The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Zenger wrote:I'd also be grateful for any tips anyone might have on cleaning up the bedplate and horn.

I have used Flitz on my nickel plated phonograph parts and nickel horns for years with exceedingly good results. You can get it at any Ace Hardware store and other hardware stores and online. The nickel plated parts on this AB you found appear to be in generally very good condition. I used Flitz on my nickeled and polished Columbia Eagle in the picture above.

Regarding the governor, I agree with Jerry that you should consider having it serviced or take it apart yourself and replace the 3 springs and check the weights. Harbor Freight (among others) sells petite digital scales that can be useful for checking the weight of small parts which is extremely useful with governor weights.

Doug

Are these cheaper than an Edison Concert when it comes to playing concert/grand cylinders or they about the same?

AmberolaAndy wrote:Are these cheaper than an Edison Concert when it comes to playing concert/grand cylinders or they about the same?

For playing the Concert and Grand size cylinders the Columbia AG is likely the most reasonable in cost to purchase, generally speaking. Since the Columbia AB is capable of playing Concert/Grand cylinders -and- standard size cylinders most people are willing to pay more for it. The attractive lid and attractive base coupled with heavy nickel plating add an extra ingredient to its value. Edison Concert phonographs are, in my opinion, the best choice for playing Concert/Grand size cylinders and generally more costly to purchase than the AB. The AB has two small mainsprings versus the Edison Concert phonograph's heavy duty 3 spring triton motor. I own an AB and several Edison Concert phonographs and my choice for playing Concert size cylinders will always be the Edison Concert phonograph. I also prefer the sound produced by an Edison model B reproducer or Edison model D reproducer versus the Columbia floating weight reproducers although the Columbia #5 reproducers are a close second.

Doug

Congratulations on a rare and fantastic find!
My AB has a serial number of 750858,close to yours of 754123. It came with a No4 reproducer which has the lift fingers.
On my machine the fingers are obsolete as the machine has a built-in lifting device.
This has been discussed in a previous thread which I can not find regarding when the change was made.
Another question I don't think was settled before, do we have an accurate idea of how many ABs were made?.
Alistair.

FellowCollector wrote:

Zenger wrote:I'd also be grateful for any tips anyone might have on cleaning up the bedplate and horn.

I have used Flitz on my nickel plated phonograph parts and nickel horns for years with exceedingly good results. You can get it at any Ace Hardware store and other hardware stores and online. The nickel plated parts on this AB you found appear to be in generally very good condition. I used Flitz on my nickeled and polished Columbia Eagle in the picture above.

Regarding the governor, I agree with Jerry that you should consider having it serviced or take it apart yourself and replace the 3 springs and check the weights. Harbor Freight (among others) sells petite digital scales that can be useful for checking the weight of small parts which is extremely useful with governor weights.

Doug

Thanks, Doug, I will head out to Ace ASAP and pick some up. Do you think it would be safe to use on the horn, too? Would it do any good there? I don't want to polish it, of course -- just clean it up some.

clevelander wrote:On my machine the fingers are obsolete as the machine has a built-in lifting device. This has been discussed in a previous thread which I can not find regarding when the change was made.

Thanks for sharing, Alistair, that's really interesting (and encouraging). Could you perhaps post some pictures of it? And could someone possibly post a link to that thread? I can't find it, either.

clevelander wrote:Congratulations on a rare and fantastic find!
My AB has a serial number of 750858,close to yours of 754123. It came with a No4 reproducer which has the lift fingers.
On my machine the fingers are obsolete as the machine has a built-in lifting device.
This has been discussed in a previous thread which I can not find regarding when the change was made.
Another question I don't think was settled before, do we have an accurate idea of how many ABs were made?.
Alistair.

It appears that the first 1000 or so AB's used a lift pin mechanism to raise and lower the reproducer.

Alistair, your AB is the highest serial number I have in my database that uses the pin lift, the lowest
using the "T" lift is 751023. I have your AB listed with a #2 reproducer so I should change it to a #4?
The #4 reproducer you have is probably the same one as used on the GG, which didn't use the lift fingers.

Best guess is that 10,000 AB's were produced. Lowest I have recorded is 750202 and highest is 759422.

Chuck

ChuckA wrote:It appears that the first 1000 or so AB's used a lift pin mechanism to raise and lower the reproducer.

Chuck, do you happen to have a picture of a carriage that has this mechanism?

Zenger wrote:

ChuckA wrote:It appears that the first 1000 or so AB's used a lift pin mechanism to raise and lower the reproducer.

Chuck, do you happen to have a picture of a carriage that has this mechanism?

No, I didn't collect pictures of the machines in the database.
Try contacting Alistair (Clevelander) he has an early AB.

Chuck

My mistake, I figured you would have at least a couple of pictures. Does anyone else out there have one, or any thoughts on a workaround? I'm sure there must be some way to use this reproducer with this machine; I can't imagine the original owners didn't use it, as it was kept with the machine.

ChuckA wrote:

Zenger wrote:

ChuckA wrote:It appears that the first 1000 or so AB's used a lift pin mechanism to raise and lower the reproducer.

Chuck, do you happen to have a picture of a carriage that has this mechanism?

No, I didn't collect pictures of the machines in the database.
Try contacting Alistair (Clevelander) he has an early AB.

Chuck