange reactions while bidding at auctions. Those "older" people didn't know what to think...

[phonogfp]

Excellent work, Ken.

Tristan might find some of the free articles on the Antique Phonograph Society to be helpful, especially this one:

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collectiondetails/16

George P.

[Inigo]

Many 'off brand' gramophones have terrible tracking for example.

Mmmm.... our favourite, HMV 102.... has a terrible tracking... a compromise between keeping the size small and having a big horn, the base of the tonearm was pushed forward to give room to the enormous horn mouth, and so the tonearm resulted very short. An arguable improvement over the 101, which has a longer tonearm and better tracking. Anyway, the tracking is not so important, although the records suffer from that bad tracking at the start.

[dzavracky]

Glad to see another young person getting involved! I hope Tristan joins the forum and posts whatever questions he has here. I know I found this forum incredibly helpful when I first started collecting.

Cheers,
David

[poodling around]

Many 'off brand' gramophones have terrible tracking for example.

Mmmm.... our favourite, HMV 102.... has a terrible tracking... a compromise between keeping the size small and having a big horn, the base of the tonearm was pushed forward to give room to the enormous horn mouth, and so the tonearm resulted very short. An arguable improvement over the 101, which has a longer tonearm and better tracking. Anyway, the tracking is not so important, although the records suffer from that bad tracking at the start.

Very interesting Inigo. I didn't know that about the HMV 102's.

[Inigo]

it's only careful examination and much thinking and guessing...

[1923VictorFan]

What an excellent thing to do! I have often wondered about the future of both antique phonograph as well as antique clock restoration and collecting. Just seems that in general young people aren't to interested in either. Glad to see a younger person intrigued and excited about one. Great way to encourage younger folks into the fold. Thank you!