The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Guys..Dont forget to put the cylinder back in cylinder holder after playing..I just broke a cylinder cause I was in a hurry to put another on to play for a family member..I set it aside and knocked it off the table with my elbow...

The same applies to records when once I placed it on a recliner and then sat *crack!* down right on it.

edisonc250 wrote:Guys..Dont forget to put the cylinder back in cylinder holder after playing..I just broke a cylinder cause I was in a hurry to put another on to play for a family member..I set it aside and knocked it off the table with my elbow...

Yes, and be careful when putting wax 2 minute cylinders back into a cabinet. A few weeks ago, I accidentally "dinged" a mint copy of "McGinty At The Living Pictures" on the edge of the peg just enough that a nice big chunk broke off the edge of the cylinder

How about be careful in general, now that I think of it. I'm still mad at myself for breaking that cylinder, although I'm sure it won't be the last time it happens, no matter how careful we are...

Sean

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9DoJAnB9Nk[/youtube]

Glad I am not the only one!!....I am humbled to admit..but that was 2nd time in a year!!!!

i once satdown on a red g&t record of francesco tamagno di quella pira from trovatore i was as shatered as the record i had no hope of ever finding it again since of its rarety and value this was about 10 years ago a year ago i got a box of 78s for free from a local lp dealer when i got back home the first one i lifted out of the batch was the once lost tamagno! and it was the original green label aswell!! ..... i can die a happy man now!!


greetings
tino

I expect that many a wax cylinder has been sacrificed to the "yes, they really are fragile, so be careful" learning curve most collectors go through. I know some of mine were.

Clay

Especially the late 2M cylinders that used the same formula as the 4M Amberols. They also have the propensity of shattering with just the temperature change of the two fingers sliding inside to place them on the mandrel or simply temperature difference between a mandrel and cylinder.

It's a testimony to the fact that we're all basically decent chaps (and chap-ettes) on this forum that we feel guilty about the records we've all accidentally sent to the Great Phonograph in the Sky. My first was a wax Amberol that I carried home one night in January in sub-zero weather. I had it next to my chest, under my coat, but that wasn't enough, apparently. Once home I played it once on my Edison Standard model D, but when I started to remove it from the mandrel it made that "ice cube being dropped in a warm drink" cracking sound. I then spent several nights trying to glue it back together, as if THAT would work.

I left several Gold Moulded cylinders out on a cabinet top ready in line to play when our cat jumped up onto the cabinet top and knocked one down to the floor. It was a mixed blessing as the cylinder subject was extraordinarily racist so I hardly ever played that one for others to hear --somewhat out of embarrassment. But still, 100 year old history lost to a damned cat. I still have that cylinder (and all others I have broke or found that way), hoping the technology will arrive to allow me to repair it.