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Interesting little Brunswick portable. Where is the horn

The Brunswick Parisian, Polly Portable, and the British version called the Guiniphone, were all essentially the same machine. They used a large, folding paper cone as a horn. Replacement cones have been offered on the board before. I don't know if they're still available.

These are interesting, fun machines that sound surprisingly good. You usually need to replace the little rubber pieces under the needle holder and maybe add a drop of oil here and there on the motor, but otherwise you're good to go.

The one shown is also missing the combination horn holder and record holder that lives in the lid.

Search the board and/or YouTube for Polly Portable and you'll find lots more.

These portables are quite interesting and I also hope to acquire one someday. The above post was very informative.

here is a Polly Portable instruction sheet.

Thank you all for the information. Hopefully I can find a horn. It needs some clean up but I think it will look ok when done. I need to order some things from Ron. Maybe he knows where I can get a horn. Thanks again, Jan

phonogal wrote:Thank you all for the information. Hopefully I can find a horn. It needs some clean up but I think it will look ok when done. I need to order some things from Ron. Maybe he knows where I can get a horn. Thanks again, Jan

Some information on making a replacement horn was posted to the board a while ago. Scroll down towards the bottom of this thread and you'll see alang's "specs" for a horn. I have not tried this, but I would suspect a large piece of poster board would work as a temporary horn until you find an authentic one.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ilit=polly

52089 wrote:

phonogal wrote:Thank you all for the information. Hopefully I can find a horn. It needs some clean up but I think it will look ok when done. I need to order some things from Ron. Maybe he knows where I can get a horn. Thanks again, Jan

Some information on making a replacement horn was posted to the board a while ago. Scroll down towards the bottom of this thread and you'll see alang's "specs" for a horn. I have not tried this, but I would suspect a large piece of poster board would work as a temporary horn until you find an authentic one.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ilit=polly

Since the original cones can get weak at the folds with age many owners use replacements.

The original horns were made from a thick card stock, but over the years have become brittle and many have completely deteriorated. Several years ago, I made a number of reproduction horns that were modern adaptations of the originals for Pollys and Brunswicks, in that they looked like the originals but were made of laminated paper which definitely improved the sound and were much more flexible than the originals. The only one I have left is a basket weave design for a Brunswick Parisian, but they are all variants of the same machine and used the same type of horn. I thought about making more, but they are somewhat labor intensive and there is an extremely small market for them...

Also, original horns (apart from a machine) are extremely hard to find, if not next to impossible, and are usually in bad shape. I found one for my Brunswick for $50 and it disintegrated on arrival after unpacking it... it was useful only for a pattern.

Not sure if the Brunswick version offered an "Ultra" oscillator like the Sister machine "Polly Portable". It was made from a very thin black paper and was intended for home use.....at an additional cost of fifty cents. They claimed "it greatly increases the volume"..I have my doubts. If you can buy a repro from Curt....I would highly recommend it. Finding a decent original "loose" will be next to impossible as many of these models are missing them.

These machines are cool. I just don’t recommend using them as everyday machines. The arms are heavy on the records, and may cause excessive record wear. The other reason is the machine has a small “cheap” motor. I had a difficult time reassembling and adjusting the motor. I had my mainspring replaced by George V. in my Polly Portable. George told me that this machine uses a uncommon mainspring size, he had one old N.O.S. mainspring for it. Not sure if anyone else makes new mainsprings for these. My machine runs great but not one that I use daily.