The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Great topic if we can stay with it.

One very important, (and seemingly obvious), thing is to be sure that a motor’s springs have absolutely no tension on them before you begin to disassemble a motor and always were gloves and eye protection when removing or installing main springs.

You can use a piece of paper and make a note of which direction a mainspring is wound into the barrel. There is no need to deface a spring barrel by making an ugly scratch mark on it. Defacing is a poor practice.

Great Input folks!!!

I've just learned that when springs break in the middle of the night, they sound like cannon's going off to your wife!!!! A mad search ensused, and the culpret discovered!!!

No harm, other than

Another spring bites the dust!

Shawn wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 8:39 am I've just learned that when springs break in the middle of the night, they sound like cannon's going off to your wife!!!! A mad search ensused, and the culpret discovered!!!
No harm, other than
Another spring bites the dust!

Shawn,

Another good reason to never leave a spring wound up.

I hope that's all that broke, I had a Victor 6 spring break and it broke the motor frame in half.

Chuck

I have found that using used 27” bicycle tire tubes is the best way to secure Victrolas and record cabinets from their doors and drawers from opening while transporting. There are no wire “knuckle’s” or "buckles" that can rub against the piece. So, find an avid cyclist friend and ask them to save their used inner tubes. They replace them after a number of patches, you want the old ones, cut the valve stem out and you have a robust giant rubber band. It is a great way to go! - John

Chuck,

Somewhat harder to do with a coin-operated phonograph!! But, in general, great advice to keep the sping wound down, or only lightly wound when not in active use!!

Shawn

John,

That's some Yankee ingenuity!!  You must be from Connecticut!!!

Shawn

1) a lot can be found on the internet, but you definitely need to collect the books. I've lost count on how many I have.
2) Victor springs are a breeze compared to Edison springs. (Though both can bite ya if not careful)
3) There's always more to learn.

DGPros wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2024 5:45 pm 1) a lot can be found on the internet, but you definitely need to collect the books. I've lost count on how many I have.
2) Victor springs are a breeze compared to Edison springs. (Though both can bite ya if not careful)
3) There's always more to learn.

#3 for DAMN sure!

Phonograph collections are fun, but it helps to decide whether you are going to collect machines or records or both? Figuring out what kind of collection to curate is a big step. It reminds me of building model train layouts as a kid-- HO gauge trains are a lot of fun, but it helps to know what and where you want to model before you end up looking at a sheet of plywood, a large pile of everything from Stephenson's Rocket to an Amtrak train, and no tracks or scenery. (I stuck to my Consolidation and Prairie steam locomotives and a trolley car.)

It turns out that phonographs which are less collectible but are well built nonetheless are excellent little starters. I love my Panatrope 15-8 console from 1928. It is a lowboy but it has a great Art Deco look and of course an extremely smooth sound, for $40. My Victrola XIV is pure Edwardian garbage but it's ideal for playing acoustic 78s. (I also have a Victor 3 which is sweet but it broke awhile ago and I am trying to figure out how to fix it.)

Waiting and only buying a Diamond Disc player when a sweet A200 came up was a good idea otherwise I'd have a BC-34 sitting where my Panatrope would go, and no Panatrope.

Figuring out what you want to do before you get too deeply into a collection helps. I have a mostly okay collection of disc machines but need to downsize my cylinder phonographs as they are outnumbering me. Turns out I like my disc machines a lot.


But the other thing I learnt was the fact that antique phonograph collectors are some of the nicest hobbyists I've ever met. It's nice to be able to take your girlfriend to the swap meet and she actually enjoy it because everyone there is incredibly kind. (In fact I'm sorry for missing the last weekend's CAMPS meet. I was getting her an engagement ring at the time. Otherwise I would probably have spent too much on Diamond Discs and another beyond-hope project machine.)