Flea Market Find

[De Soto Frank]

$75.00

Wow - you must sure be in a "state of grace" as the nuns would say when I was in grade school...


Maybe you should go buy a couple powerball tickets soon !

[mcgravy]

I'm still in shock! I was sure it was just going to be something someone had made up from some old parts.

[FloridaClay]

WOW indeed!!! The sort of thing that keeps us mucking about at flea markets and yard sales.

Clay

[dennis]

You said there were 2 records with it?!?! Did they clean up well? What were the titles and artists? Were there any recording dates?

[Skihawx]

Congradulations!! That is a fantastic find just the way it is. I'd use some repro parts to complete it. You are not going to find too many complete machines.

I want to go the fleamarkets in Alabama!

[mcgravy]

Yes there were 2 records. You can see how dirty the one on top was. It cleaned up and plays well on my Victor R. The one underneath just needed a light cleaning. The top one was "For the Nursery" DeBarrg? Nov.23/95 and the other was "Mrs. Casey putting Patsy to sleep" Russell Hunting? May 8/96.

[OrthoSean]

As much as I enjoy early 7 inch records and the machines alike, I really advise against playing things like Berliners that exist in such small numbers these days acoustically. A front mount machine will wear them out very quickly and a rear mount / internal horn machine will do the same eventually. I always suggest people buy a few late 7 inch Emersons or something similar to demo on a front mount machine and save the really early stuff for electrical playback. They're your records, but think about posterity here, especially with things like these.

That machine is an incredible find, by the way!

Sean

[mcgravy]

Thanks Sean, That top record was so dirty that I was sure it was ruined anyway so I tried it on my R and was pleasantly surprised at the sound but I agree with you I won't be playing them again unless electrically.

[kirtley2012]

As much as I enjoy early 7 inch records and the machines alike, I really advise against playing things like Berliners that exist in such small numbers these days acoustically. A front mount machine will wear them out very quickly and a rear mount / internal horn machine will do the same eventually. I always suggest people buy a few late 7 inch Emersons or something similar to demo on a front mount machine and save the really early stuff for electrical playback. They're your records, but think about posterity here, especially with things like these.

That machine is an incredible find, by the way!

Sean

or if you really want to play them acoustically, just use a fiber needle, less wear done, still best to play them on newer equipment though

[OrthoSean]

Alex, I know what you're saying. You would think that's the case, but I've tried playing some early discs with fibers on a few different machines with properly redone and adjusted everything and certain discs like really early Victors still show wear that you can watch happen as the disc plays. Same with a Zonophone I tried that was cracked anyway. I'll stick to modern playback for these, it just isn't worth risking the damage IMO. I'm glad to see most people agreeing with me. It's not about arguing on my part, but preservation. There are lots of other records that can be played without fear of extinction on acoustic machines, so why risk these? I know others who still do it anyway, but you can't save them all...

Sean