The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I thought this might be an interesting subject!
i'll start it off!, i got urged into this hobby with the internet when i stumbled accross a video of a reproduction gramophone on youtube, i was intregued by the shire mechanics of it and i was from then on, hooked!

There are many things and people who kept me going and kept me inspired however, the person who has impressed and inspired me the most is acctually a member of this board!, graham rankin has been so generous, helpful, and inspiering to me that sometimes i dont beleive it!, he has gave me items that i would normally never be able to afford for projects like a emg mk 9 horn, he has gave me lots of incredible and helpful information and i can always rely on him and he is also a very clever and constructive man, making exact reproductions of the emg 10b oversize gramophone, now how many peole do you know who can do that?

I was just talking about this with a forum member. My husband suggested we buy a phonograph. His brother had a collection at one time and he thought they were cool. I got hooked right away. Perhsps I got a little competitive drive to rival his collection too.

Like Alex pointed out though, this forum has really fosteted my love for phonos. A few people on here have even gone above and beyond to help me get it in motion. Most forums I've seen are full of drama and rivalry but this one is unique. So thanks everyone here. An extra thanks to Kevin and Jeff.

I have always liked mechanical things. Cars, trains, airplanes, etc., so when I found that I enjoyed this early music (through a Billy Murray Record my grandparents had), getting a cranker seemed like a no brainer. It's slowly spreading, as I just bought my third on Friday.

My entrance into the hobby of collecting phonographs began when I was 10 years old and found a Brunswick Seville on the curb when a neighbor moved out. I had a club house in the back yard that had no elecrticity, ( my parents thought electricity would burn it down!) I was always looking for things that didn't require any current to operate and the phonograph fit the bill nicely. I could actually have music without having to plug it in!! Phonographs then were often discarded, and I was there to rescue them, a trait I still find myself doing. Through the years I have made some great friends in the antique/auction business who look out for me in my collecting, calling me and buying for me across the eastern seaboard.

Last year we were given my wife's great grandfather's VTLA in poor shape. A good bit of time and money were spent restoring it, and that is when the bug bit me. I have picked up a few more machines (9 at this point) and sold a few that were duplicates, or less interesting to me personally. The members of this board have been nothing but kind and helpful, and I appreciate all the help and encouragement that they have given. I have seen it stated here many times, but the machines just keep multiplying!

My Great-Grandma Bailey (born 1878) gave me her last 2 albums of mostly Victor Military Band dance records, when I was 6 - she died shortly afterward. I must have impressed her as being interested in that era of music, though I don't know (or won't admit) WHY. Anyway, they sat mostly unplayed because they didn't sound "right" to me, on Mom's 1950s Garrard turntable.

The discovery of a Brunswick phono in the back of a coin/stamp dealer's shop turned the tide, when I was 12. The promise of $50 held it for me (while I mowed many lawns) and final payment of said $50 PLUS demanding shipment via Dad's Chevrolet trunk finally got it home. A couple of cheesy $1 and $5 (no kidding) portable phonos filled the gap, but that Brunswick was the first REAL phono I had (and have).

To any parents reading this, whose child wants such a thing: Just get it, and see what happens. Everything GOOD will happen.

As far as I can remember, nobody urged me: I had to badger my parents for years before I got my first machine...

Lucius1958 wrote:As far as I can remember, nobody urged me: I had to badger my parents for years before I got my first machine...

Same here, despite the first 2 dozen records. "Junk!", "garbage!", "waste of money!", "WHY DO YOU BUY THIS TRASH??" - that's what I got from both parents, and still get to a lesser degree. Nobody places any value on our machines/records/music/history except US, and we are a -very- small minority in this world.

Now that I think about it, I met a boy at a flea market who liked the same kind of music and was selling records; his father took an interest in me and helped me buy (meaning: bought FOR me) many hundreds of the records I liked and wanted.

I'm more of a record collector since I don't have the space for machines, but when I was starting out and buying on eBay the first seller I bought for got in to a bit of conversation with me since I had let slip that I was then 18.

To my surprise he sent me a bunch of free records, which really encouraged me. I have done the same since whenever I meet new young collectors in the hope it will spurr them on!

I actually found a pretty rough Edison B60 in the town dump while searching for deposit bottles back in 1970 when I was 13 years old.
My dad cleaned it up and got it working. I still have it. Still looks rough but plays very well.