Correct type color Grille material for an Amberola 30 ?

[NEFaurora]

Correct type color Grille material for an Amberola 30 ?
Mine is a postwar 1919-1920 Model. Color of wood is a Dark Brown. -Also would like to know what the original Dark Brown wood color was called. Fumed Oak? It definately does not look like reddish Mahoghany as a I have a few mahoghany Edisons. It is a real Dark Brown original stain.

I know some of the earlier pre-war units had no grill cloth at all. But I know that this one originally came with a grill cloth.

Question is: What color is the original grille cloth supposed to be?

White? Off-white? Golden Brown?

I know that sometimes white turns to off-white over a period of 90 years...lol..

Anyone know what color the original was supposed to be? I know that Black is not correct, though I see some people using that color.

Pretty sure that it was originally White, but I want a general consensus.

Any "definitive" help here? I am trying to get a number of opinion before I put new cloth in.

Thanks,

Tony K.

[gramophoneshane]

Only the very early Amberola 30's had grille cloth AFAIK.
I've got a picture of one on my other computer that I'll add a little later.

[gramophoneshane]

I dont know for sure, but I'd say this cloth started out the same golden brown colour that Edison used in his diamond disc machines. I doubt it was ever white.

edison A30 original cloth.jpg (75.91 KiB) Viewed 1647 times

[NEFaurora]

"Only the very early Amberola 30's had grille cloth AFAIK."

I have to disagree with the above statement. I know that quite a few really very early ones had no grill cloths. We know this from existing machines. From what I have seen over the past few years, It's the later ones that had the grille cloths. Page 182 of Frow's book says the exact opposite, but I have found quite a few errors with Frow's books over the past few years..especially in the area of dating machines such as in the case of the Home Phonograph. I have seen a few errors in this area. It's possible that Frow mis-spoke when he made the statement on Page 182 of the Phonograph Companion when he spoke about the Amberola 30 Grille cloth, and the info has just been propogated over the years. As everyone well knows, The Pre-war Pre 1917 Amberolas such as the Amberola X (forerunner to the 30 model) had no such grille cloths. Especially because of this, I think that Frow made an error here in the book. It happens. His book is still the best guide - though you have to take it with a grain of salt.

I always go by actual existing machines and actual serial numbers. They will always be our best guides, Now and forever. Really low serial numbers of most models have exceptions of course because of company experimentations in the early production lines of most models. Actual unrestored machines are our best guides. Watch out for the Frankenphones though!

I have had the above pic of the Amberola 30 and a few others of original machines, but it's really hard to tell even from a digital pic. It's the kind of thing that needs to be examined by someone here that has an actual original Amberola 30 grille cloth...and they need to post the results of their examination.

An earlier poster above was correct in saying that the Diamond Disc machines came with the Golden Brown grille cloths. They sure did. I'm just wondering as I am sure a few others - that if the Amberola 30's came with the same type of Golden Brown cloths, or White or Off-white color. That is the big question. We won't know until someone closely examines their original Amberola 30 grille cloth and report here. At any rate, This is a great thread!

Tony K.

[Andersun]

I dont know for sure, but I'd say this cloth started out the same golden brown colour that Edison used in his diamond disc machines. I doubt it was ever white.

edison A30 original cloth.jpg

I have had 3 Amberola 30s with golden brown nylon-like cloth like is pictured above....

[NEFaurora]

You may want to try to re-post the above attachment again, Apparently it never took! It looks like the Golden Brown silk color is winning here, but would like to hear from others on their results. Thanks for posting!

Tony K.

[VintageTechnologies]

Interesting speculations. I used to think the golden brown cloth was a very faded red silk. I sure wish I had asked my grandfather such questions 40 years ago, because he bought a new Amberola 30 when he was a young man. He was amused when I started collecting that "junk" as a kid, but he certainly had fond memories of Ada Jones and Billy Murray.

[Andersun]

You may want to try to re-post the above attachment again, Apparently it never took! It looks like the Golden Brown silk color is winning here, but would like to hear from others on their results. Thanks for posting!

Tony K.

Sorry, I meant the picture already posted above my post. I didn't have a picture. The color was golden brown.

[Lucius1958]

Hmm: I'll have to see if I can find some of that material...

[NEFaurora]

Yes, The color does indeed seem to be the Golden Brown color as used in the Diamond Disc machines. It all makes complete sense, since Edison never wasted anything! I'm glad that I have some. There is a guy on Ebay selling some, It is a pretty good match if anyone needs some.

Thanks to all who inputed here!

Much Thanks,

Tony K.