The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I’ve seen two Edison Opera recording arms on eBay this month, one being a reproduction. Does anyone have any experience with these? Do they work well and how much do they typically go for? I’ve got a two minute recorder which works great in my Edison standard. Do you need to get a different four minute recorder? Can I use the same blanks to record on an Opera? Recording on an Opera is appealing to me, but not if the cost is outrageous. Any information is most appreciated!

4-minute recorders are hard to come by, and you need the black blanks, not the earlier brown ones. Original blanks have gotten very hard over the 100 years, so you have to shave quite a bit down to get decent results.

There are people making new blanks, but I don’t know if they can handle four minute recordings.

If you’re getting good results on your 2-minute recording attempts, it may be best to settle for that. Most home recordings are a smidgen too long at two minutes, anyway, so as with lots of blue amberols, you may find four minutes to be excruciating.

Or you can use that arm to make 2-minute records on your big Amberola 1A…

So could I record on my Opera with that recording arm with my two minute recorder?

Nope. Opera is a 4-minute machine only.

Being a 4 min only machine you'll need a 4 min recorder, and your Opera will have to use a Model L reproducer for playback and not a Diamond A meant for celluloid Blue Amberola.

In a pinch you could probably use shaved black Gold Moulded 2 min cylinders to record on, but I'd recommend using a lamp to help soften the wax to make a good recording.
Once cooled the wax composition should be fairly durable when played back with a 4 min sapphire.
The brown wax composition is far too soft for a 4 min sapphire and the sound quality of the recording will deteriorate rapidly after just a couple plays.

Using a 2 min recorder on a 4 min machine will result in a groove that's too wide, and overlapping grooves with the cutter cutting into the previous groove without any seperation between the groove walls.