The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am planning on getting some sort of Edison cylinder phonograph in the (hopefully not so distant) future so that I can obviously listen to cylinders, but also because I want to be able to record my own, which as far as I know, cannot be done with discs without basically a facility? Anyhow, there is an amberola in my area for which the seller is asking $300 and it looks, at least to me, to be in decent shape. However, if I can't record on it, then there is no point.

Recording on disks can be done if one of the small
portable disk recording outfits from the 1940s and 50s
era can be found. These were mostly small portable
outfits which record on acetate coated aluminum disks.

I had one when I was a young boy. It had been given to
our family by its original owner, who had long since
taken it out of its portable case and had put it into
a larger floor-console wooden cabinet. By the time
we got it, the halfnut mechanism which was a cheapo
pot metal thing, had been broken, so it could not
track the feed screw.

My dad and I repaired the broken piece by bolting it
back together and got the machine fired up. It had a
small vacuum tube amplifier in it which worked great.

It used steel cutters which needed to be changed after
recording about 5 disks. The cutters came in packs of
10 each in a small yellow envelope. The disks we found
available at the time (mid-1960s) came in two sizes
7 inch and 12 inch diameter. At that time there still
was a big record store in downtown Milwaukee, Wisc
called "Radio Doctors" which had a stock of the blank
acetate disks and the cutters.

One oddball thing about that machine was that it
was a "center start" setup. It was 78 rpm.

As far as recording cylinders, yes, recording on an
Amberola is not such a great idea. Most of those machines are geared for 4 minute only (200 TPI), and
also they use the later "diamond" series reproducers.

If you really want to record cylinders, a much easier
machine to use would be a Standard, Home, or a Triumph.
There are others as well such as Fireside. Basically
any of the older outside horn machines that have a
2-minute feed (100 TPI) and the carriage with the
small eye are much more well-suited for recording.

Chuck

Thanks for the information. I never knew about those disc recorders, I will have to look it up.