The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I like"Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet "sung by Frederick Potter. Sadly, it never reissued on the Blue Amberol,only on the wax.Potter's rendition is peppier than the Blue Amberol by Joseph Phillips. edisonplayer.

Lucius1958 wrote:Yeah, I've lost a few WAs that way: one of them practically exploded on the mandrel. Some others cracked just sitting in their boxes...

-Bill

That's been my experience also. They are just too fragile which is why I no longer buy WAs.

Tales abound. I'll never forget buying a copy of Amberol 355 one winter around 15 years ago and walking home with it in my pocket when the outdoor temp Fahrenheit was about zero. Put it on the mandrel of my Standard model D, played it through once--and then heard a cracking sound that was exactly like when you toss an ice cube into a lukewarm drink. The thing came off the mandrel in pieces.

That said, there's an amazing charm to them as indeed only a minority of the titles were transferred to Blue Amberol. The decisions on which titles to transfer to Blue Amberol were odd indeed; some good choices, but just as many good (or better) ones that didn't make the cut.

Use an external horn machine with a larger, horizontal carrier arm so you can use a model N reproducer that tracks firmly and skips less (instead of a model O, which wobbles too much). Keep them in one of those "Very Useful Boxes" with a lid that seals pretty well, which mimimizes ambient temp and humidity fluctuations.

There was also,"My Wild Irish Rose,"sung by W.H.Thompson and Will Oakland. That was never on Blue Amberol.edisonplayer.