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The single question I did not want to ask from the start, was if this machine could be a Columbia with a replaced horn, because of the Plano Reflex arm and the Columbia speed control. I however felt it looked too ordinary, and too German/Swiss, to be a Columbia. The seller now says I can have it for free, he wants to get rid of it. He seems possibly to be from the UK, or at least he has an English name, and only talks English.

I have received more photos..what do you make out of this?
It doesn't seem to have been re motored, and we can see it is a Garrard motor inside, and with this Plano Reflex arm that is Columbia. And we can see the obvious, the holes from the escutcheon is still there, but the winding handle is missing, but that is not something new.
I am not too good with the Garrard motors myself, and can't read what motor it is, but I am sure someone else can recognize it.

If it is free then it's free! Go for it. It looks surprisingly good as far as the case & motor but I still have no idea what it was.

You can’t complain if it’s free it’s just the petrol to be considered. Personally I think the case is made up as it appears to be made from different woods. The top board looks like oak from above and rather like walnut from below on the unstained side. The outside of the side panels are mahogany and definitely a different wood.

OrthoFan wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:54 am

Orchorsol wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:58 pm It must be a cranken or a frapo then! It has a plano-reflex tonearm probably from a portable, too.

the pictures are lost.

OrthoFan

This is the reason why I stopped posting on this site around 10 months ago. The loss of such a huge library seemed like a tragedy to me.

Fortunately epigramophone saved his pictures so maybe those will last another couple of years. I had an example similar to this although not as nice with a rather damaged black horn. As I recall the Plano Reflex tonearm made for the last external horn machines was a unique part. A Plano Reflex tonearm taken from another machine would need to be turned upside down to connect to the horn on an outside horn machine, the soundbox connection would therefore face the wrong way. The tonearm on the machine in question looks adapted. There appears to be screw holes to the top side, these may be from the piece that located with an automatic brake below.