Weekend Haul

[Brad]

Picked up a Standard Model A and Edison B-80 at Auction this weekend. Both in the wild and complete. The Standard needs a mainspring, the Edison plays fine. Both should clean up nicely.

The interesting thing about the B-80, besides being belt driven, is how big and heavy it is as a table top phonograph and how little of it is comprised of the motor. The mechanism to lower and lift the tone arm is located on the tonearm near the back and requires two hands to operate (one to turn the knob and the other to position the repro at the begining of the record.

I have seen Model A's before and realize that they are not particularly rare, but I have never paid much attention to them. I poked around online for information about the company and machines but didn't come up with much. Anyone know of any web pages or publications from which I may become enlightend?

[phonophan79]

Hey Brad, nice job this weekend!

I have these very two machines and I enjoy them both!

I love the Edison because well, I love Edison machines. ... but is great because its a nice rarity... most Diamond Disc machines have identical hardware, but these belt driven machines are an interesting variance. ...and they were one of the last machines made in the pre-fire Edison factory.

You're right about the huge cabinet size compared to the little motor and smaller-than-any-other diamond disc horn.

Here is the recent thread on my B-80...
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... elt+driven

The Model A is one of two of my only external horn machines. I think it looks nice and sounds nice as well. My horn is black tho, and was replaced with a normal sized spindle before I purchased it. Looks like you have the original ½" hole... quick google search for some info:

The Standard Talking Machine was a superb experiment in marketing -- that worked! The Standard Talking Machine Company, out of Chicago during the 1905-1915 period, had the idea that if they could sell phonographs very reasonably, customers would come back to buy records from the same company. This concept was excellently planned as indeed, the Standard Talking Machine took special records with ½" center holes! So, all those customers who bought cheap machines (actually made by Columbia but rebranded as Standards) were "hooked" on the special Standard records, at whatever the cost was!

Also, there is a Standard Model A (no horn) "for parts or repair" currently listed on the 'bay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0392883744

[phonophan79]

...shameless self-promotion...

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIfUU5ShDmM[/youtubehd]

and

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oueyDn6p4a4[/youtube]

[Jerry B.]

I have always had a soft spot for the Standard A machines. DeeDee game me one for a wedding gift in 1975. I'm still in love with both!

[schweg]

It's always the most fun for me to head off to a local auction and find out what kind of "Victrola" they are selling. Looks like you did really well this weekend. Congrats Brad.

Steve

[fmblizz]

Great tune....


How much will you take for the record playing on the Standard??

fmblizz