The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The machine I have is indeed nice...and funny to see this thread keep getting bumped. Larry, this Craigslist machine Phonophan79 posted is a 710, mine is a 711, which has a different motor in it, actually a British Columbia motor with a totally sealed mechanism. Apparently this is the difference between the two models, but very few of the 711 are known.

Anyway, I'm not done cleaning the cabinet yet and the motor has a small issue as well that I haven't had time to deal with, when it's done I'll certainly add more pictures. It's in amazingly clean condition all around. When I removed the grill, I noticed the horn has wax seals at all the seams. They're super tight seals, too, this machine was certainly never stored in extreme conditions, even the rubber gaskets and the reproducer isolator is still soft. I've never encountered that before!

I probably won't be getting anywhere near finishing this machine until after the holidays or later, since I'm getting ready to paint the entire interior of my house...

Sean

Another Viva-Tonal, only $150... different model, not as nice looking.

http://neworleans.craigslist.org/atq/1442964423.html

Hard to tell without a good closeup shot, but that arm looks like that of a regular (non viva tonal) Columbia machine, unless English Columbia stuck with that design, I've never seen a VT machine with louvers instead of a door / grill arrangement. Interesting, though.

Sean

UK Columbia might have had the same problem as HMV: the US company wouldn't let them use the new technology right away. I think that the later UK made Viva-Tonal portable machines were very up to date. It's complicated because UK Columbia seperated from the US Company and eventually hooked up with HMV.

Sean, that tonearm does look very standard Columbia. Would that affect the "Viva-Tonal" sound, or is it mostly about the horn?

estott - Ah, thats interesting to know... and "No. 154" does sound very HMV.

Now please don't take what I wrote as gospel, I'm going on memory, but I do know that there was a lot of difference between the two Columbias.

That's an early English Viva Tonal. If I had my new scanner hooked up I'd do a few ads. Maybe later...

Jim

Yet another Viva-Tonal in the wild.

http://buffalo.craigslist.org/clt/1564079430.html

That is one of the more commonly found models, and a very attractive style it is. At that price I'd look at it, even with a bad spring- unfortunately Geneva is close to 4 hours from Albany.

But---Geneva is closer to Rochester, Mount Morris and Henrietta NY than to Albany----or to Buffalo for that matter. Not sure why this pops up on the Buffalo craigslist. Hmmmm.

Until November 28th, I was living only about 20 minutes away from Geneva, taking care of my Father. Once he was declared OK to drive again, I went back to DC, which is where I am now. *sigh* The neat machines seem to turn up wherever I'm *not* living at the moment. Guess it's that way for most of us. I'm intrigued about that part "several other phonographs available for consideration". At one time, Geneva was a more prosperous city than it is today, so neat old stuff could still be lurking in the attics here and there.