Very Strange U-Phone Machine. Info?

[phononut]

Hello All
Well, I am interested in a very unusual machine which is right now for sale. The Leeds u-phone. Well, I was wondering if anyone had an idea of a value so I can make an offer, and some more information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Brad

[syncopeter]

I would advise you to stay far away from it. The platter is totally out of keeping with the period, the cabinet looks to be either non original or refinished. I would only buy it if I needed some parts. Better invest in an I-phone. To me it is a reasonably well-made Frankenphone. And again there is no picture of the right hand side. $50 would be the maximum I would bid on it and even then I'd have quite a few reservations.

[gramophoneshane]

I dont think it's a frankenphone, but I dont think it's anything "unusual" either. To me it just looks like a common run of the mill British made off-brand gramophone of the mid-late 1920's.
The turntable (& therefore the motor) appear to be Garrard, with Thorens brake, speed control & tonearm (which is a common combination), and the soundbox is by Goldring. The soundbox is probably a later replacement, as I'd expect a machine with that tonearm to have a soundbox with a mica diaphragm. I've got a couple of those aluminium diaphragmmed Goldring soundboxes, & they perform extremely well...not quite as well as a Victor Ortho or HMV 5a/b, but they are certainly one of the better off-brand boxes, so I think the machine would produce quite reasonable sound quality.
The tonearm is obviously made by Thorens, and although I have seen them on various machines in the past, I've never actually "handled" one in person, but they appear to be a generic metal arm as the core with a wood laminate applied to the outside surface. I would expect originally, the soundbox would have matched the arm and would have also had some form of wood lamination applied to it also, but I really cant say for sure because I'm not familiar with the U-phone range of machines. Therefore the Goldring soundbox might be original to the machine, but normally such a soundbox would be coupled with a more modern swan-neck tonearm.
The machines exterior finish has definately been stripped at some stage unfortunately.
Pricing is totally different here, so I cant really advise what a fair price would be, but I'd suspect in USA, $100 would be absolute top dollar. Both the Garrard motor & Goldring s/b are very good quality, so that's about what I'd expect to pay (here) for those 2 items alone.

[David Spanovich]

Hi Brad:

After a little googling, I came across this photo of a U-Phone sound box.

U-Phone Sound Box.JPG (22.19 KiB) Viewed 1717 times

The front plate is metal, the body is wood.
From -- http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/p ... -168268334

I also spotted the same (exact) gramophone as the one you're interested in--same photos, etc. I agree with the statements above, and feel the $350 they're asking is optimistic--at best--especially considering the fact that the sound box is a replacement and the original finish seems to have been stripped from the cabinet. I've seen other references to the Leeds U-Phone, and remember seeing one in an oak cabinet many years ago, so I agree with GramophoneShane that it's not a fake. If the motor is in excellent running condition, the cabinet is structurally sound--no wormwood--and the sound box preforms well, I might go as high as $150-$175.

One thing I'm wondering is why it was called the U-Phone. Is it equipped with a horn that curves in the shape of a "U" for instance?

DS

[GMEMG]

It's a U - Phone, Made in Leeds !

They are fairly rare as they only sold in the Yorkshire area and only used a wooden tonearm, wooden soundbox and if i recall correctly a wooden horn made of plywood.

this is a better than avarage one as although it appears to have been re - finsihed on the outside the fragile grillecloth with the trademark has survived.

Many years ago i thought of starting a "Cabinet Gramophone Museum" to display all the weird & Wonderful cabinet makes that would therwise in the UK be coverted into Drinks cabinets etc - this would have been in it .

[GMEMG]

It's a U - Phone, Made in Leeds !

They are fairly rare as they only sold in the Yorkshire area and only used a wooden tonearm, wooden soundbox and if i recall correctly a wooden horn made of plywood.

this is a better than avarage one as although it appears to have been re - finsihed on the outside the fragile grillecloth with the trademark has survived.

Many years ago i thought of starting a "Cabinet Gramophone Museum" to display all the weird & Wonderful cabinet makes that would therwise in the UK be coverted into Drinks cabinets etc - this would have been in it .

[phononut]

Very Interesting

A while back I contacted the seller with a reasonable offer of $200.00, and he told me to never reply, only if I was going to make a reasonable offer. It is certainly an interesting machine, and that is the main reason I was so interested. I would like to thank everyone for their help, and if you have any other suggestions I am always very appreciative

Brad

[GMEMG]

$200 ? that was wat it's worth - any more than that and it's not worth it.

Another case of "Great Expectations" by the Vendor

[David Spanovich]

Very Interesting

A while back I contacted the seller with a reasonable offer of $200.00, and he told me to never reply, only if I was going to make a reasonable offer. It is certainly an interesting machine, and that is the main reason I was so interested. I would like to thank everyone for their help, and if you have any other suggestions I am always very appreciative

Brad

Well, as I noted ABOVE, his set price is $350 -- http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell ... Z328762476

Maybe some sucker customer will make him a more generous offer.

DS

[U-Phone owner]

Hello! I recently purchased my own U-Phone! I too am having trouble finding any info on the U-Phone Co. from Leeds. ...Does anyone know where I can get more info on the company?

Wanted to share pics of my machine, but not sure how to do that here??