The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

No gramophone, just the horn and a stand.

Seller claims the condition is poor - he obviously hasn't seen a really droppey one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gramophone-Horn-/130952139684

Looking at the price, I'm not the first one to spot it.

20" seems rather small - what model would that be from?

Cheers,
David.

The seller gives the horn diameter as 60cm, and being of the pre-metric generation I make that nearer 23 inches than 20 inches.

This would suggest an EMG Mark IX horn, in which case it is a rare survivor.

A friend and I both enquired about this - he still has the whole machine, and is/was of a mind to keep the base for sentimental reasons but sell the horn! I sent him a reply politely pointing out the folly of this and urged him to keep them together, whether he ends up keeping the whole instrument or sells it. He thanked me and said he'd look into it...

Let's hope he takes your advice, as there cannot be many Mark IX's around with their original horns still in reasonable shape.

60cms is 23.5". However, the Mark 9 horn only has an 18" bell. Go figure!

Steve wrote:60cms is 23.5". However, the Mark 9 horn only has an 18" bell. Go figure!

According to Frank James's book, the Mark IX horn has a 22 inch bell diameter.
It is highly unlikely that Frank might have got the measurement wrong.

OK, let me put it another way, the only one I've seen in the flesh had a very small 18 and a bit inch diameter bell. It was rough around the edges though. Could it have been cut down to hide the damage at the circumference? Who knows? But you're right, Frank's book does indeed say 22" so that must be right. How does the seller get it to nearly 24" though? maybe he's doing the reverse of what I did, namely measuring from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock with a horn that has become distorted to an 'oval shape' at the bell and sagged a lot. I have seen horns that measure considerably less when you measure from 9 to 3 o'clock across the bell.

I came to the same conclusion, a slightly oval bell measuring rather more than 22 inches in one direction.

I see the auction has ended, perhaps the seller has decided to keep them together? I must be lucky, my Mk IX had a bit of a droopy horn when I got it, but with a lot of time, patience and the building of a "hoist", I've managed to get it almost completely back "up" to where it should be, it still has a small ways to go, but it's certainly come a long way. It's also in cosmetically much nicer shape than many others I've seen on the internet. Easy to see by the design how these basically collapsed over time. I'm glad I was able to save mine!

Sean

Well done, Sean. That's another one saved from oblivion.

Regards

Steve

PS - have you any pictures of it in the current state?