The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Have you guys just tried being poor?

For real though, the way I keep my collection kinda small is to constantly try to "upgrade" machines. When I find a "better" model I sell the "lower" model. Of course this is all subjective, but its a good way to roll the money onto another project/machine and keep the collection from getting too large.


-Travis

travisgreyfox wrote: Sat Dec 03, 2022 8:33 am Have you guys just tried being poor?

For real though, the way I keep my collection kinda small is to constantly try to "upgrade" machines. When I find a "better" model I sell the "lower" model. Of course this is all subjective, but its a good way to roll the money onto another project/machine and keep the collection from getting too large.


-Travis

That is pretty much how I started in the hobby. I also bought, restored and sold on quite a few portables, which were easy to post, and built up enough money to reinvest in some good machines for my own collection. Along the way I saved many machines from an uncertain future.

gunnarthefeisty wrote: Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:21 pm I am always confused by those with hundreds of machines and a seeming constant source of them. I have TWO machines right now. I don't have a lot of room nor money so I'm quite picky on what I get. Truthfully, when I see listings for phonographs they're nearly all bad- overpriced or just a bad machine (common or broken)- and often a combination of the three. Those that ARE nice I've usually bought. Is Minnesota just an awful state for phonographs?

I have been noticing this a little more in Virginia, NC, and SC, too - at least in the Eastern portion.... However, it isn't quite as bad as the scenario you mention in Minnesota. But, lately, there do seem to be more overpriced common machines popping up. This does make it MUCH easier to keep moving, as they say. I like a nice Silvertone or Grafonola as much as the next guy, but $400 plus for a common example isn't going to happen! And, anything with a horn is almost always overpriced out in my part of the country....

My plan is to retire, soon, and convert to a new full time occupation: culling and honing. The idea is to enjoy each object one more time, then dispose of most of them. The result will be a nicely curated and smaller grouping, for me to enjoy in my golden years - but also far easier for the kids to deal with when I kick the bucket.

https://youtu.be/uFBNjWrXF1I

As for the youngsters lamenting how nothing is turning up in their neighborhood, well, bring a truck to my place and I’ll fill it for pennies on the dollar.

I actually quit collecting phonographs & now am planning on paring down the collection. I'm always fond of repairing them but I really don't want any more machines at the present. About to graduate college in May, and I want to move, get solidly in a good job, have phonographs but for heaven's sake not keep collecting the things.

They are fantastic to listen to & have in the house, but I definitely need to quit using phonographs & antiques in general as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Not that I plan on getting out of it altogether--this stuff is fun--but moderation in all things, right?

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:56 pm I actually quit collecting phonographs & now am planning on paring down the collection. I'm always fond of repairing them but I really don't want any more machines at the present. About to graduate college in May, and I want to move, get solidly in a good job, have phonographs but for heaven's sake not keep collecting the things.

They are fantastic to listen to & have in the house, but I definitely need to quit using phonographs & antiques in general as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Not that I plan on getting out of it altogether--this stuff is fun--but moderation in all things, right?

My rule about collecting is that they all have to be playable and accessible. They also have to be laid out in a ways that I like looking at them and I don’t find that they are in the way. Some of my cylinder machines are a little hard to reach, but if I want to play them, they can be taken down or I can use a step stool. If I get another machine, something will have to go, so it would have to be an upgrade. I am pretty attached to the current collection, so the new machine would have to be pretty special, (so I am out of room and this is my way of dealing with it). The VE-XVIII would be in danger of leaving if I found a nice, Oak VTLA, otherwise, I am in maintainable mode.

Django wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 6:14 pm

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:56 pm I actually quit collecting phonographs & now am planning on paring down the collection. I'm always fond of repairing them but I really don't want any more machines at the present. About to graduate college in May, and I want to move, get solidly in a good job, have phonographs but for heaven's sake not keep collecting the things.

They are fantastic to listen to & have in the house, but I definitely need to quit using phonographs & antiques in general as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Not that I plan on getting out of it altogether--this stuff is fun--but moderation in all things, right?

My rule about collecting is that they all have to be playable and accessible. They also have to be laid out in a ways that I like looking at them and I don’t find that they are in the way. Some of my cylinder machines are a little hard to reach, but if I want to play them, they can be taken down or I can use a step stool. If I get another machine, something will have to go, so it would have to be an upgrade. I am pretty attached to the current collection, so the new machine would have to be pretty special, (so I am out of room and this is my way of dealing with it). The VE-XVIII would be in danger of leaving if I found a nice, Oak VTLA, otherwise, I am in maintainable mode.

Absolutely wonderful idea! I'd have trouble exchanging the VE-XVIII for something like a VTLA though; but if you're more fond of a VTLA that sounds like a good plan. I love my 1914 XIV; it's about the perfect compromise between the plainer XI style and the massive XVI's. First machine I bought & definitely a workhorse.

I don't have a collection like that. I have things like--kerosene lamps I don't use due to the smoke from primitive burners, a 1920s radio cooked its power supply a few years ago, was disassembled for overhaul, a whole Toyota Corolla that "runs on nightmares," (as someone put it), yet more kerosene lamps, Edison Gem without a pulley, Standard B without a belt, fountain pens without gaskets or plungers--it's a nightmare of a collection & I built the whole thing as what looked like a high functioning version of hoarding.

The antiques have to be thinned down.
I started this mess when I was a scared messed-up teenager, didn't know I was going to fall in love in 2022 and that I was, actually, going to be on the route to finally graduate college. I did find a girlfriend last year (if you saw me with a lady at CAMPS '22, that's her; she's super nice & likes the phonographs a lot.) Trouble is, it's a bit more work trying to keep up with her.

So I have to take my leave of the splendid addiction, but still keep the best of the collection. The A-200, the Panatrope 15-8, the Columbia 202, the Victrola XIV, Victor III, Edison Home--those are fine machines. The trouble is that I get "attached" to stuff because I put work into it, saved it, did something to it. I don't want to get out of phonographs, but I am pulling myself out of the place my head was in--I didn't have a healthy attitude to collecting this stuff.

It got so bad I was buying stuff that I thought I liked only to realize I was doing it because I knew what something was or how it worked.

Combine that with having the executive functioning skills of a brain-damaged goldfish, making it difficult to put an eBay listing together (even though I can build an Edison Standard motor in about thirty minutes) and here we go, junk comes in, gets restored, but it doesn't go out.

It sounds like you are in a good place. I think that you are right about moderation.

Regarding my VE-XVIII, I would only be willing to give it up for an Oak VTLA because I have a nice VV-XVIII.

The young lady is definitely more important than more phonographs.

Django wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:18 pm The young lady is definitely more important than more phonographs.

"Sorry darling, you are indeed my ideal, but this is my "Idealia", and well..."

Django wrote: Wed Jan 04, 2023 8:18 pm The young lady is definitely more important than more phonographs.

Interesting how for some people, love can cause them to lose sight of the potential realities of life.