What is happening to our hobby?

[calumetphono1]

Wow is it me or what? I remember getting copies of allen k. Antique Phonograph Monthly, Tim Gracyks, 78 Journal, Martin Bryan's New Amberola Graphic, these were all great magazines. What happened? Poof they all dissapeared. Now it is like impossible to find the good old stories like there used to be. Also, looks like there are not as many people into the hobby like it used to be...more of a handful of people. I don't like to sound depressing, but what is the state of our hobby and where is it headed.

I just feel there is less interest among the younger generations in these old machines and records. I am now 38 and have been collecting since I was 14, so wow time has passed and remember some great communications with old editors of the journals and repairman...gotta miss old bob waltrip, ruth lambert and aaron cramer, kinda makes me want to cry....they were some good people with some good insight and passion for the hobby. Back in the 90's you could get a packet of 100 needles from martin bryan for a whopping. $ 1.49.

[phononut]

Hello
If you are worried about the future of this hobby, I am 13 and have about 15 phonographs. I am sure many other young people are interested too. Also with internet now days I believe less printed material is going out.

Brad

[Jerry B.]

The Michigan Antique Society's newsletter, "In the Groove" and the California Antique Society's newsletter, "The Sound Box" are the best publications in the forty years I've collected. Books from George & Tim, the Rolfs, and others are the best ever (and should be on everyones self). If you'd like to see what we had forty years ago, I have an extra copy of "Tinfoil to Stereo" and it's a first addition ($35). The availability of good quality reproduction parts is much better than in the past. The internet and different forums have moved collecting from a regional hobby to a national and international hobby.

It's a good time to be a collector but there are problems. I think the economy has reduced disposable income and, at the very least, confidence in spending. Prices are down for many collectables including phonographs. The average age of collectors is aging but I think there's young collectors coming into our hobby. We need to encourage new collectors. Jerry Blais

[Nat]

Magazines in many hobby and interest areas are going by the board. It's the internet. As an old guy, I love the printed page, but you can get so much more, so much faster, and with better on the net. I believe that's what you're seeing - and as with much else, that's where the young are going.

[New Owner]

The internet is where these great people are going. The internet's actually been a boon to the hobby. How else would collectors get spare parts? Hunt for a company that supplies them, wait a long time for them to come in, and have something of very shoddy quality? Information is much more accurate. Yes, most of the "great" finds have been taken, but with the abundance of info available, one who makes a great find actually knows what makes it a great find.

Also, I'll probably get a lot of flack for this, but I want to bring this to light. Phono-hoarders. People who just have phonographs spilling out their behinds, sometimes literally. They may have a focus in their collection, but they still have too much. I doubt some of these hoarders even use their phonographs. They just clean 'em up to look pretty and shove 'em into climate controlled halls, but they might as well be in attics. A phonograph is meant to be enjoyed, either by listening to music on one, or demonstrating it to (hopefully) interested people. I only have one measly little off-brand and a meager 25 78s, but it gives me enjoyment, much more enjoyment than I'd get from a Type K or a Class M. If I spent $12K on a phonograph, I'd put it to use. Basically, all the finds are gone because the good stuff's been snatched up already.

When you get down to it, they're just old record players. I'm sorry, but that's all they are.

[Nat]

VV-IV - You make a good point. Much is the same in the world of good instruments, especially violins, violas and cellos: too many of them are locked up, never being played, while there are wonderful instrumentalists who would make good use of them, and allow them to be heard.

An argument can be made for preserving a few instruments - like the "Messiah" Stradivarius in the Ashmolean - in order to have one pristine example around (after all, no matter how careful one is, instruments, like phonographs will deteriorate with time).

On the whole though, I'm with the camp that wants fewer machines (I have six) but uses them.

[1923VictorFan]

As long as humans crave making connections with their past I think there will always be new generations of "collectors" for everything from buttons and phonographs to firearms and furniture. Even though the generations of "original" owners are rapidly disappearing there are younger people looking for that same nostalgic link to their past. The internet has made this MUCH easier for everyone. It no longer matters where you live. You can find most all of the more common machines as well as replacement parts and even folks to do the restoration if you have enough money.
I started out about 20 years ago with an Edison Standard and a Brunswick upright machine. I no longer have either of them anymore but I started all over again about 9 years ago with a focus on early (pre-1908) Victor records and lesser interest in the machines due to my limited finances. When listening to them I turn to my VV-VI and sometimes my VV-IV (the only machines I own). I have no plans to buy any more valuable machines but my record collection grows monthly in very tiny increments.
My feeling is that there will always be collectors for the lower priced machines and there will always be a market for the rarer machines with more financially secure collectors and decorators. Prices will rise and fall as with everything else in our world but I think there will always be collectors and the hobby will ebb & flow but definately stay alive.

[phonogfp]

I know collectors who own over 500 phonographs, and I know collectors who own 2 or 3. Some of these people play their records all the time; others only occasionally. Some have very valuable machines in their collections, while others don't. As has been pointed out, they're only old phonographs. Call me kooky, but I'd like to live in an environment where people are free to collect as many or as few phonographs as they like, and to play them as often as they like. Tolerance is a wonderful thing.

As for the printed word, I too prefer it to the Internet, but there's no need to choose one or the other. But I would ask - hypothetically of course - whether we would expect an author to invest hundreds of hours in research, travel, photography, and associated expenses over the course of say a year in order to write a book - - and post it to the Internet? I fear that the ephemeral nature of the Internet will discourage much serious work being posted to it unless the same work is simultaneously published in more permanent form as well. Will John Grisham be posting his stories for free? And should we expect him to?

Magazines by their nature are usually less labor-intensive for the multiple authors who contribute to each issue. But I don't expect medical or scientific journals to be published exclusively online, simply because the authors have invested too much of themselves to risk the loss of their intellectual property when a server crashes. The only virus-proof document is on paper.

Just my two cents.

George P.

[phonohoarder]

I knew a guy he had at least 800 phonographs in his home, huge home and lots of them, he had wooden slats for them to all sit in a row, All the Victors, Columbia etc. everything was like a museum,he would go make a cup of tea or coffee stand around (poke around) and look proud of his collection, he was very distinguished and discerning. I wonder if people think that many phonographs are too many? Also he said he had every diamond disc record, the wallts were filled, shelves of records.

[syncopeter]

One of my friends on another forum is only 14 as has already 2,000 78s! be assured, our hobby is far from dead. But the internet has been the casue of som many magazines closing down. Most societies now have great websites where you will find loads of information. There is a whole new generation that is interested in vintage music and the machines that they were played on. Jazz in particular is hugely popular. Where I payed 5 guilders for a mint Red Nichols not too long ago, I now have to pay at least double if not triple. And not because of scarcity, demand just exceeds availability. In Europe people are no longer interested in 'old' machines, they want something that makes their records sound right. Rather have a good portable than some fancy 190x cabinet machine that sounds like an elephant with laryngitis.