Re: Good starter horn machine for a friend?
Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:41 pm
Some machines are just great "eye catchers" like that BGT! Wow, that's a beauty, Bruce. I'm with you though, a Triumph with an oak cygnet and a model O will blow everything out of the water. I just got my first (and probably only) "O", all rebuilt and rather costly, but man, that thing is amazing!
As for the BD, there's a great story behind it. At the tail end of the era where estate auctions in the Berkshires were still offering estates that were untouched for 100 years, this BD came up for sale. I had never seen one other than at a show and I had no idea what they might be worth, but I went to the auction just for the heck of it and ended up buying the machine for $1800, complete with a broken spring, but it was so clean I bought it anyway. At the time, I guess that was a decent price, although the turntable trim ring is missing and my hopes of finding one have vanished. It's an early one with the volume control built into the reproducer. After getting the spring replaced and servicing the motor and rebuilding the reproducer, I was really impressed with the sound, but alas, it loves to kill 78s. The best part of the whole thing was the base cabinet. A week after I bought the machine, a friend of mine was out "junking" and called me to tell me he found a Columbia record cabinet that he thought might match my machine for $200. I raced over to the place where it was, and was almost in shock to see this thing. It actually looks like the two pieces have been together all their lives, both being so clean. The nice lady selling the cabinet sold it to me for $150 without me even asking for a break after I told her I had the phonograph it belonged with.
I'll be glad to feature the BD at some point, but right now it's in the back of my home office with about 5000 78s in front of it from a recent haul. I'll get there eventually!
Sean
As for the BD, there's a great story behind it. At the tail end of the era where estate auctions in the Berkshires were still offering estates that were untouched for 100 years, this BD came up for sale. I had never seen one other than at a show and I had no idea what they might be worth, but I went to the auction just for the heck of it and ended up buying the machine for $1800, complete with a broken spring, but it was so clean I bought it anyway. At the time, I guess that was a decent price, although the turntable trim ring is missing and my hopes of finding one have vanished. It's an early one with the volume control built into the reproducer. After getting the spring replaced and servicing the motor and rebuilding the reproducer, I was really impressed with the sound, but alas, it loves to kill 78s. The best part of the whole thing was the base cabinet. A week after I bought the machine, a friend of mine was out "junking" and called me to tell me he found a Columbia record cabinet that he thought might match my machine for $200. I raced over to the place where it was, and was almost in shock to see this thing. It actually looks like the two pieces have been together all their lives, both being so clean. The nice lady selling the cabinet sold it to me for $150 without me even asking for a break after I told her I had the phonograph it belonged with.
I'll be glad to feature the BD at some point, but right now it's in the back of my home office with about 5000 78s in front of it from a recent haul. I'll get there eventually!
Sean