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I just bought a rare late Columbia Viva-Tonal 720 console. Here is a pic of the motor and motor board which doesn't look like the motor on my Columbia Viva-Tonal 800. Is this a Garrard motor?

After looking at my Columbia 800 motor again, I can see there are more similarities to this motor than I thought. Of course, the 800 motor has three springs rather than the two shown above, and the governor is to the left rather than to the right. It appears that the motor shown above uses a female crank whereas the 800 uses a male end crank. The most important difference is that this motor board has simpler controls above the motor board than the earlier 800. I think that perhaps this is not a Garrard motor, which came out I believe on the 1928 machines such as the 721 and 820. This is what the 800 and 810 model Columbia Viva Tonal motors look like:

Garrard motors usually had their spring casings parallel to the motor board, as here :

That is a Heinemann speed control. The motor appears to be a Heinemann "55", which would have been made it the Garford Works at Elyria, OH.

Columbia bought in motors at the end of their machine production.

That is a Heinemann speed control. The motor appears to be a Heinemann "55", which would have been made it the Garford Works at Elyria, OH.


http://s276.photobucket.com/user/viva-t ... 0.jpg.html

Columbia bought in motors at the end of their machine production.

Imported Garrard motors have been found, as have Heinemann, though a couple of experts have told me definitively that Heinemann motors were never used by Columbia, the evidence of my lying eyes notwithstanding.

Thanks for posting the photo of the motor in your new 720. Would you post photos of the entire machine, perhaps in the "Featured Machine" thread? It is certainly rare, and I for one find these late machines fascinating.

I think you nailed it U.V.! It's a Heinemann 55 motor complete with a female crank. I never would have suspected that Heinemann and Columbia were connected. I will furnish some pics of the 720 when I get possession of it. It is currently in Florida and is being packed to go Greyhound to CA. We found that after taking the motor board out, the cabinet was still over 100 lbs. So we had to remove the doors and lid, as well as the tonearm and reproducer, and pack them with the motor board. I will get the 720 in about ten to twelve days.

Just an update. Since I wrote the entries above, I have received the Columbia Viva Tonal 720 from Greyhound. The shipping cost came to about $230 for the two boxes. The motor would not crank, so I took it to my tech guy. Luckily, it was just a case of the spring becoming unhinged from the cranking gear. My tech worked on it making a more positive and secure connection. I used the reproducer from a Columbia 800 that I already have to play the 720. The sound is very loud and aggressive with a definite punch of the treble. I compared the sound of the 720 with the larger 800 and the 800 has a more balanced sound with more bass, but not more volume than the 720. In fact the 720 may have more volume than the much larger 800!

Could you share a photo of the 720? That's one I can't recall ever seeing before. It's been years since I've heard an 800 series VT machine play, however, I've got a 711 which has the Garrard motor which I was just playing the other day and the sound on it always impresses me, very similar to that of something like a Victor 4-40, if not even better.

Sean

Imported Garrard motors have been found, as have Heinemann, though a couple of experts have told me definitively that Heinemann motors were never used by Columbia, the evidence of my lying eyes notwithstanding.

Then the "experts" were wrong! Columbia used Heinemann "Flyer" motors in the 163 portable.

Barry

Yes, I will share a pic of this rare 720, but right now the doors and lid are off due to have to split the shipping into two boxes in order to conform to Greyhound's shipping rules of 100 lbs. or less per box. In the meantime, you can see a color pic of this phonograph on page 235 of the digital version of the book, or a black and white drawing on page 233 of the hard cover version.