The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just picked up an unmolested Amberola 30 today. Saw an ad on craigslist and it turned out to be a friend of mine. He sold it to me for $150. After a few drops of oil and a couple of minor tweaks, its running fine. Probably going to hang on to this one for a while.

Nice. You are very lucky to have the original grained metal grill. It should have a silk on the inside...I believe.
Congrats!!!!.

Will be replacing the grill cloth soon. It's so nice to find one that hasn't been monkeyed with! No chips in the veneer, either

Great find. And even better price. Congratulations.

Andreas

I talked to a fellow that uses panty hose for grill cloth. Anyone else tried that? Jerry

$150.00 ???

That was a serious gift from your friend. A clean, complete Amberola 30 with no veneer loss will run you anywhere from $350-400 easy today from reputable people/dealers. Crooks on ebay will charge double that. I'm glad that I have two clean examples myself! Judging from your picture, It looks like the phonograph is a Amberola 30 Early 2nd Model. Did you notice the big "51" that someone wrote upside down on the inside of the lid?? Is it etched in, or is in written in chalk?? Also, What is the Dataplate Number of this Amberola 30?? Can you post a pic of the dataplate? Thanks!

I advise against using pantyhose since it's too thin, and causes runs! Runs in the pantyhose...!

Original Metal Grills can be found...Clean original painted Amberola 30/X grills are found on ebay all the time for about $35-$50. Nice Repro grills are about $40 bucks as well.

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

I would suggest looking at an Indian sari store that carry's a large supply of silks. You should be able to find the correct (or close to) color and sheerness required.

Depending on where you live, most city's have an Indian neighborhood.

This is also a good source when re-covering your early silk lamp shades..... .

Good luck... .

Jerry B. wrote:I talked to a fellow that uses panty hose for grill cloth. Anyone else tried that? Jerry

I think these are probably acoustically transparent?

The "upside down 51" in the lid are just a couple of scratches from not having the horn attached to the reproducer. The serial number is SM123693. Thanks to all on the tips for grill clothes. Somehow I think the fishnets might have upset Mr Edison . I couldn't argue with the price. He quoted me $150 before he even knew it was me! He wants the same amount on a clean mahogany Victrola XI. I just don't need any more uprights.

Jerry B. wrote:I talked to a fellow that uses panty hose for grill cloth. Anyone else tried that? Jerry

I've used panty hose. It's so sheer that almost all the sound comes through.