The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello,
I have an Amberola 1-A serial # 491. The problem is that cylinder boxes do not fit in the drawers. The drawers have the early lattice or crate type separations for the boxes. When you put the cylinders in they sit about an ⅛” above the lip of the drawer front. When you try to close the drawer they hit the bottom of the drawer above. Every drawer is the same. If you remove the lids they fit perfectly. I have looked inside and under the drawers and everything appears original. I don’t see any modifications. Could this just be a factory error??? Any thoughts.
Thank
Pete

These weren't made to take blue Amberols so I'll think you'll find 2&4 min wax cylinder boxes will fit.
My drawers have the metal clips and I've found because they don't hold BA boxes securely, the boxes move and jam on the drawer above, but a lot of my BA boxes are very slightly taller than wax cylinder boxes.

My 1-A (serial number 392) is the same as yours - four minute wax boxes (with lids) will fit, but BA boxes with lids will not fit. Most of the cylinders I have stored in the machine are in boxes without lids.

Thanks you for the replies. It was really bugging me why the Blue Amberols wouldn't fit. It makes sense that the drawers were designed with the four
minute wax boxes in mind.
Pete

Pete Stratford wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 6:30 am Hello,
I have an Amberola 1-A serial # 491. The problem is that cylinder boxes do not fit in the drawers. The drawers have the early lattice or crate type separations for the boxes.

Just to clarify a bit, talking about "early"/"late" distinctions for the 1A is not quite accurate. It stems from an honest mistake by Frow who indicated in his book that the first 500 or so 1A machines had the lyre grill. This is not the case. Edison contracted out to multiple cabinet manufacturers simultaneously for the 1A, and many of the cabinets turned out to be defective. Edison simply shipped them out in the order they were ready, regardless of manufacturer. My machine, #257, is "earlier" than yours, but has the common grill style, not the lyre, has (actually, had) clips in the drawers, and will accommodate Blue Amberols in boxes and lids.

George Paul did a great series of articles on this. More details here.
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