The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello all!

I came across this at a flea market here in Germany. It's not a bad little machine as you can see and has had some work done to it. Motor runs very well. The reproducer on the left has a mica diaphragm and its cover has been spray-painted to spruce it up. Quality? Meh. On the right is a orthophonic type reproducer I picked up at another flea market a while ago, and was never able to ID it. It produces much better tone and quality than the standard mica-based reproducer that came with the machine.

Pictures show the nice (if very European) inexpensive case design. The only thing I know about "JBelophon" is that they manufactured gramophone needles. I'm assuming the pronunciation is either "E-belophone" or perhaps, "zhah-belophone." Any information about this curious gramophone would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Mike

The “Belophon” of the Karl Below Company, Leipzig, 1905;
Phonographische Zeitschrift
6, no. 49 (1905), 1096; Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

Hmmm...perhaps. I'm curious about the "J." Although the references to this model have all been from French auction sites, I'm now wondering if this might not be a Hungarian product - just a thought.

The other striking aspect of this gramophone is it's cheap "plywood" construction. I'd love to know its year of manufacture. If it was made at the end of the 20s, then I could justify such cheap construction, given that the economic crisis in Europe was even worse than what America experienced. On the other hand, if it was made in the early 20s or before, it's harder to justify. Even so, it's a solidly built little machine and plays very well and produces a pleasing-enough tone. I can imagine it gave some family years of enjoyment.

Something else to note: It's a shame the backplate on the original reproducer is black (unless who ever restored this machine chose black to hide pitting). It has a very nice milled edge, similar to an early Columbia reproducer.

Bad_Photographer wrote:Hmmm...perhaps. I'm curious about the "J." Although the references to this model have all been from French auction sites, I'm now wondering if this might not be a Hungarian product - just a thought.

The other striking aspect of this gramophone is it's cheap "plywood" construction. I'd love to know its year of manufacture. If it was made at the end of the 20s, then I could justify such cheap construction, given that the economic crisis in Europe was even worse than what America experienced. On the other hand, if it was made in the early 20s or before, it's harder to justify. Even so, it's a solidly built little machine and plays very well and produces a pleasing-enough tone. I can imagine it gave some family years of enjoyment.

its a pretty late machine of german origin most likely with a swiss motor and other parts made by the lindstrom company this because most off brands in germany did this
i said its pretty late because of the caped off soundbox, automatic brake(missing the touch bar) and strip speed indicator
the machine is most likely from between 1933 and 1936
if the gramophone is related to the gramo's made by karl below is someting i can't prove it might be but more likely is that its totally unrelated because of the enormous gap between 1905 and 1933
in a lot of casses it was sold by a vendor with no relations to the gramophone world many of these where ordered to be build as a one off so it might be wise to search the name or parts of the name on other fields one for instance there are casses where one could get a gramophone for free when buying a car and there are many deals like that in the 30s in germany just to draw the last rich people in

the use of plywood for grammo's was pretty common from the mid 1920s to the 1930s most of the hmv machines of this era are made of laminated wood so the crisis had little to do with that its more being a copycat than anything else

the reproducers are from the same period the thorens leonette is as-is its not painted over most that i have seen are black although there are white versions the other is an older style reproducer but caped this type of reproducer was used all through the 1920 to 1930s its one of the many copies of the hmv no2 reproducer but here with an added cap i'm pretty sure there's no brand name on it


i hope this helps

tino

Something to note about the reproducer on the left with the silver/painted front:

The needle bar is touching, or almost touching, the face plate, which may add unwanted noises when playing a record. I had this issue on a reproducer and correcting it made a difference in sound quality.

Oceangoer1 wrote:Something to note about the reproducer on the left with the silver/painted front:

The needle bar is touching, or almost touching, the face plate, which may add unwanted noises when playing a record. I had this issue on a reproducer and correcting it made a difference in sound quality.

Ah! So it is! Thanks very much - I'll attend to that and see if I can fix it. Great tip, thanks!

tinovanderzwan wrote:
the reproducers are from the same period the thorens leonette is as-is its not painted over most that i have seen are black although there are white versions

the other is an older style reproducer but caped this type of reproducer was used all through the 1920 to 1930s its one of the many copies of the hmv no2 reproducer but here with an added cap i'm pretty sure there's no brand name on it


i hope this helps

tino

I'd wondered if it was a Thorens - Thanks for the info, Tino!

Bad_Photographer wrote:

Oceangoer1 wrote:Something to note about the reproducer on the left with the silver/painted front:

The needle bar is touching, or almost touching, the face plate, which may add unwanted noises when playing a record. I had this issue on a reproducer and correcting it made a difference in sound quality.

Ah! So it is! Thanks very much - I'll attend to that and see if I can fix it. Great tip, thanks!

All I had to do was stick the head of a ball-point pen and gently rotate the cover until the needle bar was in the center. Worked like a charm regarding sound quality. It's a big reproducer and produces decent quality sound now. Thanks!