The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Good thing you don't need whatever is behind that door

audiophile102 wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:05 pm Quite a beautiful collection of Brunswick's. The walnut veneers are really excellent. Congratulations.

Thank you! Now I need the Model 42 with the changer in it

David

Dischoard wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:34 pm Good thing you don't need whatever is behind that door

It's just a bathroom... theres another door into it anyways. I have exceeded the space I have for phonographs in this room It's amazing how there always seems to be just enough space for one more

David

dzavracky wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:40 pm
Thank you! Now I need the Model 42 with the changer in it

David

This is what I have. I haven’t done anything with it since it was given to me, but one of these days I will find room for it on the first floor of the house and put everything in working order.

Bill

I'm jealous! I am looking forward to the day I can get one. There are definitely forum members here who could assist you in getting it running... good luck!

David

I really like the 148-C that I have. They are surprisingly loud for no larger than that speaker is. I have a 138-C also and there are things to like about both of them, but the 148 was more money when it was new. And you don't have to clear the junk off the left side of the cabinet to get to the radio. Those Radiola 28's are a strange animal and I don't think they are really wild about the way AM radio is transmitted these days. When it's clear out in the winter, I can pick up California radio stations with it here in Iowa. I have an idea back in the 20's when they had much less interference those things must have been an incredibly good radio.

I did have transformers made for both of mine and eliminated that ballast tube. When those are first turned on, they get a jolt of electricity through the system that takes a few moments for the ballast tube the catch and settle down. And line voltage is higher now than it generally was in the 20's. I've run mine with the ballast tube and after about ½ hour or so the cabinet gets quite warm or even hot. And the 210 tube was the one that the jolt of electricity usually burned out. Western Electric made quite a few minor changes on that amplifier to try and solve that problem. They really were the first all electric radio/phonograph and people in the mid 20's must have been dumbstruck with they first heard those things. A friend of mine knew a guy that sold Brunswicks in the 20's and he told Terry how they would haul those things to movie theaters to give demonstrations to audiences. Imagine dragging those monsters around to do that? It's a good thing those legs are really strong and well attached to those cabinets.

The dyes they used in those early spray lacquers were not very stable and they fade really badly in bright light. Those early lacquers like that used castor oil for the plasticizer so they do seem to hold up a little better than the later lacquers did when they went over to a synthetic plasticizers. Those early lacquers did not dry shiny, so the public was sold on the satin finishes that those lacquers offered. If you fuss around with it and get it to run like it's supposed to, I think you'll be really satisfied and amazed at how good those things sound. https://youtu.be/Y4jp94GASqc is a Columbia record on that 138-C. Hopefully your volume control won't give you too much trouble. That is where the majority of the tone is controlled in those things.

EarlH wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:41 pm ... When those are first turned on, they get a jolt of electricity through the system that takes a few moments for the ballast tube the catch and settle down. And line voltage is higher now than it generally was in the 20's. I've run mine with the ballast tube and after about ½ hour or so the cabinet gets quite warm or even hot. And the 210 tube was the one that the jolt of electricity usually burned out. ...

Would always starting the thing by bringing it up on a Variac solve or mitigate that problem? Just curious; I have nothing like it myself.

EarlH wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:41 pm I think you'll be really satisfied and amazed at how good those things sound. https://youtu.be/Y4jp94GASqc

I'd like to, but it says "Private Video." Can you go public with this one, for the benefit of us lowly ones?

Yes if you please, I neither cannot see it!

Henry wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 7:55 am

EarlH wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:41 pm I think you'll be really satisfied and amazed at how good those things sound. https://youtu.be/Y4jp94GASqc

I'd like to, but it says "Private Video." Can you go public with this one, for the benefit of us lowly ones?

Sorry about that. I had someone throwing a fit about one of those songs (Katinka) and youtube wanted me to take that video down, so I took my whole channel down and listed a few of the videos I wanted to save as private. I just went in and changed it to public so it should be ok now. I thought if I provided the link, it would let the video open it.