Original with added parts ?

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soundgen
Victor V
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Original with added parts ?

Post by soundgen »

Original with added parts ? This looks like an original HMV 30 model gramophone with parts replaced by an Indian horn and a later tone arm soundbox , worth restoring to original ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antique-HMVCo ... 0757596201

Phono48
Victor IV
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by Phono48 »

I keep looking at it and wondering "Should I take it on or not?". An original arm, soundbox and turntable shouldn't be hard to find, (at a price!) as they were common to other, more common machines, but the horn and elbow would be more difficult, I think. It could end up being a very expensive machine.

Barry

epigramophone
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by epigramophone »

Phono48 wrote:I keep looking at it and wondering "Should I take it on or not?". An original arm, soundbox and turntable shouldn't be hard to find, (at a price!) as they were common to other, more common machines, but the horn and elbow would be more difficult, I think. It could end up being a very expensive machine.

Barry
If you do decide to purchase, please keep me in mind for the Plano-Reflex tonearm.

If it is the smaller (8 inches when extended) version it might complete the restoration of my Columbia 220 portable. Just a thought.

Phono48
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by Phono48 »

epigramophone wrote:If you do decide to purchase, please keep me in mind for the Plano-Reflex tonearm.

If it is the smaller (8 inches when extended) version it might complete the restoration of my Columbia 220 portable. Just a thought.
I certainly will, but I'm more inclined to let someone else have the problem with this one. Are you missing the complete arm on your 220?

Barry

epigramophone
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by epigramophone »

I have the original tonearm on my 220, but the plating is badly pitted.
I could have it rechromed, but replacing it with a better one would be my preferred option as it is likely to blend in better with the remaining original fittings.

Phono48
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by Phono48 »

I wonder why the Plano-reflex arms with the black bases always seem to be pitted, but only when chromium plated. The same arms with the pot metal sockets as fitted to the 201 and 202 portables don't seem to suffer. Two of my "export" Columbias, the 200 and the 220 both had to have the arms replated, but nothing else. Strange!

epigramophone
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by epigramophone »

The British Plano-Reflex models had brass tonearms, but the overseas models seem to have used steel. The overseas models are not well documented, and no-one can even say with certainty where they were made.

The British 109, 112, 201 and 202 portables all have a 9 inch brass tonearm which cannot be substituted for the 8 inch steel tonearm on the 220.

My recently acquired 2a Horn Model has a Plano-Reflex tonearm which appears to be made entirely of pot metal. Introduced for the 1929 season, this was the last open horn machine Columbia ever made.

So much effort has been expended in documenting the history of HMV and it's products, but so little in the case of their greatest competitor.

Phono48
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Re: Original with added parts ?

Post by Phono48 »

This is interesting! My little British 100 has a pot metal arm.
I have five "overseas" Columbia portables, and it's obvious that quite a few utilise parts seemingly "left over" from other, previous models.
Re. the 5th photo, this is clearly stamped in the lid "Model 204". Now, as far as I know, the 204 was purely a British model, identical to the HMV 97. Stranger and stranger!

Models photographed are, in order from the top, the 100, then the "overseas" 220, 213, 211,204, and the 200.

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