The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

After a bit of a dry spell, and a rather disappointing experience with a 461 recently, a 511 followed me home this evening.

It's been in the same family since new, and has been very well looked after; even the key is still there. I am a very happy bunny Just given it a spin with a Meltrope III and it sounds surprisingly good!

Motor and soundbox to be sorted over the weekend. Rubber sheets on order to dampen the horn a bit; would be interesting to see (hear?) what difference that makes

Lots of fun to be had

Very nice! I love my 511, and you don't have to deal with the issue I had of re making half of the legs!, in mahogany I think they're one of the prettiest gramophones made.

kirtley2012 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:35 pm Very nice! I love my 511, and you don't have to deal with the issue I had of re making half of the legs!, in mahogany I think they're one of the prettiest gramophones made.

Thanks Alex, it sure is serious eye candy!

Ps; my woodworking skills are limited to glueing back peeled veneer ... so very glad I don't need to make new legs

That looks lovely, congratulations Ahmed!

In that condition it must be a £600 machine. Its unusually fine and appears to be in factory condition.

Congratulations on a splendid and underrated machine.

Congratulations Ahmed. That looks to be a very good find and clearly has been well looked after. The architecture and build quality is high and the sound good. I hope you do not need to regrease the springs which is a bit of a job. Look forward to seeing and hearing more.

What a lovely machine, congratulations with a GREAT find.
I always appreaciate it much when someone take the time to post close up photos of different machines, and in addition it is a great reference for the future.

Thanks all for your comments

Spent the morning tidying up the motor - man is it s pain to take out and put in! Luckily old grease is still fine so I took the lazy route and didn't regrease the springs (no thumping etc to suggest any issues)

After a bit of trying out different soundboxes, I've settled on the Meltrope II being it's main driver for now.

A couple videos of it singing here:

- Nat Shilkret, That Wonderful Something:
https://youtu.be/JnJZxTbnb00
- Harry Roy, Bugle Call Rag:
https://youtu.be/NNtD25QKCaI

Bugle Call Rag has been played marvelously! Great gramophone indeed and it looks in pristine condition. However, I am wondering what you mean with "disappointing experience with a 461" I think they perform good!

HMV130 wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 9:03 pm Bugle Call Rag has been played marvelously! Great gramophone indeed and it looks in pristine condition. However, I am wondering what you mean with "disappointing experience with a 461" I think they perform good!

Cheers
Re the 461; I bought one in mahogany based on some grainy pictures. All going well and exciting until I actually got my hands on it ! The poor thing was an absolute mess; case very badly refinished, all the hardware scrubbed down and painted over in awful gold paint, horn badly repainted too It was already missing the reproducer which I was aware of, but this is something else! I pondered overhauling it, but decided against that at the end. Afer all the time and effort (and it would have needed A LOT of work), there would be no 461 left in there if that makes sense, and I very unlikely to have kept it as a result.