The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This is the first generation Edison Needle Type portable (before the P1 and P2) with the brass soundbox.

Obviously needs work. I believe this model resembles other portables made by Prime (and I think thats why they made the P1 and P2 a different design). Apparently this phonograph reflects light really badly as seen in the pictures!

Does anyone else have one of these? I am missing some parts and will have some questions about what is missing.

-Connor

P.S. From some preliminary inspecting. The horn is actually metal, and I know I am missing the faceplate of the reproducer (one with the "E" and lightning bolts on it) and the two lid supports, plus the two latches that support the record compartment. I also may need a new tonearm? This one is broken and frozen in its base.

I used to own a very nice P-1 machine, it was near mint, but had to sell it due to finances. They are not easy to find, and normally are in pretty bad shape. I like these early Needle Type ones better than the P-1 and P-2.

You might be able to use a tone arm and base from a Prime, that is just a thought.

Your machine does look nice, you will just need to find all the parts. Sometimes these complete reproducers show up on E-bay.


All the best,

Jerry P.

I wanted to bid on this so bad when it came up on eBay, but I fully admit I don't have a clue on fixing the tonearm. So I'm so happy someone on the forum got it!

Benjamin_L wrote:I wanted to bid on this so bad when it came up on eBay, but I fully admit I don't have a clue on fixing the tonearm. So I'm so happy someone on the forum got it!

I actually bid on it, and it didn't even occur to me that the face of the reproducer is missing! This is indeed a SCARCE machine, and I really like the embossed label under the lid.

Are these the only machines (the three portables) that Edison farmed out to have built by someone else rather than his own plant in West orange? I have both the P-1 and the P-2.

I have an Edison P-1 that my friend Jerry Donnell gave me.It doesn't have the correct gold plated tone arm and support.The Edison portables are rare machines,however.edisonplayer

Nice! I have a P1, which I enjoy playing.

The reproducer on the NTP seems to be superior to the other two, being made of brass instead of pot metal, and having proper pivot points on the needle bar (the others simply have a flat spring, much like the old Clark-Johnson soundbox). It would be nice to hear how it sounds.

This reproducer also seems to have been used on the very late Edison lateral adapters.

Bill