The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have been wanting one of these machines for ages. Friend of mine has a bunch and i love them.
Finally got this one at a local auction for 100 bucks. Sadly most of the cylinder cases are empty. 1 with some broken pieces.

Its also missing a belt, Im totally new to these machines. I know mechanical and electro mech stuff as im currently restoring a SxS telephone switch.

Here are pics.

Get yourself a copy of "The Compleat Talking Machine", a great book that describes the basics of how these machines work and how to do basic repairs.

If you have specific questions, try searching the board. Chances are your questions have been answered here, probably more than once. Having said that, don't be discouraged from posting. Also read the introduction to antique phonographs post on the website of the Antique Phonograph Society.

Congratulations - - you have an Edison Standard Model B. It also has an original Edison horn crane, which by itself is worth the price you paid.

The serial number of your Standard indicates it left the factory in March 1908. By that time, Standards were being equipped with 30" Edison black flower horns. If you want to put your machine back to its original configuration, these horns are easy to find.

To start, clean the motor thoroughly. Since you're mechanically inclined, take it apart and do a real good job cleaning. BE SURE THE MAINSPRING IS UNWOUND BEFORE DISASSEMBLY. Once you reassemble your motor, you'll know how it works, and should it need further work, you'll know your way around it.

Then you can clean the cabinet with readily available NON-PUMICED hand cleaner such as Go-Jo, Goop, etc.

Check back for further guidance, and good luck - -

George P.

The articles that were recommended to you are here:

https://www.antiquephono.org/category/introductory/

You'll learn a lot from them.

George P.

Also, if you have a friend that has several and loves them, I would make him your new "best" friend and he may be able to help get your machine up and going. He may have a bunch of extra records and knows where to buy the parts you may need....like a belt.
You can also check our "links" section for suppliers of parts, etc....

Best of luck with your new find

Glad you found your way to this forum. Welcome! Everyone here will be glad to help you in getting this machine working properly.
Looks like it will clean up real good.

One thing worth noting right up front: your machine is for two-minute cylinders only. Without going into too much painful detail, the difference is that four-minute cylinders have twice as many grooves per inch as two-minute ones; therefore, the mechanical feed that moves your reproducer across the record needs to move half as fast for a four-minute cylinder as it does for a two-minute. You also need a reproducer with stylus half the size of that for two-minute cylinders (which is what you have). Adapter gearing kits were available for updating the Standards, like yours, that predated the introduction of four-minute cylinders, but your machine is as originally issued with two-minute gearing only. Before playing cylinders, you'll want to make sure the stylus on your reproducer is good. Consider sending it to someone like forum member Wyatt Marcus for service; it will sound much better once overhauled.

Here are a couple of articles I wrote that may be helpful:

https://www.tnt-audio.com/vintage/ediso ... rs1_e.html
https://www.tnt-audio.com/vintage/ediso ... rs2_e.html

Welcome to the forum! Have fun and enjoy reviving and playing your nice new machine (which you got at a bargain price--always a nice bonus).

Good luck with your Standard: $100 is not a bad price, if the motor's good, and the stylus intact. (BTW, the reproducer is wrong way round. You can loosen the set screw, and put it back the other way: there's a notch that fits a pin at the top).

The horn seems to have been tampered with, from that odd angle at the end, though. As said, a good 'morning glory' horn is not hard to find. Enjoy!

- Bill

Congratulations on your new standard! And welcome to cylinder records. The hardest thing about these things I found is getting a belt to fit just right with out the warble where the ends meet. That’s only followed by the half nut being perfect. Too light the records skip, too much pressure and the machine bogs down. Machines can be very persnickety about how the half nut is adjusted. Congratulations and good luck! This is one of the best hobbies I’ve been apart of!

Well thanks to Chuck on here and on our Telephone conference, i got her working, made a temporary belt out of electrical tape and she sounds fairly good. Another friend of mine keith gave me the number of a guy near me in Michigan named george that has parts for them. I've wanted one of these things for such a long time. Finally! It has such an awesome unique sound. Found the Blue Danube Waltz at the antique mall today for 2 bucks. and shes got 2 crates of cylinders for me that iill get next week.

[YouTube]https://youtu.be/bDvdf7dnoT4[/YouTube]