The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

FOR SALE columbia GRAFONOLA viva tonal


You can give your price

you might want to mention where it's located, whether it's working or needs any sort of repair, and give some idea as to price.

maybe its just me but, don't the viva-tonals have a s-shaped arm like the victor ortho's and not the straight arm like is on this, also if i remember correctly the viva-tonal's have doors over the horn not the 4-section louvers..... just sayin, i dont know I could be wrong...

I think this is one of the British viva-tonal machines, they differed in details from the US ones.

either way, it doesn't seem like the most effective way to sell something, by simply posting a photo and providing no more information than the fact that it's for sale (no specifics, no price, no location, no contact information).

I saw one of these on craigslist this morning for $150. Can't remember what city it was in -- I think I was looking around northern Ohio/southern Michigan.

wheelgun357 wrote:maybe its just me but, don't the viva-tonals have a s-shaped arm like the victor ortho's and not the straight arm like is on this, also if i remember correctly the viva-tonal's have doors over the horn not the 4-section louvers..... just sayin, i dont know I could be wrong...

As noted, that's one of the UK Columbia models, which differed considerably from those made in the US.

From what I can tell, it all looks correct. The straight, exponential tonearm was used on both the cabinet and portable models--for instance:



For me, the most interesting feature of the UK Viva Tonal cabinet and table top gramophones is the horn, which was made out of metal and was divided into two sections, basically like two horns joined together:
Horn from a Columbia 117 Table Grand -- See: Click Here

I'm pretty certain that horn reflects that UK Columbia was part of HMV- that horn is exactly like the one in my HMV 109, but doubled.

estott wrote:I'm pretty certain that horn reflects that UK Columbia was part of HMV- that horn is exactly like the one in my HMV 109, but doubled.

From what I've been told/read, this type of horn was used, starting in about 1926--or prior to the (1931) merger between Columbia and the Gramophone Co., which formed EMI. Steve or Shane probably could provide more details. I agree, it's very much like a double version of the horns that the Gramophone Co. installed in some their models. It's also very close to the type of horn that was used for an off-brand gramophone I used to own. (Perhaps these horns were off the shelf components supplied by outside vendors?)

I'm kind of surprised (well, perhaps not) that the original poster hasn't chimed in after more than 2 days with more info, if he really wants to sell this...

But at least it has turned into an interesting discussion!