Outing "console" phono & record cabinet-Mt. Kisco, New York

[dennman6]

A guy at work, knowing of my "shellac-a-holic" tendencies, tells me he has an old "Victrola" he found at a flea market for $25 and would I be interested. Well, here is what he found, which I gave him $35 for. It looks to be an off-brand record cabinet specifically made to accomdate a small portable to make a "console" phonograph. Has anyone ever heard of this Outing brand of portable phono? The slogan "One handle handles it" tells me the phono was definitely intended to be a portable. It is a single spring(which is slipping) and the reproducer doesn't sound too bad for what it is. The reproducer may have some rebuild potential, but I'm not going to do anything with it. To me the whole thing qualifies as an interesting record cabinet, which is how I will use it. I was toying with the idea of removing the phonograph to make use of an extra shelf, but I think I will keep all as is. The shelves by the way are quite solid, and I love the color.

[gramophoneshane]

I believe Eric (Estott) has one, & he recently posted a thread about one on ebay. I'll see if I can find it.
I've never seen the aftermarket cabinets for these though. For $35, I think you've done extremely well, but then I find the usual Victor/HMV & Edison stuff a little uninteresting.

Found it.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ble#p27789

Looking at your pics again, I'm not so sure the console was specifically designed for an Outing portable. It appears to have just been fitted to the empty cabinet??
In some respects the cabinet looks home made, or it may have started out as some other piece of furnitue that been adapted to take the machine.
Still, if that's the case, it's still a unique piece that shows people ingenuity back in the day, it's functional, & it makes good record storage.
Actually if it were mine, I'd probably use it to store other portables in as well.

[dennman6]

Thanks for finding the Outing post! I'd never heard of this brand before. The auction pics show exactly the same tonearm & reproducer as are on mine-pretty neat. Why and how the Outing I have wound up in the cabinet is a mystery. I'm not sure about that cabinet being home made, as I have another record cabinet probably from the 1920s that is a pretty basic unit also. This is getting interesting...

[gramophoneshane]

Two things that make me think it may be home made or adapted, is the position of the hinges, and the overhang of the lid with the sides of the cabinet.
Cabinet makers tend to position hinges on doors evenly spaced top and bottom, and most consoles would have the far less overhang on the lid.
I think a proper professionally built cabinet would have a different motor board surround too?
It's good to see it's in the hands of someone who appreciates it for what it is (whatever that turns out to be). Many collectors class this type of machine as worthless, but I think they still have a place in the collecting field when the work was done in the pre-WWII period ( kind of depression era or depression era thinking by the owner). Why it was originally done could be anything from making a small machine more impressive to keep up with the Jones', to making practical record storage, or because the owner was simply bored & had nothing better to do lol.
They have a relevant history that is quite often ignored or destroyed because they dont have a big brand name slapped on the cabinet. This type of machine was probably quite common during the depression, but I hate to think how many have been lost to history over recent decades because they've not been viewed as collectible.
Personally, I think it's great, & if something like this turned up locally, I'd be more than happy to pay $135 for it.

[estott]

I'm not certain what happened but this looks like a pretty recent conversion. I'm not even certain that the cabinet started out as a phonograph cabinet, maybe some kind of dining room storage. Is there any evidence of alteration inside? You certainly did get good value for $35.

The portable has been pretty much massacred but incomplete Outings turn up fairly often- because the tone arm was removable for storage it can get lost. There should be a good "Motor of Quality" in it.

[dennman6]

Well, now you guys have me rethinking my first impressions of this unit. My friend at work thought it was basically an off brand, and I agreed with him-but who can't use more 78 record storage, so I bought it. As I look at that lid again, there IS an unusual amount of overlap on it. You may be right, gramophoneshane. Estott, if this "motor of quality" lives up to its name, then I may try to do some restoring after all. I originally didn't think it'd be worth the effort, although I'd already decided to keep all intact & just use the cabinet for storage. As far as alterations to the cabinet, other than the obvious reworking of it for the Outing phono I can't see anything else suspect. As I said, those shelves are pretty solid-which they'd need to be to hold 78s & albums. So that's why I had thought the cabinet was designed for record storage to begin with. Nice to hear I may have a neat little oddity on my hands. I tend to favor Victrolas, and have a pair of VV-Xs(one in golden oak, the other mahogany), a later English oak VV-XVI "in progress", and a Credenza. I also like Brunswicks, but so far only have a Panatrope 106 portable(1928?)in that brand. So I will give the little guy a chance to function well again. Any tips on cleaning up that tonearm I would welcome.