The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Yes: I still have the Victor VV-IX which I bought when I was 16 (a very long time ago). I repaired the broken mainspring (by rivetting it - I didn't know of any source for repair parts at the time, it worked, and still does), cleaned and lubricated the mechanism, and re-attached the cabinet's 'broken leg'.

mhb - Mike

Yes: my Amberola 30 that i got as a birthday present when I was 14. It's been through several restoration attempts since then, and by now is perhaps close to its original appearance....

Bill

I must be one of the few who didn't get into the antique wing of this pursuit until I was past 50 a couple of years. I bought my first machine through Ebay and it was an early 1925 Victrola Consolette. there was something wrong with the motor that I didn't know how to fix, so it just sat in my garage all apart until a couple of months ago. I finally had my technician fix and regrease the motor and rebuild the reproducer. It sounds great now, but I would sell it due to a log jam of machines in my living room. I just haven't built up any sentimental attachment to it in the 12 years. but I did just buy a Credenza which I will receive in August. The little Consolette might look cute standing next to its big brother!

Ah, my first Phonograph!

It was a Model A Gem with a box of 12 cylinders, purchased in 1972-ish for £17.00.

Whilst I don't use it much now, it still plays as well as a Model A Gem ever does and I wouldn't part with it for the world.

All the best

Tim W-W

Jerry B. wrote:George, Isn't your Circassian XVI on the cover of one of your books? Jerry

Yes - it appeared on the cover of the 1st Edition of the Compendium. Good memory, Jerry!

George P.

I must be one of the few who doesn't still have my first machine...but I'm ok with that. At the time of purchase, I had not realized that my Columbia table top model was just the business end of a Columbia Grafonola L-2 that had been sawed in half.

I've come a long way...

Here I am pictured with my first machine in about 1958. It was a Micro-Perophone "Grippa" portable in oxblood red. At some time in antiquity a previous owner had replaced the original soundbox with a much older Sonora No.2 bearing a 1918 patent date. This soundbox damaged the loudest passages of electrical recordings, and I knew nothing about rock hard gaskets or stiff stylus bars in those days.

Eventually the mainspring broke, and not knowing how or where to get it repaired the machine was thrown away. By that time I had inherited my aunt's Columbia 204 portable, bought new for her 21st birthday in 1934, and I have it still.

I still have my Victrola XVI that my parents got me for a Bar Mitzvah gift. The label on the back was dated 1913. That was 1968. The machine turned to a true antique while in my possession.

I do.

Or perhaps I should say, "We do."

Ours was my wife's Great-Grandparents - a 1906 Model B Home. It came to us after the passing of my wife's Grandmother in 1986, complete with their aftermarket H&S red morning glory horn and about 100 records. Mostly the records were (moldy) Edison Gold Moulded records, but it also came with a couple of Columbia 2 minute "wax" records, several Edison "Goldguss" German records, and many nice Indestructibles. My favorite of them all: Indestructible (Oxford box) 2 minute No. 1468 - Come Josephine, In My Flying Machine - Jones and Van Brunt.

Long ago, the original Model B case was replaced with a "homebrew" cabinet, constructed out of an old bureau by my wife's Grandfather.

I wish this Phonograph could talk for itself. Imagine the stories it could tell! It would tell an amazing story of a young German immigrant woman and her husband: Two Farms, four children, many Grandchildren, dozens of Great-Grandchildren and Great-Great-Grandchildren (including our own Grandchildren)!

Just like marcapra, I started collecting after 50. In fact; only seriously since December 2013, at the age of 55.

I still have the first talking machine that I purchased, a nice Mahogany VV-XVI that I bought (literally) from a little old lady in 2012 for $250. I had always wanted a "Victrola", and I was blessed with it coming along at the exact right moment.

Best,
Fran

gramophone78 wrote:Yes, I started with a Berliner trade-mark and will never sell it. That is unless anyone wants to make an offer....just kidding... .

Wayne, I didn't realize you were that old