Columbia AR/BD (Majestic) Travelling arm

[Steve]

Thank you for the pictures. Interesting! So the C.P. book might be wrong, after all?

[GMEMG]

I think that at the time he THOUGHT that that machine WAS a BD BUT with modern research and considerably more information and machines available it appears that the machine in his book is in fact either an "Imperial" or some later machine assembled in the UK

It apparently uses either the BI motor or a later one

But Hey as Jack lemmon says in "Some like it hot "

"Nobody's Perfect "

[OrthoSean]

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but here is a shot of my BD that isn't the best, but it has the speed control / on-off switch behind the crank which can't be seen in the picture.

Sean

[Steve]

Thanks Sean. I assume your particular cabinet hasn't also got redundant holes in the back that are concealed by the back-bracket and only visible when the motor-board is lifted? Was this common practice for Columbia to update travelling arm machines to tone-arm type in this way? I know HMV certainly followed this policy but I'm not sure about Victor.

[phonogfp]

...and the Excellent Fabrizio & Paul books (THE best books - the ONLY refernce books I will ever own on this subject)...

Wow!

Many thanks for the wonderful compliment! There are, however, other reference books that you really shouldn't be without, depending on your specific interests.

Happy collecting!

George P.

[GMEMG]

It's not an idle compliment either !

I bought th efirst of your books with a very heavy heart expecting (as usual) to be very disappointed, it took 3 weeks to get to me and i was astounded - it was perfect - it had just the right balance of text to photo, the photos are clear and relevant and the captions were under the right photos and easy to find

The most amazing thing for me was the generosity of the collectors who opened their collects to photo - it just woldn't happen here - that's why collecting in the UK is dying

in the UK reference books are complicated, confusingly written with muddy photos and waffling text and usually show every side but the one you NEED to see.

a friend saw the first volume i bought and said :

"This book is so good you don't need to own the machines at all"

that's the best compliment i can think of

[Lucius1958]

Indeed you could - and because of the way it would work there probably won't be any "Echo" as the soundboxes woudl face each other approx ¾ " apart (sorry to disappoint fans of Yodelling records !)

Considering that the rear bracket and the mount for the extension arm are on opposite sides of the cabinet, wouldn't the soundboxes be on opposite sides of the disc? (Unless, perhaps, one reversed the angle of the 'front' soundbox....)

[GMEMG]

Err...............as Captain Mainwaring (from Dad's Army) would say :

"I wondered when you'd spot that one Wilson "

You're absolutely right - the tonearms would be on opposite sides of the record !

Here's the comparison with the Expert Junior


[YouTube] http://youtu.be/qYVoZ8Az5EU [/YouTube]

[OrthoSean]

Thanks Sean. I assume your particular cabinet hasn't also got redundant holes in the back that are concealed by the back-bracket and only visible when the motor-board is lifted? Was this common practice for Columbia to update travelling arm machines to tone-arm type in this way? I know HMV certainly followed this policy but I'm not sure about Victor.

I checked my BD last night and it only has the set of holes for the regular bracket, no others. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Columbia did retrofit cabinets when updated or rear mount machines came into style, but I can't verify that!

Sean

[Guest]

Nice Victor VI you have there, Sean!

How does the Columbia compare sound reproduction wise? And can you get twice as many plays on a single winding compared to the Victor machine? Good to see two such remarkable machines side by side. Many collectors would envious to own one of those let alone both of them. Great finds both.