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I am correct in that the Columbia Lyric was designed to play the 2 minute Indestructible type records, and that Edison and Columbia black wax should not be played with a Lyric reproducer?

Victrolacollector wrote:I am correct in that the Columbia Lyric was designed to play the 2 minute Indestructible type records, and that Edison and Columbia black wax should not be played with a Lyric reproducer?

I would not go quite that far: the 'Lyric' reproducer was introduced about 1905/6, before Columbia bought out the entire output of the Indestructible factories. Therefore, the earlier versions, at least, should have been designed for wax cylinders as well as celluloid.

Certainly, the later 'Extra Tension' reproducers, as well as the 2/4 minute combination versions, were designed with celluloid in mind…

Bill

The early Lyric reproducers have a large ball sapphire stylus as you would expect to see on a 2-minute-only reproducer and will play the 2-minute black wax cylinders just fine. However, I would check the condition of the stylus for any flat spots resulting from possibly years of playing celluloid cylinders.

Later Lyric reproducers installed on combination 2 and 4 minute machines used a much smaller styus to track the 4 minute cylinders. There is no harm playing 2 minute Indestructible records with one, but I think it would be murder on any kind of wax.