Amberola III

[phonogfp]

Bruce asked for photos of this, so here they are - although I must apologize for the poor lighting. Until I lug this upstairs, it's in the (dark) living room.

As I mentioned on another thread, a very kind collector from St. Louis passed along a tip about an Amberola III sitting in a shop way up in Maine near Bar Harbor. It was reportedly all there except the reproducer (an admittedly expensive part for this model!). I was hoping to find the Diamond A (or possibly an L) hidden inside the machine, but no luck there. The original wooden box was still inside with screwdriver and tube of graphite, along with the front cover of the instruction booklet, but no reproducer. Still, the price was ridiculously low - I spent more for Saturday night's Bed & Breakfast than on the Amberola. We had a great weekend and did some sightseeing along the Maine coast on the way back. A 1400 mile round-trip.

The paint on the horn is pretty rough, as you can see, and I was going to re-grain it until I discovered patches of the original green grille cloth glued to the inside of the grille. Now I will leave the horn alone and install new cloth of the same color & texture.

The photos were taken with a Model M reproducer in place, as I was testing the machine last night with some wax Amberols. (I'm currently looking for a Diamond A reproducer.) The Amberola only needed a good cleaning and lubrication. I couldn't find any evidence that the mechanism had ever been messed with. It looks like it had been sitting unused for many years in a house. The paint on the mechanism is quite good, so it probably wasn't subjected to rapid cycles of freezing and thawing. This example sports the early Amberola lid decal, which I find interesting as it references the National Phonograph Company - - yet the Amberola III appeared almost 2 years after National was supplanted by Thomas A. Edison, Inc.

Both Bruce and I have been the recipients of kindness from a couple of very nice collectors!

George P.

[Valecnik]

Very nice example George, earlier style with the more elaborate decal too. I never thought about it but I suppose an M would work just fine on there for four minute records anyway, until you find the replacement A or L. Any indication there might have been casters? I've seen a very few of both the A150 and III with them but most seem to have come without.

Nice furnishings & rugs too, especially that Turkoman peeking out of the right side of the once pic, looks like underneath a table.

[Valecnik]

PS: I've mentioned before but will again. I've got a set of three original record albums for the Amb III, wooden back & very heavy carboard sides. If anyone thinks it's possible to make copies, I'd like to explore it further.

Also, some closeups of the grill cloth remnants in good light would be very interesting when you get time. Wood grained horn plus grillcloth makes no sense but, after all, this is TAE we're talking about here...

[phonogfp]

Thanks for your kind comments, Bruce.

It's 73 degrees here today (!), so I just took the grille outside to shoot it in natural light. Below are the closeups.

I'd certainly be interested in a set of albums for the Amberola III, either original or good reproductions. My A-150 has casters, but the Amberola III has metal glides.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't cover up the woodgrained horn, but the combination of poor paint condition and grille cloth having been originally installed prompts me to go with the grille cloth. The original wooden "frame" that helped secure the cloth was in place when I got it, and I'll reinstall that too.

George P.

[Valecnik]

Interesting. Your III seems to have had a grill cloth from day one.

My oak III does not have the frame, no nail holes and no indication that there was ever anything glued to the back of the grill, not one thread. My A150 has the frame, not a thread of grill cloth remaining if there was one, some small nail holes indicating there might have been a frame but not a thread of cloth remaining...

[edisonphonoworks]

Very nice machine, I have an A-150 DD.

[phonogfp]

Interesting. Your III seems to have had a grill cloth from day one.

My oak III does not have the frame, no nail holes and no indication that there was ever anything glued to the back of the grill, not one thread.

Here's a question: What's the serial number of your oak III? And does it have the early Amberola lid decal?

Earlier today I saw another mahogany III in a collection; serial number around 1050, and with the same traces of grille cloth/frame. (My III is No.593.) I wonder if there's an early vs. late production component at work here, or if different cabinet suppliers finished the grilles differently and were supplied different lid decals (possibly due to early vs. later contracts?).

George P.

[phonogfp]

Thanks, Shawn - A-150s are neat machines.

My A150 has the frame, not a thread of grill cloth remaining if there was one, some small nail holes indicating there might have been a frame but not a thread of cloth remaining...

I just checked my A-150 (No.6087) and the grille never had a frame for cloth, but there are once again traces of cloth stuck in shellac. The machine is oak with a light brown turntable felt, and the cloth appears to be brown/orange, so that would make sense. I don't care if this A-150 originally had a grille cloth or not - - I'm not covering the grain painted horn!

George P.

[FloridaClay]

While the cloth was missing from mine when I bought it, DD A-250s also had a wood grained painted horn and had grilles with cloth. There is a well known picture of Edison sitting between an A-250 and one of the experimental concrete cased machines. And yes, the A-250 in the picture has cloth on the grille. It does make you wonder why they would go to the trouble of nicely grain painting something that would seldom be seen, but they did.

Clay

[Yamaphone]

Here are two photos of my Amberola III (serial no.101) showing what remains of the grille cloth. The color in the photos is very close to actual. The metal horn is beautifully wood-grained to match the cabinet.
On page 185 of the George Frow book "Edison Cylinder Phonograph Companion" it discusses the introduction of the Amberolas V and VI and states that these two were the first Amberolas not to have a grille cloth and that on Dec. 30 1912 it was agreed to discontinue the grille cloth on Amberolas I and III as soon as the horns in them could be painted to match the cabinets.
Is it possible that unsold Amberolas had the grille cloths removed and the horns wood-grained before sale? The grille cloth in my Amberola III looks very intentionally removed and not just damaged. Has anyone seen an Amberola III with the horn not wood-grained?