Windsor Orchestral cabinet horn gramophone

[jamiegramo]

I wonder if anyone knows anything more about the maker of this ‘Windsor Orchestral’? It’s a rather extraordinary cabinet machine that has appeared on eBay. It would have had an external horn and back bracket, presumably similar to a regular horn machine, but the tonearm would feed through the aperture at the back of the cabinet. The horn elbow probably had an extension piece to raise the height of the horn above the cabinet.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126750210433 ... &recoPos=2

[epigramophone]

The lid transfer includes an image of Windsor Castle, so the machine is probably British. I have seen Windsor portables in the past, such as the one pictured which was sold by Aldridges of Bath.
I know of no connection with either the Windsor Furniture Company of Chicago, who made the Windsor phonograph, or the Windsor Phonograph & Record Company Ltd of Montreal.
The "Orchestral" looks to be well made, but the prospects of finding the missing parts to complete it are remote to say the least.

[Steve]

I wonder if anyone knows anything more about the maker of this ‘Windsor Orchestral’? It’s a rather extraordinary cabinet machine that has appeared on eBay. It would have had an external horn and back bracket, presumably similar to a regular horn machine, but the tonearm would feed through the aperture at the back of the cabinet. The horn elbow probably had an extension piece to raise the height of the horn above the cabinet.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126750210433 ... &recoPos=2

I don't but maybe you should ask our friend, "Dulcetto", on here as it is he who is selling it!

[Steve]

If it was mine, I'd simply find any tone-arm / back-bracket assembly that works for it, from another, lesser machine (that was incomplete). I'd then get someone to make the elbow extension to suit a continental horn of sufficient size to look the part. It has already been said, but you'd never be able to restore this with the original parts; it'd be a lost cause.

[epigramophone]

Before EMG came along, external horn machines such as the Seymour Superphone which played with the lid shut were few and far between. Probably dating from the same period, this Windsor Orchestral is well worth completing, and as Steve says, using non-original parts would be an acceptable compromise.
If one exists, a period advertisement showing how it originally looked would be helpful to whoever buys it.

[Dulcetto]

If it was mine, I'd simply find any tone-arm / back-bracket assembly that works for it, from another, lesser machine (that was incomplete). I'd then get someone to make the elbow extension to suit a continental horn of sufficient size to look the part. It has already been said, but you'd never be able to restore this with the original parts; it'd be a lost cause.

Thanks for your input Steve . Yes , it is of course me who is selling it on ebay. To be frank , it wouldn't take an awful lot of work to get it into a stunning showpiece. If one can find a back bracket and tone-arm assembly of suitable dimension ( 65mm between the centres of the fixing studs for the back bracket -- which was likely a " standard " size ) then as Steve says , it would then just need a steel tube made up to sit on top of the bracket and thereby extend above the top of the machine to a height that looks about right to support a horn. what about a nice wooden horn for it ? or maybe a brass one to match the brass cabinet fittings ! Hope someone can take up the challenge -- I'm having a clear out at the moment of " projects" which I may or may not get around to finishing !! This gramophone is certainly a rare bird and worth restoring !Dulcetto

[Oedipus]

I remember selling this machine at SAS in 2019, part of a large collection of mostly incomplete gramophones. It made £130 on the hammer. I have never seen another, or even any reference to it.