The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I know a guy in Europe that has a large Gramophone collection. He has this one with a Violin. Can anyone tell me anything about it?

No, it's a fake... Made in the Netherlands, probably 5-10 years ago...

What is it supposed to be, other than a phonograph and a violin with big holes in it?

It's a Palmodian, and I believe it is probably original. Note the holes in the violin. All of the fakes I've seen have been made with ordinary cheap violins, with 'f' cut sounding holes. You can also see the mounting for the stylus bar inside. The original is actually quite complex. Fakes have a Pathé stylus glued to the bottom of the instrument.

I wrote a detailed article about Palmodians for The Sound Box magazine in December 2004, which illustrates the details of the original and how they differ from fakes.

A machine like this has already been posted...
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=17005

And one on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4hwjv-ra9k

The one on Youtube is definitely fake. Aside from being a conventional violin, someone mounted a reproducer to the side. That's nothing like original.

TinfoilPhono wrote:It's a Palmodian, and I believe it is probably original. Note the holes in the violin. All of the fakes I've seen have been made with ordinary cheap violins, with 'f' cut sounding holes. You can also see the mounting for the stylus bar inside. The original is actually quite complex. Fakes have a Pathé stylus glued to the bottom of the instrument.

I wrote a detailed article about Palmodians for The Sound Box magazine in December 2004, which illustrates the details of the original and how they differ from fakes.

I agree, the one on the photo (already posted in 2014 in this forum) looks original. The needle bar is unique to this machine, but it is not visible in the photo.But the cutouts on the violin, the small visible portion of the needle bar attachment and the lateral support for the violin are characteristics of the original, or at least a more sophisticated forgery...

Alas, nice as it looks, and expensive as it normally sells, it sounds like a cheap pathé, the violin being no more than a sales gimmick.

CarlosV wrote:

TinfoilPhono wrote:It's a Palmodian, and I believe it is probably original. Note the holes in the violin. All of the fakes I've seen have been made with ordinary cheap violins, with 'f' cut sounding holes. You can also see the mounting for the stylus bar inside. The original is actually quite complex. Fakes have a Pathé stylus glued to the bottom of the instrument.

I wrote a detailed article about Palmodians for The Sound Box magazine in December 2004, which illustrates the details of the original and how they differ from fakes.

I agree, the one on the photo (already posted in 2014 in this forum) looks original. The needle bar is unique to this machine, but it is not visible in the photo.But the cutouts on the violin, the small visible portion of the needle bar attachment and the lateral support for the violin are characteristics of the original, or at least a more sophisticated forgery...

Alas, nice as it looks, and expensive as it normally sells, it sounds like a cheap pathé, the violin being no more than a sales gimmick.

This particular machine has never been posted I think. I have known of it and a lot more for a couple years. Same guy that had the left over Tin Foil reproductions made in the 70's. I got one of them a couple of years ago.

There are several youtube videos of them.

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4hwjv-ra9k

It's easy to see the difference of the you tube one and the posted one.