chris baker gramophones in UK - anyone know of the place?

[brianu]

this dealer was mentioned in another thread, so I looked at the site and it's one of the better ones that I've come across online. I tried to contact the place, but received no response. does anyone know of this dealer, or maybe dealt with him in the past?

http://www.chrisbakergramophones.co.uk/

in my email, I had asked about postage costs to the US - might that have been a turnoff? are there some UK dealers who, like some US dealers, are reluctant to send things abroad?

[Steve]

I've never met or dealt with Chris Baker in person so I can't comment on how reliable he might be but I've heard from others that he has had one or two nice machines in the past. The one and only time I did contact him, he sent me a current stock list that had very few items on it and most appeared to be rather over-restored and over-priced, I have to say, although sadly he had nothing spectacular at that time. I don't honestly look now.

I've heard good things about Philip Knighton in Somerset.

What machine interested you?

Also please do bear in mind that UK postage costs are pretty horrendous. The carriage might exceed the value of the machine.

[brianu]

hey steve,

thanks for the suggestions.

regarding the machines, I was looking at the brown croc leather hmv 101 or the Pathé lidded tabletop machine, although mainly the hmv 461. do you think postage for such things (well, for one of them) would be prohibitive? again though, I still haven't even received an email response from him, so who knows.

brian

[Steve]

Brian

It's none of my business what you decide to pay (or not) for any machine BUT I can tell you this: the 101 is a very GOOD price although I suspect that postage will be over £80 which will make it an expensive machine. The Pathé is over-priced if you look at Continental Ebay where they can be found for a ¼ of the money. The 461 is very nice but sadly again, a bit steep. By the time you've paid carriage, it'll be a £600 machine for what is really a very pretty mahogany '101 style' table machine. I think if I was you, I'd be more tempted to negotiate on the price / postage on that brown crocodile cloth 101. It is safer to post that machine AND it will always be an iconic model and instantly saleable wherever you reside in the world. The other 2 machines will be more costly and less easy to shift, should your preferences shift slightly at a later date.

HTH

Steve

[doublemike]

His website is off by several days... do you know anything about that?

[soundgen]

Chris is a really nice friendly guy , I am sure he could ship to you by Fedex which in my experience is about ½ to 1/3rd of Royal Mail prices , I always do this through Parcel2Go.com

[epigramophone]

His website is off by several days... do you know anything about that?

I have just tried to access his website, but up pops the message "Page not found". I hope all is well with him.

[Orchorsol]

I've bought several very fine and 'honest' machines from them over the years, and they've become personal friends... Chris and Sandie have recently wound up their gramophone business (pardon the pun) and retired.