The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Next week we are having an outdoor evening neighborhood get together and I am considering bringing my recently refurbished Edison Home phonograph, along with one example of brown and black wax cylinders as well as many amberols, for show and tell. I would only play the amberols.

My question is, given this is Houston and it's still warm and humid (could be as much as 88 degrees), is it risky to expose the unit and cylinders to a change in temp and humidity for a few hours? Do you think it would be enough to let things acclimate for a few hours before hand? Or should I just pass altogether?

Your phonograph won't have any problems. The wax cylinders might be a problem. The Blue Amberols won't be bothered and neither will black Indestructibles. Just to be on the safe side, leave the wax cylinders at home, including black Amberols.

Since most people won't know the difference anyway, it would be a shame if someone dropped one of the wax cylinders and it shattered.

The Blue (not black wax) Amberols are fairly sturdy and easy to deal with, black Amberols are a completely different story - easily shattered for no apparent reason.

I agree with Curt's thoughts. Our area of Texas (Lubbock) is drier and I have had no issues, but since Houston is more humid, it is a good idea. Share the old music, but choose sturdy records.

Don

Your neighbours will be entertained and delighted only by watching the phonograph and listening to some cylinders. You don't need to risk fabulous rare and delicate cylinders or enter into more detailed explanations than the simple idea of how it works mechanically and how the sound is produced without electricity! Unless you're talking about a melee of phonograph fans and specialists! Less is better. Just carry a good lot of funny blue Amberols that can be danced to...

Thank-you for the feedback. While we are on the subject, what causes some (a few) amberols to split their outer skin? I have one like that and have seen a few others. Is it excessive heat or cold? Funny that when you have dozens of them and one fails this way.

Burt68 wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 2:07 pm Thank-you for the feedback. While we are on the subject, what causes some (a few) amberols to split their outer skin? I have one like that and have seen a few others. Is it excessive heat or cold? Funny that when you have dozens of them and one fails this way.

There are several reasons... one, is plaster swelling (which is why they sometimes need to be reamed), another is that celluloid loses flexibility with age as the chemical makeup changes over time and can become brittle or shrink, also temperature extremes and adverse storage conditions, etc.