About Variations on Amberola 30 Phonographs

[CDBPDX]

I have noticed that the ID plates for the Amberola 30 machines were located different places. Examples:

SN 46534 has a black ID plate inside the cabinet at the front just to the right of the horn
SN 134391 has a black ID plate on the metal motor bed plate
SN 158151 has a gold colored ID plate inside the cabinet lid on the left at the front

Is there a specific date or serial number known where these changes were made?

Also, there seems to be 2 different lid designs for the cabinets. Early style and late style??

How many locations were used for the ID plates on 30s? What other cabinets design variations were made? Is there a place I can go to find this info?

Thanks! CDB

[gramophone78]

There is a thread regarding this already. Hope that helps.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... tag#p66663

[CDBPDX]

There is a thread regarding this already. Hope that helps.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... tag#p66663

The answer to all my questions was provided by Tony K. (NEFaurora) fromthis thread from 2010:


The First early Amberola 30's had the Nickeled Reproducers, and also the Black and Silver Dataplates next to the Early (Slotted) type horn assembly (As in the posted pic above earlier in this thread), and also had a Ratchet type sounding handle mechanism, and 5 ply veneer cabinets. and exposed speed control knob. The lid bracket was a two screw type onto the lid. Lastly, Very early 1st type Amberola had Gold Pinstriping on the gear cover, but not all.

The 2nd type of Amberola 30's also had the Early Black and Silver Dataplates (1915-1917) but were moved and now mounted on the rear of the bedplate right behind the mandrel and cabinets mostly had the 3 ply veneer cabinets as the 5-ply cabinets were being phased out. The horn was then changed to a pin-type horn assembly. The speed control was changed and was hidden under the side/top gearplate cover for the rest of the Amberola 30 run to 1927. The lid bracket was still a two screw type onto the lid, and was retained.

The 3rd and final Amberola 30 type (1918-1927) had New style more rounded upper top lid and was missing a "step" formerly found on earlier Amberola lids, and the lid bracket was changed to a (1) one screw type. The Dataplates were changed to all brass with first white, then later Black lithopgraph lettering. The Dataplate was also moved this time and screwed to the upper front left side of the upper lid, It was no longer located anywhere on the base of the phonograph. The horn still retained the pin-type horn assembly. The cabinets were still 3-ply veneer, but were really being cheapened at this point, less glue on the veneer being used, lower quality veneer, etc.


This is pretty much how it went, but as always, There will be phasing in/phasing out variations of parts...but not too many deviations from above.


Tony K.

Thanks! CDB

[NEFaurora]

Glad that the article I wrote a few years ago came in handy.

As an addendum to the original article, It should **also be noted while all these changes were going on to the Amberola 30, Almost the same identical changes were happening to the Amberola 50 and Amberola 75 at the same time. Not all changes were identical to the Amberola 30, but All Changes to the Amberola 50 and 75 were similar respectively.

Tony K.
Melbourne, FL