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I've been offered a Vindex phonograph (gramophone, to us here in the UK!) - an upright free-standing model. I've only seen a couple of poor photographs but will hopefully see it in the next day or so. A quick look on Google and it seems Vindex was a division of the National Sewing Machine Co in the US.

Anyone any experience of these? Are they any good? Thanks for any information!

my guess is that it will be OK but some off brands here are not very good, that being said, some are excellent so im not really sure

I thought Vindex was window cleaner for vampires...

George P.

I guess just another off-make. (I've been enjoying the "Love the..." thread and it might turn out to be nice though!) I wonder whether there will be a story as to how such a US machine came to be here in the UK.

I'm going to see it this morning. Had a nice curry last night so should be giving off enough garlic fumes in case of the vampire thang...

I've never heard of this make of machine but it would be interesting if you were able to post some photos to show what its like.

I often wonder about the history of the machines I own as I also have an american machine which found its way to UK shores. Its not a small machine either in fact its probably the largest and heaviest machine Victor ever made. Just how it found its way across the pond to end up in Scotland is a big mystery! Also it shows no sign of having been converted to run on UK voltages...If only they could talk!! At least I know the story of how it ended up in Auckland though. Its a well travelled machine as it has about 15,000 miles under its belt now Mine is still packed up from our move to NZ but here is a picture from this excellent webpage just to show how big it is: My Vintage TV web page

phonogfp wrote:I thought Vindex was window cleaner for vampires...

George P.

Booooooooooooooo

And an early happy Halloween to you!

Clay

Swing Band Heaven wrote:I often wonder about the history of the machines I own as I also have an american machine which found its way to UK shores. Its not a small machine either in fact its probably the largest and heaviest machine Victor ever made. ...

Now that is one impressive treasure!

Clay

Swing Band Heaven wrote:I've never heard of this make of machine but it would be interesting if you were able to post some photos to show what its like.

I often wonder about the history of the machines I own as I also have an american machine which found its way to UK shores. Its not a small machine either in fact its probably the largest and heaviest machine Victor ever made. Just how it found its way across the pond to end up in Scotland is a big mystery! Also it shows no sign of having been converted to run on UK voltages...If only they could talk!! At least I know the story of how it ended up in Auckland though. Its a well travelled machine as it has about 15,000 miles under its belt now Mine is still packed up from our move to NZ but here is a picture from this excellent webpage just to show how big it is:

What a wondrous beast that is! Fantastic!

Meanwhile, I got the "Vindex" this morning, an interesting machine. In a cluttered house being cleared, and poor light, I missed a little patch of old woodworm holes, which is a bit of a disappointment, and the condition is a little rough but otherwise sound and in working order - but it was cheap! Will try to post some photos soon. This one was brought here from Belgium! How and why it got there from the US is anybody's guess.

I have heard it said that the transatlantic liner trade was at least partly responsible for US machines finding their way to the UK, and vice versa.

If for example a US ship was being refitted in the UK, the fixtures and fittings were sometimes sold by auction at the dockside or were offered to crew members at favourable prices. This may explain why the few big Victrolas which appear on UK eBay are often located at seaports.

Well, in the last couple of hours I've rebuilt the soundbox with new gaskets and it sounds surprisingly good! The internal horn appears to be some sort of pressed card material, with a black coating with a coarse crackle finish - nicely rounded corners and what looks like a good progressive flare to it, which may account for the sound being a lot better that I would expect.

Curious - it was definitely brought back from Belgium (I spoke to the family member who transported it years ago), but was originally supplied way back by a shop in Ilford, Pritchard & Son, here in England - their plaque is attached to the arm board. Yet everything points to it being an American machine - unless there was a Vintex company or model name over here...

It has a Swiss-made 'Appollo' soundbox which may or may not be original, but the hole for the large position screw into the arm is present and lines up OK.

I paid £50 for the machine - about $80 US.