The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In my search for a machine that would safely play brown-wax cylinders, I have just bought a Columbia Model Q dating, I believe, from 1901 or possibly late 1900. The serial number is 647122. The machine has a modern horn and I believe it lacks an embossed plate which should be mounted on the free end of the mandrel, but otherwise it seems to be a very good example; it runs well, with less motor noise than I would have expected, and the lid with its tiger-striped grain and exuberant banner makes my Edison Standard B look quite drab by comparison.

I wonder if anyone can help me with a couple of queries: –

1. Is there anything I can do to improve the reproducer? The bed of whitish compound on which the mica diaphragm rests has naturally hardened and cracked with time, and it seems to me that if I could manage to detach the diaphragm from this without damaging it, I could then easily replace the compound with something less inflexible; however, I did not wish to meddle without taking advice first. It does play, but the sound is exceedingly faint and desiccated even with my 24-inch horn; perhaps this is inevitable with such a light reproducer (besides, the cylinders are in rather poor condition), but I should naturally like to get better results if this is possible.

2. The machine seems to be incapable of running faster than 120 r.p.m.; any further adjustment of the screw merely allows the top of the brake/regulator lever to fetch up against the inner plate of the motor cage. This is a drawback, though a very slight one, since a few of my cylinders are of the 144-r.p.m. type. Is this limitation normal? I cannot see any way of adjusting the regulator. I do realise that this machine probably dates from before the 'high speed' cylinders were introduced, but I cannot help wondering if what I have got is actually one of the machines specially modified to play the slow-turning cylinders supplied with language courses. In that event I would have to assume that the wooden cover has been cannibalised from another machine, since I understand that 'Linguaphone' machines had their own specific pattern of label.

I shall be grateful for any comments. Images are below.

Oliver Mundy.

If you can remove the mica successfully, clean out the old hardened stuff and replace it with clear silicone, which will provide a flexible clear seal and will cement the mica back in place. If it gets damaged during removal, replacements are available in mica or glass... someone on the Forum will know the best source.

I would consider getting an early Columbia Eagle - the Q is sort of a toy....

Encouraged by Curt, I made an attempt on the reproducer last night. The gasket turned out to be cardboard, so clogged and stiffened with glue that it took me twenty minutes to chip it all away. I made a new one out of Sugru, a 'mouldable glue' which has been several times mentioned on our boards (see www.sugru.com).

As for the diaphragm, I did succeed in getting the original one off in one piece, but instead of re-using it I decided to try an experiment – one which could easily be reversed if it did not work – and cut a new diaphragm out of the clear plastic lid of a 'Pringles' tube. (My wife and I are both addicted to these snacks, and I have a habit of hoarding the lids on the assumption that I was bound to find a use for them sooner or later.) The result was most gratifying; the sound is noticeably louder and fuller, so that I can now use a relatively small horn (not indeed the ten-inch cone, which is really only fit for display purposes, but a generic 'witch's hat') without feeling that I am listening to a duet between a dying mouse and a food-processor. Of course it would have been better from a scientific viewpoint if I had tested each of the two modifications separately, so as to establish how much of the improvement was due to the Sugru and how much to the diaphragm; but the improvement itself is beyond doubt.

The Pringles lid is flexible, can be cut with scissors and easily drilled, and does not even look very much out of character as a substitute for mica.

Oliver Mundy.
Oliver Mundy.