"Northome" upright consolette, worth buying?

[VanEpsFan1914]

Hello forum folks,

I found in a nearby antique shop an old Northome machine with intact grill cloth, tired finish, working tonearm and a good motor but no crank handle or reproducer. It appears to take a bayonet mount soundbox similar to a Victor, and would probably work with a later one from a portable.

The machine is a later style cabinet that I originally thought was one of the early acoustic Panatropes, and is only slightly larger than a Victrola Consolette.

At $89 would you guys think it's a good buy? I am a sucker for machines that need a little love, but have a lot of projects here. Unfortunately the grille is screwed down so I can't get it off and have a look at the horn but it's probably not a super extravagant horn. No, offbrands aren't worth a lot, but then again my whole collection isn't worth much either except for the Victor III and maybe possibly - well that's about it really, my collection looks like a hillbilly's yard full of rusty classics compared to the concours restorations on here.

I had simply never encountered a Northome machine before, thought it was a very nice little phonograph, and wanted to hear what you might think.

Charles

[phonograph guy3435]

sounds pretty cool

[OrthoFan]

Is it like this one?

Screenshot 2024-10-07 143730.jpg (64.84 KiB) Viewed 1577 times

Looks like a typical Consolette Clone, probably with a quasi-exponential type horn. (Unless it's like a Melophonic "Consolette" which has a square horn with no tapering!) For $89, you could probably do worse. My only concern would be trying to hunt down a replacement sound box, but probably anything from that era--late 1920s--would do. I'd guess the original was made of cheap pot metal which crumbled to dust long ago.

OrthoFan

[Damfino59]

I’m going to be a party pooper & suggest not get this.

Currently I’m working on three projects right now.

A Columbia 360 portable 1955 with a cranky Webcor record changer.

A nice Edison C19 in oak.

A nice cygnet horn Edison Fireside with K reproducer.

All of these are not parts machines but need mechanical tweeking, Howard’s & some Goop cleaning. I’ve recently turned 65 so I’ve had to readjust priorities.

With the $89 you will save, you can invest in your other projects. And one less big thing to move!

Just my opinion.

[travisgreyfox]

I'd say offer $50 cash for it. Depending on how long its been sitting there they may be happy to get rid of it.

[VanEpsFan1914]

You know, I was offered an oak VTLA cabinet for $50 at the same shop minus horn, motor, tone arm, and deck. If I was feeling quixotic I might do that instead. So I bought piano parts instead of the Northome as it weighs several hundred pounds and sounds poor as is.

[phonolamplighter]

A little information about the Norhome: A brandname used by M. W. Savage Co., a mail order catalog from Minneapolis, Minn., late teens, early 20's. Equipped with a United 2-spring motor. Made in portable, table, suitcase and upright models, also radios.
Here is an ad from a 1922 Savage catalog:

We have a Norhome table model, here is the reproducer, an Audak:

You have a very good suggestion to make them an offer. We love having off brands that need a little attention. Keeps the collection interesting.
All the best,

[VanEpsFan1914]

Okaaayyyy....

Belatedly to @OrthoFan, yes it is just like that. Your prediction of a quasi-exponential horn was correct. It was louder than a Victrola when I put a round hole Exhibition on it from my Victor III.

@Damfino you make sense. Unfortunately today wasn't a sense making kind of day.

@phonolamplighter, thanks for the information on Northome and the M.W. Savage connection. I genuinely appreciate this connection to Dan Patch, a racehorse owned by Savage who was the fastest harness-racing horse in the world and paced a whole mile in 1:55. Not a horse racing fan myself, but I like horses a lot, and Dan Patch was a fascinating specimen of a horse as his heart was about twice the size of a regular horse heart -- this perhaps would account for his great speed and endurance. He was, quite literally, built to race.

Now I know this isn't the Horse Fact Forum so anyway.

I bought the Northome machine. It has a United motor by the United Air Cleaner Company of St Paul, Minnesota. Yes it's two springs like yours. I was genuinely impressed with the heavy gearing and smooth rotation of the motor.

Looks like according to Radiomuseum.org the Northome company made a ton of other stuff that wasn't home audio related-- gasoline engines, cream-separators, wagon boxes, horse blankets, stoves and furnaces, and that sort of things that enabled prairie domesticity on the Midwestern plains of the 1910s and '20s.

I am looking around now through old .PDF copies of Talking Machine World and anywhere else to find identification of the tonearm. There was a large mica diaphragm lying in the machine but no sign of a reproducer body. It is also missing a female threaded crank handle.

This one is too far gone to display as is, but too nice to junk, so I am considering documenting a restoration and deep-diving into researching it.

[VanEpsFan1914]

Took photos.

Next to my Edison A-200

Horn is free floating except at bottom edge.

My apologies for the dark photo environment. I keep my apartment lights low as bright lights are a little too much. between that and my tendency to hide from everyone it is a bit like a cave.

Now the wood is in nice shape so I'm probably going to have a nice looking phonograph when it's finished, but the actual finish itself is in pretty tired condition. It's very dry and alligatored. No amount of wood oil is going to save that.

At least the design doesn't call for a decal or anything.

It's cheap, and it's not a Victor Consolette, but I think it fills the niche quite well by representing an interesting American offbrand as well as the style of the Consolette.

[emerson]

Charles, Glad you grabbed it, the little urchin has found a good home to get spruced up and play once more.