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It looks nice! is it the smallest version of the Expert (Minor)?

Thankyou Carlos. It is indeed an Expert Minor in mahogany with a Collaro electric motor. Even the paint on the horn appears to be the original, as the chipped areas show no other colour underneath.

The only non-original fitment is the soundbox, which is an EMG 2-spring "horse shoe" type which probably started life on a Mark IX. It has it's original box and fitting instructions, pictured here :

epigramophone wrote:Thankyou Carlos. It is indeed an Expert Minor in mahogany with a Collaro electric motor. Even the paint on the horn appears to be the original, as the chipped areas show no other colour underneath.

The only non-original fitment is the soundbox, which is an EMG 2-spring "horse shoe" type which probably started life on a Mark IX. It has it's original box and fitting instructions, pictured here :

What is the diaphragm made of?

The diaphragm is aluminium, about 47mm in diameter, and appears to be the original. It has hardened with age and would benefit from replacement, but the soundbox is much improved now that new gaskets and a new rubber coupling have been fitted.

epigramophone wrote:The diaphragm is aluminium, about 47mm in diameter, and appears to be the original. It has hardened with age and would benefit from replacement, but the soundbox is much improved now that new gaskets and a new rubber coupling have been fitted.

I see. I couldn't tell from the picture. I've never seen one in person; are they rare?

Phonoboy wrote:I've never seen one in person; are they rare?

They are not extremely rare, I would say scarce, every now and then one shows up for sale, but their prices are extremely high. Everything with EMG or Ginn (Expert) label commands very high prices today. I have a variation of that in my EMG, which is a four-spring soundbox. Its design is an evolution of the Victor exhibition with aluminum diaphragm, and much less sophisticated than the orthophonic or its English counterparts 5a/5b, but acoustically it fits to perfection in the EMG, and this is what makes the difference. The same with the Expert, I have a four-spring version which also sounds great in my Expert Junior (which has I think the same body as the Minor but a significantly larger horn).

My machine would originally have been supplied with an Expert 2-spring soundbox, and I had intended to source one to replace the EMG, but Frank James has advised me to live with the EMG first.

He considers it to be the better soundbox, and when Frank proffers advice I listen!

I will be taking the soundbox to Graham next week to try on the Xb oversize horn. I might have taken the entire machine, but the motor is away being made electrically safe. It still had remnants of the original twin core braided cable i.e unearthed! Interesting times....

Roger.

Roger

Frank is quite right! The EMG Mark 9 soundbox you have there is considerably more "flexible" with a wide range of records / repertoire, than the Expert soundbox. Mind you, in your position, I too would insist upon getting the correct original soundbox for the machine for posterity whilst still using and enjoying the EMG soundbox.

Good listening

Steve

Thankyou Steve.

The motor has been rewired, cleaned and adjusted. The soundbox has been rebuilt as previously mentioned, and the small areas of paint loss around the horn rim have been touched in.

Although it cannot match the bass response of the larger horns, it gives excellent results with the acoustic operatic records which are my main collecting interest.