The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi

This reproducer recently showed up on Ebay. Has a wooden diaphragm. Does anyone have any information or history about it? I've never run across one like this before.

Thanks.

John

I've seen them periodically over the years, but never owned one. A sweet concept, but I doubt very compliant.

Nice looking- at least one guy offered these wood discs as replacements for the mica in Victor or Columbia machines. If they're laminated I'd be concerned with stiffness- if not I'd worry about cracking.

I notice the needle bar is longer on the needle-end of the pivot, thus reducing the mechanical advantage...this could compensate for the wood not being as flexible.

It's shown in "Antique Phonographs - Accessories & Contraptions", but not much additional information about it. The company tried to suggest violin like tone quality because of the spruce diaphragm, but didn't seem very successfull in the market. One of many attempts to improve tone quality (and increase business) by using different materials that were somehow associated with music.
Andreas

One of the more far-fetched notions was the Cheney Co. shaping its wooden horns like the cross section of a violin.

Yes, I was wondering about how to keep the wood diaphragm from becoming too dry and brittle over time. I suppose the manufacturer would have just said to keep buying replacements, rather than suggesting occasional treatment, like today's Kotton Kleanser's Protective Wood Feeder.

John

estott wrote:One of the more far-fetched notions was the Cheney Co. shaping its wooden horns like the cross section of a violin.

I thought cheney's horns were somehow based on the anatomy of the human throat or voicebox or something of the sort in order to better emulate an opera singer's sound quality.

Cheney machines had a lot of features like that the "Palate bar" in the sound passage and the "Violin tone chamber" were but two. I believe some of them were also to evade the Victor patents. They're well built machines in any case and sound pretty good.

estott wrote:Nice looking- at least one guy offered these wood discs as replacements for the mica in Victor or Columbia machines. If they're laminated I'd be concerned with stiffness- if not I'd worry about cracking.

I thought about this same thing. Back in the day, I bet the manufacturer just recommended keeping a replacement diaphragm on hand, rather than any suggestion like treating the wood to keep it less dry and more pliable. I guess today, we could periodically give it a shot of Kotton Kleanser's Wood Feeder.

John