The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

That's a nice picnic! I haven't seen one of these portables yet. I really wish I had a catalog available. The speed knob at yours appears to be exactly the same.

Btw. no, I am not fooling with the audio at all. The solution is simple: Never use these cheap built-in microphones the video cams come with. Also the saxophone horn and the oversized mica diaphragm do their part.

The best position to capture the sound of an acoustic phonograph is a studio mic placed inside the horn. If you film and pick up the audio from the same position like 3 ft. away, there won't be any bass left to capture. I have done the same thing with my Edison Home from a 24" brass horn.

I see your turntable is perforated, which is something Garrard never did. Do these use a Dual/Gebrüder Steidinger motor?

WDC wrote:That's a nice picnic! I haven't seen one of these portables yet. I really wish I had a catalog available. The speed knob at yours appears to be exactly the same.

Btw. no, I am not fooling with the audio at all. The solution is simple: Never use these cheap built-in microphones the video cams come with. Also the saxophone horn and the oversized mica diaphragm do their part.

The best position to capture the sound of an acoustic phonograph is a studio mic placed inside the horn. If you film and pick up the audio from the same position like 3 ft. away, there won't be any bass left to capture. I have done the same thing with my Edison Home from a 24" brass horn.

Wow, those photos are gorgeous! What type of wood is that?

Tinkerbell wrote:Wow, those photos are gorgeous! What type of wood is that?

walnut, maybe.

gramophoneshane wrote:I see your turntable is perforated, which is something Garrard never did. Do these use a Dual/Gebrüder Steidinger motor?

I haven't looked at the motor closely in years but AFAIK, they had their own spring motors.

Tinkerbell wrote:Wow, those photos are gorgeous! What type of wood is that?

I wished I time to make new ones but the living room isn't ready yet. Yes, I'm almost certain that it is indeed walnut. The finish has some few blotches which I still have to solve some day.

Great pictures WDC! That player is sweet. Thanks for the recording tips, too. I want to make a video soon. I did a spring cleaning today that fixed a 'klunking' problem. Found a stash of unplayed 78s near me and I'm impressed with the sound this little unit puts out. Also found this:

http://cgi.ebay.de/altes-Mini-Koffer-Gr ... 33655be9ee

on German eBay. It's a picnic that the seller thinks is from around 1930. Its set up a little differently from mine.

Hey WDC. Thanks for the tip about recording. Do you have a particular microphone you recommend?

Clay

The eBay Picnic is on the left, so there's at least 2 models.

FloridaClay wrote:Hey WDC. Thanks for the tip about recording. Do you have a particular microphone you recommend?

Clay

Sure, I use a Shure 8900WD (which is only about $50) along with a Behringer MIC100 or via direct input through my Tascam DR-2d field recorder.