The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

m1tch wrote:How easy is it to change over the diaphragms? I'm brand new to all this

David,

That would all depend on the particular Sound-Box you plan on experimenting on. Most, but not all of the reproducers from the late teens and early twenties are fairly simply compared to the Orthophonic era Sound Boxes. (With the exeption if the HMV/VTMCo. №4.

Regards,
John

Hi, I have recently inherited my first Victrola but am having a hard time finding any information. The brand is Farwell made by Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk and Co. St. Paul, MN. I'm not looking to discover its entire history as much as first getting it into a good working condition. The motor is in pieces, the tone arm is in pieces but the cabinet is in good shape. Any information to get me going down the right path would be very appreciated. Oh, by the way I collect records, I live in Minnesota and I'm always looking for something new to listen to. Thanks.

Hey there.
You should send pictures of what you've got to George Vollema in Michigan: http://www.victroladoctor.com/ or [email protected] He's a fine repairman and probably has the parts you need. Most of the small makers like yours used tone arms and motors ordered from catalogs so he might have an appropriate replacement if the original can't be fixed.

drsaul wrote:Hi, I have recently inherited my first Victrola but am having a hard time finding any information. The brand is Farwell made by Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk and Co. St. Paul, MN. I'm not looking to discover its entire history as much as first getting it into a good working condition. The motor is in pieces, the tone arm is in pieces but the cabinet is in good shape. Any information to get me going down the right path would be very appreciated. Oh, by the way I collect records, I live in Minnesota and I'm always looking for something new to listen to. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Minnesotan, sort of. At least I was a Minnesotan until ~ 13 years ago. Please elaborate on your collecting interests. BTW I agree that if anyone can help you George Vollema can.

I've e-mailed some pictures of the Victrola and am waiting for a response. Thanks for that info. My record collecting at this point is purely anything that looks interesting to me. The bulk of my records are 33's that are mostly rock from the 60's and 70's. I really like finding the Minnesota local music. I also have about 300 pop and country 78's from an aunt. It's really a shame that I never got a chance to talk to her about her record collecting, she had a nice selection that I've enjoyed listening to. The rest are 45's that are rock and pop. I have another newbie question. How do post pictures within my replies? I see the "Img" button but am not very HTML savvy. Thanks.

Valecnik wrote:

drsaul wrote:Hi, I have recently inherited my first Victrola but am having a hard time finding any information. The brand is Farwell made by Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk and Co. St. Paul, MN. I'm not looking to discover its entire history as much as first getting it into a good working condition. The motor is in pieces, the tone arm is in pieces but the cabinet is in good shape. Any information to get me going down the right path would be very appreciated. Oh, by the way I collect records, I live in Minnesota and I'm always looking for something new to listen to. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Minnesotan, sort of. At least I was a Minnesotan until ~ 13 years ago. Please elaborate on your collecting interests. BTW I agree that if anyone can help you George Vollema can.

Hi again everyone! I havn't been on for aaaages, but I am back! I have just picked up a HMV 101 in black as my first gramophone hasn't been played for about 30 years so I guess I need to take the top plate off and give it a good oil over etc.

I have just wound it up and played a record on it just to check it over, once I had changed the needle and found a good record it does play well and on the 78rpm setting it plays well just letting it fully wind down now, there is a clicking coming from it on normal speed and you can tell when it winds down as I need to tweek the speed to keep it going lol

I will take the top plate off when I get the chance to this weekend or tomorrow night even, seems in very good condition

Have I bought the right starting gramophone? lol its a 101 with a no.4 soundbox, rather than a 102 with a no.5 sound box etc.

I have been a bit blonde, checked out some photos of the 101 and 102, it seems I have a 102 as it has an auto brake at the right rear, speed controller left front and nothing on the front right lol so it looks like I have a HMV 102 lol

If it's a 102, it should have either a no.16, 5a or 5b soundbox. A no.4 wouldn't fit the tonearn without some sort of adaptor, as the tonearm bore on the 102 is larger than on a 101.
The last of the 101s also had an auto brake. A 101 will have record storage in the lid though, but a 102 used a separate tray for records which sat on the turntable. If you remove the turntable, there may be a white plastic tag that states the model number and serial number.

Ah, yeah I was expecting storage in the lid but there isn't any, which means it must be a 102 lol when I take it apart tonight I will make a note of any serial numbers etc and post them up

Welcome!

I noticed how you were thinking about a cylinder machine and I would recommend one because in my opinion, they are very interesting and "different" in design from your average disc machine. The cylinder records are actually quite easy to find. I've bought hundreds of cylinder records on Ebay.com both two and four minutes.Yes, there are two and four minute records. The shorter playing time that you mentioned are the early brown wax and later gold moulded black wax records which are two minute length. There are four minute records which are blue and are called Edison Blue Amberol records. Also, you need a different type of machine to play each length of record. But, you can convert a 2 minute machine to four minute or purchase a later machine that is already geared to play two and four minutes.Heres some two minute models I would recommend: Edison Standard model A, Standard model E(two and four minute), Home model A, Home model B, or four minute machines: Edison Amberola 30, 50. My first machine was an Edison Standard model A. It has proven to be very, very reliable and is a nice earlier machine.

-Just a suggestion if you maybe decide to get a cylinder machine.


My first disc machine was a Victor VV-VI.
Its a very simple machine in all but a very good starter. Its a table model so it's small and fairly light weight.

-Energ15