The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

JerryVan wrote:

Mr Grumpy wrote:

JerryVan wrote:OMG! That's an OSB? ROTFLMAO! TTFN BFF's

Thanks!

Wtf just happened?

I can't even...

Well, for one you can rebuild brass OSBs without them turning into little bits of potmetal fragments when you take them apart. Potmetal is just nasty stuff.

Clay

Well shucks... and here I though I was being one of the cool kids by glomming-onto someone else's use of acronym and jargon.

( I didn't invent the term "OSB"; just picked it up from hanging around here.)


I shall never use another acronym again.

It's also "Oriented Strand Board", a replacement for plywood - but that kind of OSB plays records very very poorly. hehe

I guess mine will take a couple of weeks to reach England

I shall also never use "oriented strand board" if I can possibly help it...

De Soto Frank wrote:I shall also never use "oriented strand board" if I can possibly help it...

definitely not in mixed company.

FloridaClay wrote:Well, for one you can rebuild brass OSBs without them turning into little bits of potmetal fragments when you take them apart. Potmetal is just nasty stuff.

Clay

That's honestly my only interest in brass. I can't imagine that there could be any real difference in sound, but I have many decades left ahead of me and I'd like my toys to last.

winsleydale wrote:

FloridaClay wrote:Well, for one you can rebuild brass OSBs without them turning into little bits of potmetal fragments when you take them apart. Potmetal is just nasty stuff.

Clay

That's honestly my only interest in brass. I can't imagine that there could be any real difference in sound, but I have many decades left ahead of me and I'd like my toys to last.

I will probably invoke the jinx for what I am about to write.


I acquired my great-grandmother's 1927 VE 8-12X in 1985. It has the pot-metal Orthophonic Sound Box with the bright nickel cover and a phase-plug.

The machine has always lived in inhabited spaces (no basements or chicken-coops).

The pot-metal was in good shape in 1985, and it still seems so today; I have not noticed any signs of deterioration.

This past winter, I took it apart to "overhaul it", and all seems well. The rubber ball-bearing cushions were fossilized, but all the metal seems to be in good condition.


In recent years, I have acquired another half-dozen or so Orthophonic Sound Boxes / pieces there-of in varying conditions... most in the "some cracking but still useable" category.

If you find a good pot-metal Orthophonic, I think it will serve you for decades.

Here, Here the small soldering iron from Radio Shack. Great tool addition for my. My 2 cents.
Peter Wall says the bras OSB's sound inferior to the pot metal ones, but did not state why. Full Disclosure: My other 2 cents--I do not own a Brass OSB. Pete was willing to give me one he hated them so badly-of course, he may have been drinking.

Matt