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I am confused by this listing. As someone who has interest in potentially purchasing a Meltrope soundbox and yet knows not much about them, I am questioning why this item, for all intents and purposes, appears to be a Meltrope and yet has the name "Foyle" on the cover? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Meltrope-I-Sou ... Swbq5eoPwN

Ask Charles

"Fools' names and fools' faces"-- should have known it would get me someday! But there's a Foyle bookshop in London; does anyone know if they sold gramophone stuff too? It may have been some kind of house brand -- did Meltrope reproducers show up under house brands at all?

Given a large enough order, Meltrope would put the customer's name on the soundbox. Collecting all the variants would be a hobby in itself.
Foyle's did have a gramophone department, and the soundbox pictured is a perfectly genuine Meltrope.

epigramophone wrote:Given a large enough order, Meltrope would put the customer's name on the soundbox. Collecting all the variants would be a hobby in itself.
Foyle's did have a gramophone department, and the soundbox pictured is a perfectly genuine Meltrope.

Genuine apart from the replacement springs - I'm led to believe by others' experience that on EMG and Expert soundboxes, the metallurgy of the springs is very important to performance, so I'd be very wary of these homemade ones. The Foyles lettering looks genuine enough (Selecta and Antoria are two other brands often seen on Meltropes) but I'm not sure about the "No 1", and the poorly touched-in gold paint mars the appearance of this one. Severely overpriced IMHO!

Orchorsol wrote:

epigramophone wrote:Given a large enough order, Meltrope would put the customer's name on the soundbox. Collecting all the variants would be a hobby in itself.
Foyle's did have a gramophone department, and the soundbox pictured is a perfectly genuine Meltrope.

Genuine apart from the replacement springs - I'm led to believe by others' experience that on EMG and Expert soundboxes, the metallurgy of the springs is very important to performance, so I'd be very wary of these homemade ones. The Foyles lettering looks genuine enough (Selecta and Antoria are two other brands often seen on Meltropes) but I'm not sure about the "No 1", and the poorly touched-in gold paint mars the appearance of this one. Severely overpriced IMHO!

Ahh ok. You and I were talking about this on Youtube for a bit. I was wondering what the issues with it were. I've been very interested in it, because I like tinkering, and a reproducer can be snuck into the house easily enough. But the seller has been very vague, and his words to me were "is very good, but HMV 5A soundbox is better than any Meltrope soundboxes, due to its tangential diaphragm." .... Hmmm ...

SteveM wrote:

Orchorsol wrote:

epigramophone wrote:Given a large enough order, Meltrope would put the customer's name on the soundbox. Collecting all the variants would be a hobby in itself.
Foyle's did have a gramophone department, and the soundbox pictured is a perfectly genuine Meltrope.

Genuine apart from the replacement springs - I'm led to believe by others' experience that on EMG and Expert soundboxes, the metallurgy of the springs is very important to performance, so I'd be very wary of these homemade ones. The Foyles lettering looks genuine enough (Selecta and Antoria are two other brands often seen on Meltropes) but I'm not sure about the "No 1", and the poorly touched-in gold paint mars the appearance of this one. Severely overpriced IMHO!

Ahh ok. You and I were talking about this on Youtube for a bit. I was wondering what the issues with it were. I've been very interested in it, because I like tinkering, and a reproducer can be snuck into the house easily enough. But the seller has been very vague, and his words to me were "is very good, but HMV 5A soundbox is better than any Meltrope soundboxes, due to its tangential diaphragm." .... Hmmm ...

Ah yes Steve! I thought it was you but wasn't quite certain. The other one that sold on US EvilBay recently might have been a good buy - I think it went for around $100 and looked a nice "as found" example - although one's always taking a slight gamble on the internal condition with these, unless the seller is known and well trusted. Whereas at the price this seller is asking you could buy a good one here in the UK, ship it to the States and still have a lot of change. Not that they come up often over here, but they do come up...

Any seller who thinks that an HMV 5A is "better than any Meltrope" should be treated with the greatest suspicion.
I merely answered the OP's question and confirmed that the soundbox was a genuine Meltrope. I did not attempt a condition report!

Thanks to all for the fine responses and observations. I now consider myself "edumacated" -- even informed. But never reformed.