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Did the metal grilles in the Amberola 30s have any type of grille cloth? I've seen some with cloth that is clearly not correct, but others seem to have a thin, meshy black material that hides the mechanical stuff behind. Is this correct? If so, what type of cloth would you recommend?

The earliest Amberola 30s with the pin stripping,exposed speed control, and nickle plated reproducer had a very thin burnt orange grille cloth. That later ones with the black reproducer, hidden speed control, and plain black bedplate had a coffee colored grill cloth. I have an early Amberola 30 that I restored. I found this burnt orange grill cloth at a good fabric store. For the later machines, I used coffee colored panty hose. It is the right color, thickness and mesh. You'll have to be nice to your wife or girlfriend, to set some. Or, you'll have to muster up the courage, and buy it yourself. Good luck with your project.
Harvey Kravitz

Cool, thanks Harvey! Should the top grille also have cloth in it? Or just the main front grille?

No cloth on top. The cloth is on the main front grill.
Harvey Kravitz

You may want to read this recent thread about this same subject..

It pretty much covers everything on the subject...pretty accurately I might add.


http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... rola+cloth


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Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

Here is catalog page for the Model 30.

What year was that catalog printed? I thought these were &30.00. I'm curious when the price shot up to $41.00. Or is this Canadian dollars?
Harvey Kravitz

Phonofreak wrote:What year was that catalog printed? I thought these were &30.00. I'm curious when the price shot up to $41.00. Or is this Canadian dollars?
Harvey Kravitz

USA Catalog 1919-1920

"What year was that catalog printed? I thought these were $30.00. I'm curious when the price shot up to $41.00."

Yes, You are correct, Originally when the Amberola 30/50/75 were introduced in 1915, They were each $30, $50 and $75 respectfully. What happened was that WW1 broke out in Europe and the U.S. got "pulled" into the war by then President Woodrow Wilson. When that happened, A New "War tax" was imposed on manufactured products in the U.S. that used certain materials. Because of this, The price for the Amberola 30 was increased to $41.00, The Amberola 50 was increased to $68.00, and the Amberola 75 was increased to $100.00 among other product price increases throughout the Edison product line.

The Amberola 30 page above that you were questioning is from the Edison 1919-1920 Product catalog which is one in the same catalog which showed the "War Tax" price increases. Edison around this time put out "two year" catalogs. The previous "two year" catalog was the Edison 1917-1918 product catalog which was nearly 95% identical and did not have "War Tax" price increases.

The pics of both catalog covers are pictured below. The first being the Edison 1917-1918 product catalog, and the second being the 1919-1920 Edison product catalog.

You can still find excellent exact quality reprints of the 1919-1920 Edison Product Catalog on ebay, and I highly recommend picking up a copy or two. Some ebay links to some sales of the are below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edison-Diamond- ... P_J2_jVEaQ

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Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

Thanks guys, great information as always!