The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I do not have the experience, and this is just a guess, could it be told by weighing them?

James.

Roaring20s wrote:I do not have the experience, and this is just a guess, could it be told by weighing them?

James.

I have been told that Gfell horns weight more than the originals

I just picked up a speartip for my Victor V from Gfell this weekend. I don't have any previous experience with original wood horns but I will to say I was astonished by how lightweight it is, not to mention how delighted I was with the end result. He matched it to my cabinet by working from photos I sent him and aged the horn and decal so it doesn't look too new.

Many original wooden horns are pretty rough. The horns shrink a bit with time and often develop cracks. A lot depends on how they were stored for the last 100 or so years. They are beautiful and the wood filters out some of the record noise. There are not enough originals to go around, so it is nice that Eduardo and Don can still supply us with these wonderful horns. I would prefer that they were identified as reproductions, maybe inside the ferrule would be a good place for a signature or a builders mark. I have an original on my Columbia BI, but if I didn't, I would be very happy with one from Eduardo.

Django wrote:Many original wooden horns are pretty rough. The horns shrink a bit with time and often develop cracks. A lot depends on how they were stored for the last 100 or so years. They are beautiful and the wood filters out some of the record noise. There are not enough originals to go around, so it is nice that Eduardo and Don can still supply us with these wonderful horns. I would prefer that they were identified as reproductions, maybe inside the ferrule would be a good place for a signature or a builders mark. I have an original on my Columbia BI, but if I didn't, I would be very happy with one from Eduardo.

I myself prefer the reproduction wood horns as for all purposes they look identical the originals and can be stained/finished to look just like an original. These horns are not shrinking, not falling apart and from what I understand they are built with stronger adhesives then the originals. They are a superior product.

The metal parts can be aged to look worn and as some of the original metal parts on horns were not serial number etc stamped the fact this aged repro lacks this feature makes this tell not such a tell for authenticity.

I just want ways to realistically tell the difference for future generations but I do agree that these horns are necessary for the hobby.

Sometimes, an authentic ferrule is attaches to a reproduction horn.

Django wrote:Sometimes, an authentic ferrule is attaches to a reproduction horn.

I have never seen one for sale, where are they at?

Joe Busam wrote:I just picked up a speartip for my Victor V from Gfell this weekend. I don't have any previous experience with original wood horns but I will to say I was astonished by how lightweight it is, not to mention how delighted I was with the end result. He matched it to my cabinet by working from photos I sent him and aged the horn and decal so it doesn't look too new.

Damn. I have to say I'm impressed!

krkey1 wrote:

Django wrote:Sometimes, an authentic ferrule is attaches to a reproduction horn.

I have never seen one for sale, where are they at?

Both Eduardo and Don have done it in the past. Here are some pictures of my original Columbia horn. It was a lot of work to bring back and the finish is old and a bit dull, but I still wouldn't trade it for a reproduction. That said, I would take a reproduction horn over many metal originals. You can always keep the original stored away for value and display and use the machine with the wooden horn. My favorites are actually the Nickel horns.

Beautiful, now where are those original horn endcaps you mentioned