The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It is great (Especially for us youngsters) to see these early stages of preservation for these great machines, excellent pictures.

I was particularly interested in the one of the machine with 'Volta Graphophone' sign in front of it, I wonder what that machine is and where it is now!

marvelous photos of yesterday collectors... Some of us will now own their machines? Probably...

Wonderful pictures. I feel nostalgic for these times and I wasn't even alive. How much did some of these machines cost in the 60s (adjusted for inflation)? I have seen videos and pics of people destroying many of these machines in the 40s/50s. I'm glad these folks (& some of you guys) saved many for us to enjoy.

travisgreyfox wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 2:55 am ... How much did some of these machines cost in the 60s (adjusted for inflation)? ....

I can't speak to the '60s, but I can get close, as I started collecting records and phonos in the early '70s. The trick was finding them--no internet, no eBay, very little information, pretty much strictly local sourcing at flea markets and junk shops. Bear in mind, at that point a Victrola from the '20s was no more than 50 years old or so; it wasn't an "antique," just "an old phonograph."

My first phonograph was a Pathé 100 upright that came with a bunch of (mostly) Pathé records but no sapphire ball stylus, purchased at a flea market on Chapman Highway between Knoxville and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on the way to Gatlinburg. That whole area has now gone upscale, a side-effect of prosperity from Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park, but at the time it was a strip of junk stores in various stages of decay. Anyhow, I'd pestered my parents enough about wanting a "Victrola" (didn't know any better as a rank beginner when information was scarce) that they agreed to get me the Pathé; we traded an old crank wall telephone and $100 for it. It's sitting across the room from me as I type this.

As I got into the hobby in the next three or four years, succeeding machines included the obligatory beginner's Edison Standard Model B, in so-so condition but with a much nicer than average nickel-plated morning glory horn, that cost something around $325 or $350--a lot at the time. That came from a phonograph store an old guy named Ray King was running out of the office of a derelict hotel out in the middle of nowhere in a town called Monterrey, Tennessee. He had several Edison cylinder machines and a couple of walls of 78s and cylinders around the perimeter; in the middle was a big old coal stove surrounded by chairs in which local codgers were sitting and shooting the breeze. When eBay came into my life, eventually I got a 2-4 gear kit for the Standard, and I added a 4-minute reproducer and had forum member Ken Danckaert restore the bedplate (paint was completely dead, with corrosion broken through in places), and a year or two back I finally sold it to another forum member for more or less what I had in it.

Back to the '70s, I also got a cosmetically challenged C-250 diamond disc player (poor home-made replacement grille, missing a drawer, general dings), don't remember how much it cost me but probably no more than $200. Bought it from a retired school principal who dealt phonos at a monthly flea market held at the local fairgrounds. Rounding out the set by the time I went to college was an also cosmetically challenged Amberola 50, the result of a trade at yet another junky shop--I'd somehow come into a Victrola I-I without a reproducer but had picked up a spare Victrola no. 2 at a pawn shop for $25; I swapped it for the Amberola with some extra cash, forget how much. The Amberola needed a new top board for the lid and some veneer work but was mechanically sound. I later sold that at a show.

Here's the lot in my bedroom, ca. 1977. Not even close to as good as forum member David (dzavracky) has accomplished, but I was pretty proud of it all at the time and really enjoyed those machines--played the heck out of all of them.

Thanks David . It looks like you had a really nice set up in your room back in 1977 (22 years before I was even born )

I can remember the days growing up when I didn't have a cell phone.... but it's hard for me to imagine this hobby without the internet. Every machine I own, with the exception of my B-250 which I found at Karm, has been bought off either facebook/craigslist. I don't think my interest in this hobby would've grown as much as it has if it wasn't for this forum. I remember calling Charles (VanEpsfan) one day because I saw he was passing through Knoxville. When he came and visited, he showed me how to take apart the Edison Standard I had at the time. In about two hours we went from a nonfunctional phonograph to a working machine! Watching that motor fire up was the coolest thing . After that, I started taking apart the motors I had... cleaning them and putting them back together. Thankfully no serious injures yet (although I did stab my hand with the end of a file one day when I was working on a spring ) Being confident in my own repairs... my interest in the hobby skyrocketed. What was once a hobby quickly become an obsession

This forum is a great place.

David

Great thread! The picture of the collector in the white long sleeve turtleneck with all his "tools" hung up on white peg board is priceless!

zipcord wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 7:49 pm Great thread! The picture of the collector in the white long sleeve turtleneck with all his "tools" hung up on white peg board is priceless!

That would be the late Father of the man that started this thread....Larry Schlick

Very cool to hear your origin story of collecting drh. It would seem to me that collecting back then and finding that one "jewel" of your collection would be far more meaningful then just buying that same "jewel" on eBay and getting it shipped to your house. Making a cabin gives one more sense of pride then paying someone to build one for you, would be my analogy. It also gets my juices flowing finding a super good deal "in the wild" that I found first before any other phono collector.

This is a picture from 2005, and while not necessarily very old, it includes noted early collector Ray Phillips, who started collecting in the 1930’s! In his later years, Ray rather resembled Thomas Edison. Our local chapter of MAPS, the Golden State Phonograph Society, or GSPS, got together at Ray Phillips home, in Studio City, CA. Nestor Guzman’s daughter is a photographer, and with the help of Scott and Denise Corbett, and Michael Khanchalian, we had vintage clothing, an original tinfoil, belonging to Ray, and an original portrait of Edison, along with the gentleman himself, Ray Phillips, to each pose for a picture with. This is how mine turned out. Mike Sorter, left, and Ray Phillips, right.

That's a great picture, but just for the sake of accuracy I would point out that the tinfoil is a replica made by Bill Ptacek around 2001-2002. I believe that one is Mike Khanchalian's. Ray did have some original tinfoil machines but not a Brady (the only survivors of that model are in the Edison Site and the Ford Museum collections).

Ray did resemble Edison to an uncanny degree.