The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was smitten with this RCA Victor RAE-26 Radiola Automatic Electrola at the Union show this past June, and had to have it! The electronics had already been redone, and the changer needed a fair amount of tweaking to get it to operate as smoothly as it does now.This phono has the third-style Victor changer, following the earlier ones found in machines such as the VE10-50 and VE10-35. It has its own set of peculiar features, and I hope you enjoy the Youtube video I've just posted.
Bob [youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87P7xygDcs0[/youtubehd]

I normally don't enjoy watching videos of machines in action, but this was very well done. Bravo!

This is a nominee for the Academy award in the Talking Machine Documentary class. This was really fun!

Jim

Bob, you certainly have the heart of an educator! Your talents in videography, language, and even punctuation are added bonuses. Very well done - even Barbie enjoyed it, and it's pretty hard to impress her with anything phonographic!

Congratulations on a fine machine and an outstanding video production.

George P.

Like others have written....very nice and a real pleasure to watch. Was a 12" magazine available as an option??. There doesn't appear to be enough clearance to place one in there.

Thanks for the nice comments! For me, making these videos helps these machines really come to life again.
Bob

This is 'way beyond cool---thanks a million! Outstanding sound in a wonderfully elegant mechanism. I'm very impressed by the quiet reproduction (absence of surface noise) achieved by the cactus thorn needle. Where did you obtain same?

Would you mind divulging the price you paid?

Thanks again!

Very nice machine and presentation.

I checked the inflation calculator and $247.50 in 1931 is roughly $3687 in 2012 dollars. Pretty extraordinary considering that $10 a week wouldn't have been bad pay at the time!

Henry wrote:This is 'way beyond cool---thanks a million! Outstanding sound in a wonderfully elegant mechanism. I'm very impressed by the quiet reproduction (absence of surface noise) achieved by the cactus thorn needle. Where did you obtain same?

Would you mind divulging the price you paid?

Thanks again!

Thanks again for the comments! I make the cactus thorn needles myself from thorns from the barrel cactus, harvested by a friend out in Arizona. The thorns are cut to length and sharpened on a cactus needle sharpener of the type often listed on ebay.
As for price, I sent you a pm with further info!
B.

gramophone78 wrote:Like others have written....very nice and a real pleasure to watch. Was a 12" magazine available as an option??. There doesn't appear to be enough clearance to place one in there.

Thanks! No, as far as I know there was no option for a 12" magazine, and as you mentioned, there wouldn't be enough room for it in this model cabinet.
Victor's first, second and fourth changers allowed automatic changing of 12" records, but the sizes could not be intermixed, except for the second model, found in machines such as the VE10-35X.
Bob