The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

If anyone here owns or knows about the climax exterior horn phonograph, is the reproducer/tonearm unique to the model? How hard would it be to find a replacement? (I'm assuming almost impossible) Any good pictures of it would be appreciated.

Thanks
Martin

I used to post occasional scans of pages from the books I co-wrote with Tim Fabrizio, in response to questions asked here. Eventually, it occurred to me that I might be coming off as just shamelessly flogging books. That's really not my intent. I love learning about the history of sound reproducing devices, and I love sharing that information. There are even times, such as now, when certain information can be of real, practical value.

So, young Martin, I'm happy to offer an example of what can be found in specialty books (and NOT just ours) but cannot be found on the Internet! By the way, there's a good thread here on the most helpful books in our hobby:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =8&t=20350

Now here's a page from Discovering Antique Phonographs which should answer your questions (click twice on the image to enlarge and sharpen it). Note especially the part of the caption that reads, "The tone arm was a custom-designed ball-and-socket affair adapted to the H&S back bracket." That's going to be a very tough arm to find.

I hope you find this helpful,
George P.

Here is a video I posted a few years ago of my Climax phonograph. In the video I include a fairly decent close up of the tonearm and reproducer. I believe the assembly to be unique but that's a guess based on many phonographs I've seen and own. In any case, you're going have a real challenge to find a replacement as these almost never surface.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUyCfiBZh4M[/youtube]

Doug

That arm and back bracket are the same as those on my Zonophone.

Thank you George for the book excerpt. Doug, I watched you're video a long while ago, and I wouldn't have known what I was looking at without it. (I really admire and appreciate your YouTube content, keep em coming)

estott wrote:That arm and back bracket are the same as those on my Zonophone.

Do you mind sending a picture of it and the model of Zonophone?

Thanks
Martin

Martin,

That arm would be very hard to find. I know, because I tried to find one for years. Years ago, an eBay seller sold a tone arm. About a week later, they sold the phonograph that it belonged to. I bought the phonograph, an exterior horn Climax. As it turned out, I knew who bought the arm. I looked for several years to find another arm, but could not. I finally convinced the arm owner to sell it to me, (thank you Carl Z.!). If the arm owner had not been so kind, I still would be looking.

JerryVan wrote:Martin,

That arm would be very hard to find. I know, because I tried to find one for years. Years ago, an eBay seller sold a tone arm. About a week later, they sold the phonograph that it belonged to. I bought the phonograph, an exterior horn Climax. As it turned out, I knew who bought the arm. I looked for several years to find another arm, but could not. I finally convinced the arm owner to sell it to me, (thank you Carl Z.!). If the arm owner had not been so kind, I still would be looking.

That is really quite unfortunate. Without it its quite worthless. I contacted croakinfrog on ebay to ask if he had one because he has other climax parts on sale.

Thanks
Martin

Mormon S wrote:Thank you George for the book excerpt. Doug, I watched you're video a long while ago, and I wouldn't have known what I was looking at without it. (I really admire and appreciate your YouTube content, keep em coming)

estott wrote:That arm and back bracket are the same as those on my Zonophone.

Do you mind sending a picture of it and the model of Zonophone?

Thanks
Martin

Here is the arm and bracket- I'm having some issues getting photos off my phone. The notice on the underside is dated 1907, no indication of a model, and there is little to no information on these Zonophones once Victor was selling them. There is no indication on the back bracket of the fitting which would have held a H&S tone arm, I don't think this ever had it.

estott wrote:

Mormon S wrote:Thank you George for the book excerpt. Doug, I watched you're video a long while ago, and I wouldn't have known what I was looking at without it. (I really admire and appreciate your YouTube content, keep em coming)

estott wrote:That arm and back bracket are the same as those on my Zonophone.

Do you mind sending a picture of it and the model of Zonophone?

Thanks
Martin

Here is the arm and bracket- I'm having some issues getting photos off my phone. The notice on the underside is dated 1907, no indication of a model, and there is little to no information on these Zonophones once Victor was selling them. There is no indication on the back bracket of the fitting which would have held a H&S tone arm, I don't think this ever had it.

Thanks Estott. While they are similar, I don't think the arm would be compatible with the climax but I could be wrong. Even if it "fits", its likely that the air seal between the arm and bracket would be abysmal.

Martin

It doesn't fit terribly well on the Zonophone either - that is the problem with these rear-pivoted "Gibson" type arms- even the best ones have a built in slop factor. These were cheap machines, cheaply made.