The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Found a Columbia Kolster 901 today. Don't know if it works as the cord was gone. Looks to be all there. Needs some cleaning up but should clean up ok. The pot metal piece that the tone arm fits into is broken. They are asking $50.00 for it. Is this something worth fixing up? What do you think? Here's a link to one listed on CLhttp://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/at ... 33167.html

I would love to own one. If you can get this for $50 I would definitely go for it. May be a project to get everything running again, but for $50 you can't go wrong I think.
Andreas

The thing that is holding me back is, I can pretty much fix something that is mechanical but know nothing about electrical stuff. Are these parts available?

Hi Shane, Thanks for the insight. The one I found is not the same one as in the ad (sorry for the confusion). It is the same model though and in about the same condition. I think it might just be too much for me to take on. Just wish someone would pick it up and save it though.

As hard as those are to find, I would buy it and worry about fixing it later. If you were to post on the Antique Radio Forum, there are people who could and would walk you through a successful restoration. It could also be worth quite a bit more to a radio guy if you decide to buy it and flip it. I wish it was near me, I'd love to have something like that.
BTW: if you should get it, don't plug it in until you have consulted with someone knowledgeable about antique electronics and learned the correct way to do it. Otherwise, you could smoke some very scarce components. The antique Radio forum is a good place to get this kind of info and you could very likely find a local radio guy who could help you.

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php

The URL will take you to the index page. Start with the first forum: "Antique Radio Discussions"

Jim