The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just wondering if anyone can tell me how much of this machine is real. It looks like older parts, but I have never heard of a Tonarm Premiere phonograph and I have never seen a back bracket painted with a crackle silver finish. The back bracket and taper tube look like victor but the horn is a screw in and very heavy.

While it "may" be made up of parts from different machines, and I'm not sure of this, it appears to be all vintage.

I'm going to use the new named coined in the Forum. I think this is a Bitsa. It looks like a reproduction Victor back bracket painted to look like crackled silver. Victor bracket were always black with gold filigree and HMV were nickeled. Very late HMV machines had a plain black bracket with no gold filigree. It looks like the parts were "fitted" together. It looks like junk.
Harvey Kravitz

Yeah, it looks pieced together, but the shop only wants $150 so I figured if anyone recognized the parts I might just pick it up and see what else came along later. Doesn't look like a piece of junk, the motor board is birds-eye maple and the parts look old, but I think it might be three machines joined together.

Maybe it's one of those "bitsa" machines. Jerry

I can't tell for sure, but it looks like a swapped motor from a portable. The turn table looks like a portable one. For $150.00, that's not too bad. You might find the right parts to restore it.
Harvey Kravitz

The finish on the are appears to be silver "hammer-tone" as opposed to crackle.

Crackle, at least the way it used to be defined was a "typewriter" or very fine wrinkle finish (as on a Crackle Black Lionel 400E locomotive-very scarce and beautiful).

Its pieced together but i like it nonetheless .for 150.00 it would be a fun project to get it sounding great.