The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

(a) If one had a nice, original Edisonic Schubert with nice, original finish, would outfitting it with a second spring and LP gearing be sacrilege? The idea being to get the advantage of the large horn for those relatively faint LP discs?

(b) If the answer to (a) is "yes," would disposing of the Schubert; substituting an Edisonic Beethoven, which already has two springs; and outfitting that with the LP gearing be sacrilege?

Thoughts?

I say, "no, it's not sacrilegious" in either case. The LP gearing was offered as a kit to be installed on earlier phonograph models, and I see no reason why some wouldn't have wanted it on their next gen models.

Just my $.02

Best,
Fran

Why not, as long as you're not yanking apart an original LP machine to get your gears...

drh wrote:(a) If one had a nice, original Edisonic Schubert with nice, original finish, would outfitting it with a second spring and LP gearing be sacrilege? The idea being to get the advantage of the large horn for those relatively faint LP discs?

Absolutely not. I have an LP kit put away for that specific purpose. Now all I need is the Schubert!

drh wrote:(a) If one had a nice, original Edisonic Schubert with nice, original finish, would outfitting it with a second spring and LP gearing be sacrilege? The idea being to get the advantage of the large horn for those relatively faint LP discs?

(b) If the answer to (a) is "yes," would disposing of the Schubert; substituting an Edisonic Beethoven, which already has two springs; and outfitting that with the LP gearing be sacrilege?

Thoughts?

I agree - it's an appropriate conversion, and always reversible if you change your mind.

George P.

And you may remember that I bought an unsold Beethoven from the family of an Arizona Edison dealer. This dealer had obviously bought that LP kit, because I got a new LP reproducer and the Beethoven had already been fitted with the LP mechanism. I also got a bunch of the LP discs which had never sold, and I think the dealer fitted the Beethoven with the mechanism in order to sell them the LP discs. But that buyer never showed up until I came along some 90 years later!

marcapra wrote:And you may remember that I bought an unsold Beethoven from the family of an Arizona Edison dealer. This dealer had obviously bought that LP kit, because I got a new LP reproducer and the Beethoven had already been fitted with the LP mechanism. I also got a bunch of the LP discs which had never sold, and I think the dealer fitted the Beethoven with the mechanism in order to sell them the LP discs. But that buyer never showed up until I came along some 90 years later!

You don't still have any duplicate Edison Long Play discs that you want to sell do you? I have L.P. machines 3 and 4 and have been trying for a while to get a full set of Lp DD's for both of them. Thanks! Mark

I do have some dupes if you have some great electric DD titles to trade for them.

52089 wrote:

drh wrote:(a) If one had a nice, original Edisonic Schubert with nice, original finish, would outfitting it with a second spring and LP gearing be sacrilege? The idea being to get the advantage of the large horn for those relatively faint LP discs?

Absolutely not. I have an LP kit put away for that specific purpose. Now all I need is the Schubert!

I have a Schubert that, if going to a good home, I would sell. Still looking for a horn assemble for the Beethoven I rescued last year.

OK, thanks for the thoughts, everybody!