Featured Phonograph № 5

[MordEth]

I've also got an A150 Diamond Disc in Oak. It has the most beautifully woodgrained horn one could imagine. I'm pleased it does but why?

Bruce,

I’m sure I am wrong, but I had kind of assumed that they did that only on the more ‘high end’ machines?

I’m guessing this is the (quite lovely) machine (below) that you are referring to...?

I really can’t make out the wood grain in the latter picture, but it’s obviously not ‘Henry Ford black’.

Already by the B series they figured this out and went to standard Henry Ford black on all the horns

So the wood grain paint jobs weren’t done any any machines after this?

— MordEth

(Images borrowed from Na Vrstvách Gramophones—Bruce’s phonograph page.)

[richardh]

Those sure are other great examples of Edison machine, but can I ask why they are up on bricks.

RJ

[Valecnik]

David, the picture you copied from my webpage is the A150. Unfortunately you can't see the woodgraining under all the dirt but as you point out, you can see that's it's not "Henry Ford black". This was one of the "A" series with woodgrained horn.

The A series was fairly short lived, I believe up the the end of 1914. The B introduced then used some of the same cabinets but already had gone to the flat black horn.

[MordEth]

David, the picture you copied from my webpage is the A150.

Bruce,

I know, and ironically, it was also the first Google result that I got from ‘A150 Edison’. I wasn’t positive whether it was the one you meant—for all I know, you could have more than one A150.

This was one of the "A" series with woodgrained horn.

Based on your earlier comment about switching, I assume they also made ‘A’ series machines with black horns?

Thanks for the Edison disc phonograph lesson.

— MordEth

[Valecnik]

As far as I know all of the A series had woodgrained horns, even the cheapest A60 pictured here:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nYpLPmn6370/S ... G_3295.JPG

Sixty dollars in 1912 with metal woodgrained case. This one I saw at the Union Illinois show last summer. It's the only one I've ever seen.

Of course there are probably some exceptions, transitional machines to prove me wrong!

[phonogfp]

I agree with Bruce - - I've never seen an A-series Edison Disc Phonograph that didn't have a grain-painted horn. Here's another photo of an A-150's horn:

George P.

[MordEth]

George,

Great photo! Certainly, I think it does a great job of showcasing just how much detail went into their imitating wood grain.

I don’t want to know how much work went into painting that.

— MordEth

[Valecnik]

George,

Great photo! Certainly, I think it does a great job of showcasing just how much detail went into their imitating wood grain.

I don’t want to know how much work went into painting that.

— MordEth

David, extracting from the inflation calculator you referenced on the other thread the $150 price tag of an A150 in 1912 would have been the equivalent of $3174.00 in 2007. For over $3000, I guess they SHOULD put some effort into properly decorating the horn.

George, your picture is excellent. It really shows how well they had that woodgraining technique down. It's just too bad that the paint tended to fleck off on many of them. I'm lucky that on both my A150 and A300 the original paint is still very nice under all that dust.

Regarding Richards question on the bricks, at the time I took these pictures I'd moved to Europe and moved all the machines into the lower story of my parents house. The bricks were a safety precaution against water because they are below ground level and I am ~ 4,700 miles away from them. Bricks help me sleep better.

[Valecnik]

I thought I heard somewhere along the line, that the earliest DD's didn't have fabric in the grille, but I could be wrong.
I have a couple machine that have/had the original silk, and often they are quite see through. Not clearly obviously, but you can see the horn shape & colour if you really look.
One machine has what looks like a heavy fly screen & is very see though.

Good question. I assumed they had some sort of grillcloth but there's no evidence of one having been there on either machine. I think I recall reading that even some of the early Amberola 1A and 1B had grillcloths but that it's use was soon abandoned.

[EdisonReproducers]

I believe the grill was meant to be removed when you played the phono and that is why they painted the horns. I always remove the grill when I listen.

After the fire when Edison lost millions the machines went cheap. The A models are much nicer and better made, at least the few I have seen are.