Whats the most stupid comment towards your phonograph hobby

[ColumbiaBY]

Q:What has been the most upsetting thing that someone has said towards your phonograph hobby? *warning cursing*

I'll start. In School today the underclassmen were testing so Seniors had a free day! Well, in one of the classes I was in, one of my best friends who also collects phonographs brought his newest purchase to school. A portable phonograph from the 20s, (I have no Idea what the make was) along with some records, I.E. Ink spots,nat shilkret. He put some records on and we very enthusiastically listened to them! It sounded great! As I thought that some jerk sitting close to me who's name we'll cam "bob." Coincidentally Bob constantly preached about respect and how if you give it to him, he'll give it right back! Bob spoke up and literally said "Turn that [crappy] garbage off or I'll throw it down some stairs!" I Stood up and gave him that face[pictured below]. And said, "I respect you,your rap,I respect how horrid you sing it,and your broken music of today!And the one freakin time I play it you say that!? So don't you tell me that my own hobby or my music is [crap] when I already give you oodles of my respect even though I don't enjoy yours!" BoB:"Why the [eff] would you listen to that [crap] why do you think we have Ipods for or Androids! stuff like that should be thrown away! That needs to be thrown down the [effing] stairs DAWWWG! Me: First you're being rude and disrespectful to me, and second If you do that I'll throw you down a flight of stairs! and punch you in the face. That shut him up.

Moral:1..People don't grasp the concept of respect.
2..I almost got in a fist fight over my hobby.And this was all for my love of quality music!
3..I'm disappointed in my generation.....
4..Sorry for the curse words and long post

[ColumbiaBY]

The face I gave Bob.

[Player-Tone]

I had people serousely tell me that I should replace the original workings of my 1920s phonograph with a modern electric turntable and speaker, even an mp3 port!!

I certainly hope they never aquire an original 1920s phonograph, it would be mutilated!

Besides, one of the reasons I love antique phonographs so much is because you don't need to plug them in (excluding the original electric phonos).

[Jerry B.]

One of my brothers-in-law asked when I was going to starting selling some of this stuff. I forget my reply because it wasn't worth the effort responding to a stupid question. Some of the thoughts running through my head were things like... You have no idea how much I buy and sell during a years time. This is me... I enjoy collecting... I enjoy people and playing records for people that have never seen a cylinder machine. I was born a collector. If you took collecting away from me what would I do, sit in front of a TV and wait to die? Jerry

[Chuck]

.

[ColumbiaBY]

whoh chuck! I think that is pretty awesome! It's going to be awesome in a few years when you can look back at that and listen to it on your cylinder machine connect the memory to the sound. Must have been quite the spectacle with people recording with their Iphones, and there is you working like a scientist!

[kirtley2012]

people are generally quite intrigued by it and they ask things like "where do I get them from" "how much are they" "how old are they" etc.
then others say "why do you collect old junk", " do you seriously like that old music" "can I play my LP's on your gramophone", then my cousin came up to me when I was playing a cylinder and went "I cant understand it" and "its old for a reason" (which makes no sense when you think about it)

then you get unknowledgeable people saying "the music is on the rolls" "the sound head has a little needle in it" "gramophone needles are made of metal so they don't need replaced", people think you have to wind it constantly like the hand crank berliners, others don't realise how fragile 78s are so I wince when ever anyone un experienced picks up one of my records!

[Edisone]

"But what music do you really listen to?"

Cripes.

[Retrograde]

"You don't really listen to them, do you?"

[phonogfp]

After all these years, I can usually predict the questions/comments I'll hear when a lay person views my collection. That's okay...most of the world is composed of non-phonograph collectors so there's no surprise in the questions. But I don't recall ever receiving an angry reaction like "Bob's." I think that has more to do with "Bob" than with antique phonographs.

Over the years, there have been some memorable moments. When I was 18 my parents rented a cottage on a nearby lake for a month, and my buddy and I met a couple of girls. The one that I thought was particularly cute was functionally deaf and since I didn't know sign at that time, our communication was somewhat limited. But I'll never forget showing her my phonographs, and watching as she stuck her head into the horn of a Victor I and seeing her face light up. She could hear it, and it seemed to delight her. I think I was as pleased as she was.

After my wife and I were married (no, not the deaf girl - but every bit as cute) we had some friends over for dinner. A co-worker brought a boyfriend who was visiting from California, and you can imagine my surprise when he joined Vernon Dalhart on a C-250 singing the full chorus of "Lucky Lindy." I couldn't help but like the guy. The kind of son makes a mother feel proud...

About 10 years ago, one of my son's friends stopped by with his girlfriend. My son's friend started telling the girl about the collection upstairs and how she should go up to see it. The girl seemed nice enough, despite numerous piercings, tattoos, and a multicolored radical haircut. I didn't expect much beyond polite silence, but the girl floored me. She asked intelligent questions and even delved into comparisons of machines such as an Edison "Concert" and a "BC" Graphophone ("So... if the five inch cylinders were made obsolete by moulded smaller cylinders, then why was there a market for the 'BC'?") She just kept asking questions and building on the answers she got. I told my son's friend she was a keeper. Evidently, he didn't agree. Maybe we should have adopted her, tattoos and all...

Every now and then, a visitor will ask intelligent questions and show some real aptitude with understanding what he/she is looking at. It's those moments that are the icing on the cake. From the sea of "Where do you find these things?" or "How much are they worth?" or "Do you like to listen to these records?" occasionally comes a pearl. Barb will come up after 15 minutes or so "to save you" and I can smile and reply that it's okay - - the visitor keeps asking questions or wants to hear different records. What a pleasure!

George P.