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It's a Columbia 110 portable, made in England. An uncle of my dad's bought it in Australia around 1930. I got my hands on it back in 1975, and the gaskets around the diaphragm had long before gone hard and shrunken. Brittle and petrified, so everything had a nasty rattle when you played it.

A couple of years later, I managed to find some vinyl-covered wire that looked about the right size, and was the right colour, and I cut a couple of pieces to fit.

Is that a Columbia Viva-Tonal record with blue shellac, or are my tired eyes deceiving me?

— MordEth

That sure looks like a Columbia blue shellac disc! They can sound wonderful, I have only found a few of them over the years. I believe they date from the early 1930s, hopefully somebody else can fill us in. What's the title and artist?
That Columbia portable looks great as well. Not sure about the gasket material (vinyl covered wire?), seems like that would be too hard. It's a reversible part once something more compliant is on hand. I really like that lid that covers the needle well, it's affixed to the cabinet lid so that the needles can be accessed once the lid is raised. Never have seen that before.

Kirk

If that columbia used the same reproducer system as the large earlier ones then the gasket would be rubber tubbing or flat rubber if available. Wire coated material might help compared to falling apart brittle rubber, but I would guess that a new rubber gasket would improve the tone? But who knows the Orthophonic versions used a pressed fitting I believe?

Either way I would like to hear one of those portables. I love the blue Columbia Records. I had some sets of classical selections on them and I think a Paul Whiteman 12 inch disc too. Very quite surface and rich sound.

The record is Columbia 2628-D. It's the only royal blue record I have with the earlier black label on it. The side that's up: 'My mom', Ben Selvin and his orchestra; matrix W 152113-2, recorded 29 February 1932. I don't know who sings the vocal but he does an Al Jolson-lite subtle impersonation.

The flip is 'Too many tears' also by Selvin, matrix W 152127-1, recorded 8 March 1932. Different singer to the other side, and I don't know who it is either. Trombone solo passage sounds like Tommy Dorsey, and likely is.

These Columbia portables are amongst some of the best sounding portables there are. Mine is a Columbia 112a - and believe me he sound is amazing for the size of machine. Lots of low tones and bass and a nice rounded upper sound too.

Most records sound good on these.

Mine also had the same lid sprung needle cover that goes over the needle pot when the main lid is down. The 112a also has that cool looking panaflex tone arm which was supposed to guide the sound more directly from the soundbox to the horn.

All in all this is a vry nice machine viva-tonal. Well worth getting the soundbox fully restored - you'll be blown away by the sound!

If yu want to see more Columbia portables (and lots more besides) then check out this forum which deals wih UK and european machines. There is a whole section on Columbia machines there:

http://gramophones.proboards.com/

RJ

Mordeth,

The Royal Blue Columbias appeared late in 1932. I have the exact issue and month documented at home but it was around December of 1932. Grigsby-Grunow, the owners of Majestic Radio bought Columbia in 1932 and brought the blue records out as a sales gimmick. They ran on the east coast (pressed at Bridgeport, Conn) until about 1935 but continued to be pressed in blue on the west coast into 1936. G-G went bankrupt in February of 1934 and the new owner of Columbia, American Record Company continued pressing in blue.

I have the demo record they brought out at the introduction of them in 1932 telling you how you can become a happy Columbia Records profit making dealer. If I can scan the label, perhaps you could make it my avatar? I could transcribe it if someone could post the music file. It features a snippet of Rudy Valley's recording of "Let's Put Out The Lights and Go To Sleep".

Fred

Fred,

Thanks for the history—prior to Viva-Tonals pictures (and comments) and the information you added to that, I had no experience with these records. I’ve seen quite a few red records, though. (“Red records are best!”)

eccentricgroove wrote:I have the demo record they brought out at the introduction of them in 1932 telling you how you can become a happy Columbia Records profit making dealer. If I can scan the label, perhaps you could make it my avatar?

Yes, I’ve been trying to do custom avatars for everyone who would want one (and perhaps even encouraging people who are not as concerned with avatars to get something meaningful to them).

I’d love to make something for you (expect to see several more record label transparencies today, all of which will be in the stock avatar gallery). I reccommend scanning at 600 DPI so it could also go in the record label transparencies thread at high resolution, but that is not entirely necessary.

Usually it is better to work with larger images and then reduce them, for optimal quality.

If anyone else has something they would like to either see in the stock avatar gallery or as a personal avatar, please feel welcome to e-mail it to [email protected].

eccentricgroove wrote:I could transcribe it if someone could post the music file. It features a snippet of Rudy Valley's recording of "Let's Put Out The Lights and Go To Sleep".

You’re welcome to e-mail that to me (or I can help set you up with somewhere to upload the music files yourself)—we’ll get it up for you.

I’m rather fond of Rudy Vallée, particularly “Outside”. (That Velvet Tone is another label I want to get up...)

There’s a lot of great music and label designs out there.

— MordEth

Wire coated material might help compared to falling apart brittle rubber, but I would guess that a new rubber gasket would improve the tone? But who knows the Orthophonic versions used a pressed fitting I believe?

While the Orthophonic diaphragm was suspended rigidly between the gaskets--paper coated rubber, plain rubber, and later, felt for the HMV version of the sound boxes--the pivoting action was provided by the corrugations that surrounded the rim of the diaphragm, visible in this photograph --



If you move the needle bar of an Orthophonic sound box gently and slightly back and forth, you can see the diaphragm flex from the area of the corrugated rim.

In contrast, Columbia diaphragms did not have the corrugated rim, and relied on the gaskets to isolate the diaphragm from the sound box casing, as well as to dampen the diaphragm.

If held rigidly in place by gaskets that are too hard, the diaphragm will give the sound box a high pitched, ringing tone, with reduced mid-range and barely any bass. Since this was designed to play the early electrical recordings, the movement of the diaphragm should be as free as possible.

eccentricgroove wrote:
I have the demo record they brought out at the introduction of them in 1932 telling you how you can become a happy Columbia Records profit making dealer. If I can scan the label, perhaps you could make it my avatar? I could transcribe it if someone could post the music file. It features a snippet of Rudy Vallee's recording of "Let's Put Out The Lights and Go To Sleep".

Fred

Not quite! When he recorded it, it still had the original lyrics 'Let's put out the lights and go to bed'. (I've heard this promo record. I have the sound on a MD somewhere.)

Most royal blue Columbias sport the blue labels. But a few early ones that were originally issued on black shellac appeared on blue shellac with the black labels, until the stock of black labels ran out.

Edit: Here's an attempt at photographing one of my all-blue ones: