The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Bought an A-80 fixer belt drive model and an unidentified
upright model today for $150. Found a real cool guy here locally that
has literally dozens of machines.

Can anyone help identify the floor model please? I checked my book
and it seems to have the grille of a William and Mary but the cabinet
is "plain jane" and does not seem to match. The Edison logo is gone
and it may have been re-varnished also. There is also a "laboratory
model" medallion on the motor board. The good news is it runs and plays
ok and is fairly complete parts-wise. It has a two spring motor also.

The A-80 is rough, all it came with was a lateral adapter and an Exhibition
reproducer. The motor runs but the belt is gone and the cabinet is
pretty beat with water damage on the top. I have the grille but its
practically disintegrated. Definitely a project machine.

Good score!
I love those early DD machines. I've only ever come across one over here, & I still regret not buying it. It even had the record cabinet with it, but at the time, $600 was more than I could afford.
I have no idea what the upright model is. I guess it's a frankenphone, but you never know. It's obviously a very late model, having the 10/12 selector buttons. I'm guessing it also has 3 weights on the governor?
I suppose there is a chance it's some obscure model made very late in production, although I'd suspect if it was, there'd be an ID tag on the cabinet saying what it was..
What ever it is, it looks pretty cool anyway.
If it were mine, I'd probably sell off the W&M grille to someone who needs it, and make up a new one for the machine. It'd probably be a good little machine to use until a nice empty cabinet comes along to transfer the inners into. Having the double springs & the laboratory plaque, it should have the big horn that gives the best sound.

gramophoneshane wrote:Good score!
I love those early DD machines. I've only ever come across one over here, & I still regret not buying it. It even had the record cabinet with it, but at the time, $600 was more than I could afford.
I have no idea what the upright model is. I guess it's a frankenphone, but you never know. It's obviously a very late model, having the 10/12 selector buttons. I'm guessing it also has 3 weights on the governor?
I suppose there is a chance it's some obscure model made very late in production, although I'd suspect if it was, there'd be an ID tag on the cabinet saying what it was..
What ever it is, it looks pretty cool anyway.
If it were mine, I'd probably sell off the W&M grille to someone who needs it, and make up a new one for the machine. It'd probably be a good little machine to use until a nice empty cabinet comes along to transfer the inners into. Having the double springs & the laboratory plaque, it should have the big horn that gives the best sound.

That's funny because the thought crossed my mind to sell off the grille also. Worst case its a cornucopia of useful parts. If it can be confirmed that the cabinet is not original, I may just transfer the parts to my London Console. Then I would just be a couple grilles and a stain job away from a complete machine.

I've seen the upright myself, or one exactly like it, in Cobleskill NY. In my opinion it's a Frankenphone made up from a console by a competent cabinet maker.

Thanks for the helpful info guys! I am seriously considering at least swapping the
diamond reproducer with the lateral adapter on the A-80. The A-80 is rough but in good mechanical
condition and the cabinet is original. I did the Howard's treatment last night and although
its still rough, it looks much better. I will post some more pics tomorrow afternoon.

Here are some new pics on the A-80. Definitely an improvement but
there is still evidence of a hard life. I swiped the diamond reproducer
from the frankenphone so now I just need my grille and the belt to get
up and running.

I think the "frankenphone" is a cut down William & Mary.

Valecnik wrote:I think the "frankenphone" is a cut down William & Mary.

Its quite possible. If you look at the William and Mary its as if this was sliced
right out of the middle and new legs were added. I am thinking the best bet is to
sell the grille and find a better place to park the nice motor.

I vote for London Console cut down. The cabinet parts do not appear to be from a William and mary to me? Other than the grill of course. I had a set of the doors for a London Console on ebay but no one bit after three tries and some pretty cheap prices. I don't know if it pitched them or not?

Larry

larryh wrote:I vote for London Console cut down. The cabinet parts do not appear to be from a William and mary to me? Other than the grill of course. I had a set of the doors for a London Console on ebay but no one bit after three tries and some pretty cheap prices. I don't know if it pitched them or not?

Larry

Hmmmmm.... I don't think so. I think it's an upright William & Mary as it has the offical lab model tag, gun metal tonearm and I bet a double spring motor. Also the WM grill is much larger than the London grill. The London would have had a sinle spring motor and nickel or plain black tonearm, no lab model designation.