Waddell Music Table—SOLD

[Matt Brown]

Here's one you don't see every day - this is a Waddell Music Cabinet in mahogany. Cabinet has been cleaned, and a coat of wax applied. Motor runs great - reproducer has been rebuilt and tuned - plays great - sounds surprisingly good. New felt on the turntable. All needle cups are present and accounted for. Casters all turn freely - rolls along just fine.
Open the lid, get the record going, and when you close the lid the drop leaf automatically raises to expose the horn. A support arm can be swung out to help support the leaf if so desired.
There's a place to store the crank under the lid when phono is not in use.
I also have this machine's "brother" for sale - an upright version, with faux doors that automatically lift away from the horn when the lid is dropped.
I'd like to get $350 out of this, but am open to ANY and ALL offers.
Phono is located in Reading, PA - delivery might be an option - just ask.
Cabinet dimensions: 31.5" high, 36" wide, 22" deep (without leaf).

Email me at tubahawk "at" gmail "dot" com with questions.

Thanks for looking!

[Matt Brown]

Forgot to mention that the reproducer swivels to play both verticals and laterals.

[brianu]

this machine is really cool. I wish I had the space for it, matt.

[Matt Brown]

Oh, c'mon - there's always space for ONE more.....

[MordEth]

Oh, c'mon - there's always space for ONE more.....

Matt,

Obviously you’ve never seen the interior of John’s home.

All joking aside, though—it’s definitely an interesting machine and hopefully you get some interest in it.

— MordEth

[Matt Brown]

Obviously you’ve never seen the interior of John’s home.

I have - he has yet to stack machines, so there's easily room for more.....

[MordEth]

I have - he has yet to stack machines, so there's easily room for more.....

Shhhh...don’t give him any ideas.

Something I thought might be of interest or of value to our members and guests, when Googling for ‘Waddell Music Table’:

The Waddell Company

The Waddell Company owes its start to American’s fondness for coffee. When the John M. Waddell Company began its operation in 1887, coffee was high on the nation’s preferred beverage list. However, to get coffee, beans were ground at home by awkwardly holding a box grinder between the knees and turning the handle with one or two hands.

This process was too cumbersome for company founder John M. Waddell, who at the time was employed by his father, John F. Waddell, at his hardware store in downtown Greenfield. John devised a way of simply putting a handle on the grinder that allowed the operator to hold it with one hand and turn the handle with the other. The improved grinder was the company’s first product and from it an entire line was developed called Ideal Coffee Mills.

Needing a building for his business, John moved into his father’s two-story grain elevator located at 512 South Washington Street. To date, the business has remained at that address.

John M. Waddell, who was born and reared in Greenfield, had business and personal qualities that were instrumental to his success. He was loyal, imaginative, persistent, and community-minded, and was an entrepreneur in an age when risk taking and hard work promised great reward.

John M. Waddell’s expertise in marketing was self-taught. He often designed his own ads, wrote the copy, and placed the ads where they would have the greatest chance of success. He created company slogans and put together highly effective catalogs and brochures.

In addition to the Ideal Coffee Mills Line, early products included mousetraps, rat traps, trade simulators, calculators, cash registers, and x-ray egg testers. Along with those products, Waddell manufactured cigar cases, general merchandise cases, and post office fixtures—mostly sorting racks and tables, stamp windows, storage cabinets, and letterboxes.

Waddell’s early entries into the marketplace possessed a common trait that became a trademark of the young firm. They were crafted of wood.

John M. Waddell lived to see his business prosper until his death in 1922. John’s wife Nellie (Phelps) Waddell and their four children, Lewis P., Neal P., Dean T., and daughter Nell acquired the business with a stipulation that it became incorporated. And so it did that same year. The three brothers operated the business until 1935 when Dean T. Waddell, the youngest son, bought out his brothers’ interest in the business.

Dean T. Waddell began his career at the family business in 1902. Dean was seventeen years old and a junior in high school when a fire destroyed the main manufacturing building known as “Building #2.” Dean quit school and began working for The Waddell Company full time. Dean’s grandfather, John F. Waddell, came out of retirement to teach Dean how to keep the company books.

Throughout Dean’s career, the Waddell Company continued to develop new products to meet market needs. In the early 1920s, carload shipments of chewing gum cases to Wrigley and candy cases to Brach moved by rail to Chicago. A phonograph called The Wadell Music Table was also sold in the 1920’s.

In the post World War I period, changes began taking in the manufacturing processes. The traditional all-wood cabinets were giving way to assembly line applications. Semi-frameless cases were developed to help meet heavy production demands. Tenite-framed cases, a first in the industry, were later introduced.

In the sluggish depression years, the company aggressively sought new buyers, sold cosmetic cases in the beauty shop and barber shop markets, and sold into the wholesale jewelry and restaurant supply industries.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Waddell continued to experiment with plastic-framed cases and started to look at aluminum framed models. Production methods were adjusted to manufacture the newer-type cases.

In the 1950s, Waddell introduced the first trophy cases, now a school market staple. Other school innovations included the use of tempered safety glass, built-in locks, cornice lighting, aluminum frames, and Velcro™ backed cases on which plaques or other awards could be attached.

Dean T. Waddell was active at The Waddell Company until his death in 1976, at the age ninety-one. His Waddell Company career spanned seventy-five years. His sons, George M. and Dean M. Waddell, who joined the business in the early 1940s, took over.

In December of 1986, Waddell was purchased by Ghent Manufacturing, Inc., another family owned company located in Lebanon, Ohio, approximately fifty miles west of Greenfield. Ghent’s owner George L. Leasure explained that Waddell’s long-standing solid reputation would enhance Ghent’s image.

Ghent moved quickly to seek new markets for Waddell and develop a fresh product flow to assure sustained and controlled growth. Starting in 1988, the Collectibles Case series was introduced. Architectural cases followed along with the Varsity line featuring upper-end products, highlighting Waddell’s extensive woodworking expertise. It is Ghent’s goal to maintain Waddell’s reputation for craftsmanship, quality and value.

The Waddell Company is built on time-honored traditions. It has a long-standing, solid reputation. Its attention to craftsmanship stands as a lasting tribute to the tradition of quality that John M. Waddell built into the company.

(Quoted from page 157 of Greenfield, Ohio, 1799-1999 by the Greenfield Ohio Historical Society.)

Hopefully someone will find the above information interesting or informative.

— MordEth

[richardh]

Neat machine A phonograph disgusied as a table. Never seen one of those before.Hope you find a buyer for this great machine.

RJ

[Matt Brown]

SOLD!

[Ben the phono man]

If anyone is interested, I recently found one and it is fully complete (minus the discard needle tin) It actually has a grill, and the record index, which is what that space is above the record slats. which are all in tact. I rebuilt the motor and the entire mechanism.