The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Well now that we're spending so much time at home, I thought I would take on a project that I've been thinking about for a while.

I picked up a few Zonophone and one E.R.Johnson decals from Gregg Cline at the last Union show and wanted to see if I could make some tags.

The hardest part was finding original celluloid of the correct thickness. I ended up buying an old 5'x 7' advertising card that looked correct but was too thin. My solution was to laminate two pieces together with crazy-glue, and the thickness ended up just right!

I made the Zonophone tags to the dimensions of an original tag on one of my machines.
I wasn't sure of the dimensions on the E.R.Johnson Tag, so I used a "pre-dog" Victor tag for the placement of the holes and approximate size.

I think that they came out great!

Cheers, Bob S.

"Great"....Bob, I think they look fantastic. Don't need to tell you how many have been over cleaned or lost over the years on otherwise nice machines.

Very nice, Bob!

George P.

Very nice job!!! I am sure you would have a number of buyers if you went into production.

Those are amazing, Bob. Great work.

-- Grant

Here it goes, transferred yesterday, using a cheap 1970s Philips record player with ceramic cartridge. These transfers with piezo carts aren't as good as done with magnetic shure or stanton carts, more sensitive, but gosh! they provide a magnificent response and clear sound that needs no equalization! Pity the low compliance which I believe exaggerates a bit the groove transients with some tracking distortion... I'm planning to modify one of those with an extra long needle shaft that allows better sensitivity, although it would lower the signal level, and add some color to the sound due to the shaft resonance...

An actual dew-dew-dewey day around here gets used for writing, and listening to victrola records.


All diversions aside, those celluloid cards are fantastic--way to use vintage materials and new decals to create a near-perfect reproduction! If only there was a modern plastic or composite that had that ribbed look of celluloid, you could be making parts again--try contacting reed organ restorers as they use celluloid-looking stuff to make the white covers for the stops. (Do resist the temptation to buy a reed organ or four. Or don't. Reed organs need love too.)

Does Gregg Cline make the decals for the celluloid tags?

Does Gregg Cline make the decals for the celluloid tags?

Yes! You have to contact him:

https://www.phonodecal.com/contact

My transfer of Ben Selvin (Brunswick 3610 1927)
https://animationresources.org/xfers/dewdewdewyday.mp3