Do you still have your first phonograph?

[travisgreyfox]

I'm a millennial. Nothing is sacred to us

[Viva-voce]

I'm a millennial. Nothing is sacred to us

LOL

[Viva-voce]

My first phono was a 1915 mahogany Columbia grafonola floor model. Bought it when I was 12 for $50 and my parents helped pay part of it and we all enjoyed it as it became a real conversation piece in our living room. Later on sometime after I left home and kept it with me, I fell in love with a Victrola XVI L-door at an antique shop and since I had no room for both machines I decided to part with the Columbia and wanted it to stay in the family but my parents by that time had no room for it so I gave it to my best friends on "permanent loan" and they have kept it and still use it to play their grandparents' 78's--so it has stayed in the family after all.
And btw I no longer have the L-Door but I eventually upgraded last year to my speartip-horned Victor IV

Steven

[rhammond]

When they were selling my mother's parents farm in the mid 1960's, my grandparents had a well played and battered Edison Chalet and base cabinet upstairs in one of the bedrooms. I had heard my mother talk about it and when they were cleaning out the house, I asked mother and she said to go ask Uncle Jack. At that time, they were kind of glad that someone wanted any of the items in the house. (I actually was given other things because they knew that I had interest in them and would save the stuff) Uncle Jack went upstairs and carried it out to the car. It was missing the crank, gill, and it was pretty battered. Later, the grill and more records showed up in the attic and those would eventually be reunited with the machine. I was so fascinated by that machine and I did get it working properly. Those were the days when there were no reproduction parts available including springs.

Edison had a reputation for being a quality and expensive phonograph and I can remember Mother and my uncles talking about that machine when people would talk about old phonographs. In the 1920's, Saturday night meant shopping night for farmers in small towns and when my grandmother would go shopping, my grandfather had card playing buddies. At some point, one of his friends got into some trouble and my grandfather got the Edison for bailing his friend out of jail. That is how they got the machine and matching base cabinet. It went through nine kids and it was well played in its first life. After I got the machine and had it running again, it was amazing how they all had a favorite record or two that they would ask to hear when they came to our house.

Right now, I am in the process of doing a first class full restoration of the entire machine and base cabinet. The base cabinet had been painted and it had a lot of damage. It should have been trashed as its condition was so bad but they are very hard tome by so the only real choice was to knock it apart, make a new front door, revenuer the hole cabinet etc. I hope to have pictures of it when it is all done and I will post them. I want to get it done yet this fall. The rarest part is actually the machine base cabinet with the Haag lever record system. Besides the records that came with the machine, at some point someone gave them a big bunch so it had a lot of records.

I guess that I was kind of an odd kid. I really played that machine and it has ended up being the first and longest lasting phonograph in my collection. Today, I have my share of Edison and other phonographs, both cylinder and disc. I think that I have over one thousand Edison disc records but the records from my grandparents were the original core of my library. I hope that one of my nieces will want at least this machine but with the younger generation, it is anyones guess. I have come to the conclusion that my Mason and Hamlin Ampico grand and my Steinway Duo Art will probably get given away or pretty close to it.

[fran604g]

That's a fascinating story of your B19.

[chrisg]

My first wind up is my grandmothers Victor VV-VI. Not worth much, but I always liked it. I dont know the history of it but believe she may have bought it new. My mother was born in 1921 and she said she always had it.

[pianolist]

My father gave my mother a Brunswick Panatrope when they married in 1930. Sometime around 1956 when I was 4 I claimed it as mine and played it all the time. Still do!


Side note I found interesting, I asked dad why he gave mom an acoustic machine when electric phonographs were all the rage. His reply: “I could have bought your mother an electric phonograph but she would have gotten pretty tired just looking at it since we didn’t get electricity until 1936.” Point taken.

[fran604g]

My father gave my mother a Brunswick Panatrope when they married in 1930. Sometime around 1956 when I was 4 I claimed it as mine and played it all the time. Still do!


Side note I found interesting, I asked dad why he gave mom an acoustic machine when electric phonographs were all the rage. His reply: “I could have bought your mother an electric phonograph but she would have gotten pretty tired just looking at it since we didn’t get electricity until 1936.” Point taken.

That's a fantastic story!

[box_o_records23]

My first gram was a russian one made in the late 30's and I still have it even tho I own 2 more better grams now.I recieved it as a gift when I was 11 and now,at 18 I recieved a busted HMV 101B that I fixed from scrach. Never sell your first gram

[GregVTLA]

I've got my VV-IX that I received last August from my grandmother. I played with it when I was little but recently I was helping with her recycling and I noticed the sad thing sitting on her shelf. She said we could just take it home and we later dug out her collection of 80+ 78s. I had so much fun popping the motor and making the small repairs necessary. I've still got that machine, and it is displayed prominently in the basement!