The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

We have all been in this place: having to explain why you can't use a diamond tipped cylinder reproducer on a wax cylinder record. The author of this document, which I am about to present to you, is a real star.

This hand written letter (in fountain pen) surfaced in a dusty box full of old APM journals I was reading through. It is several pages long, and it is a fabulous example of how phonograph collectors can not only be patient in our explanations, but also kind enough to fix things for fellow collectors. The sender is unknown, the recipient is named as "John."

Aside from the fountain penmanship (or, lack thereof), what really draws me to this letter are all of the ink and pencil illustrations that the sender used to support their explanations. The drawings of the Edison Opera are my particular favorites! Do take a few minutes and enjoy this rare treat.

I have scanned the pages in full color, and saved them to an Adobe .PDF file, so you will need Adobe Reader to read it. The file is about 11.5 megabytes long.

I welcome your feedback and comments. -Wyatt

Here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/d3tbsu5

Wonderful!

Well the author certainly knew something about reproducers! I assume it was not dated? I would guess the 60s.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks, that was interesting and well worth reading. Jerry

I can not date it, but he apparently made a Diamond-A for John at a cost of $1.65!

Wow, that's amazing. What patience and detail the writer exercised!

Thanks Wyatt for sharing this amazing document. For those of us who started collecting in the age of Internet and Paul/Fabrizio or Frow books this is a reminder of how difficult it was for early collectors to find and share information. Great document.
Andreas

It's still very useful and a great basis for the explanation of Edison reproducers and phonographs.