Here’s a Curious Modification

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VictorVV-X
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Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by VictorVV-X »

Spied this on Facebook Marketplace. Very curious idea. It would be interesting to find out when it was done.
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https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item ... 782267991/

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Curt A
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Re: Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by Curt A »

"It would be interesting to find out when it was done."
Personally, I can't imagine anything "interesting" about it... POS...
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
Thomas Alva Edison - Comment to his assistant, Samuel Insull.

"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
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OrthoFan
Victor V
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Re: Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by OrthoFan »

It could have been done at any time. From What I can see, they removed the original guts and substituted components from a Victrola Colony model --
Victrola Colony.JPG
Victrola Colony.JPG (46.46 KiB) Viewed 1191 times
-- creating a "Franken-phone".

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Curt A
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Re: Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by Curt A »

TAE would have been pleased... an "Edison-Victrola"... :? or EdinOla...
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
Thomas Alva Edison - Comment to his assistant, Samuel Insull.

"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
My Wife

Zkeener323
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Re: Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by Zkeener323 »

That is an interesting modification. Somebody put a bit of thought into it. I'm guessing the Edison horn is still in place? Or maybe something else was cobbled together- or no horn at all! I'm not too familiar with Diamond Discs, but it appears it could be reversed with a little know-how.

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Victor V
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Re: Here’s a Curious Modification

Post by OrthoFan »

Zkeener323 wrote:That is an interesting modification. Somebody put a bit of thought into it. I'm guessing the Edison horn is still in place? Or maybe something else was cobbled together- or no horn at all! I'm not too familiar with Diamond Discs, but it appears it could be reversed with a little know-how.
I don't think that the original horn, used in the Diamond Disc Phonograph, would have been used for this "retrofit." If it was, it would have had to have been substantially modified--with the narrow end of the horn cut away--since the "tone arm" portion" of the horn was firmly attached to the main horn, itself, as in this photo:
Diamond Disc Model Horn.JPG
Diamond Disc Model Horn.JPG (34.07 KiB) Viewed 1107 times
As you can see, the narrow portion of the horn protrudes above the motor-board. When the record was played, the entire horn/tonearm assembly moved across the record's surface via a feed-screw.


From what I can tell, the tonearm, sound box, motor and motor-board were all culled from a Colony. Since the grille in the Colony was attached to the front of the horn, via screws, I'd imagine it probably has the Colony's horn, which is a non-folded exponential horn--the same type used in the Consolette and early Granada models.

If that's the case, it will sound quite good, once the sound box is restored. But, again, it is totally inauthentic.

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