The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

If it has a crank and a horn, is in decent shape, shows age and is reasonably priced, I tend to grab it and add it to my collection. And so I ended up the proud owner of the phonograph shown in the photos for $100. It claims to be a Brunswick 101, serial # and all, but that doesn't seem right. It is similar to a Columbia Graphophone I have and looks a lot like other machines of that era. But then it has the feel of more like an HMV. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say it is some sort of repro. But it has a lot of age to it. While it does spin and is loud through the horn, it surely does not seem to go with the Victrola 78 record that it came with. I've really become absorbed with Edison Cylinders and don't know much about these machines. Any thoughts?

Looks like a marriage of parts to me. When you swing a tone arm to the spindle the needle should touch or come very close to the spindle. It appears to me that the needle would be past the spindle by quite a bit. I believe Brunswick never made horn machines. The back bracket, horn, and elbow are Columbia.

Jerry B.

Thanks for the response. The horn screws right into my Graphophone. Oh well. Now I have some spare parts.

Whoever made this must have been left handed, judging by the crank location. It's fairly well done, well worth what you paid, just enjoy it.

The Brunswick model 101 was a portable so yes, the machine is a combination of parts. As was stated in an earlier post, just enjoy it. Jerry is right that Brunswick never made horn machines.

Brunswick never made outside horn machines,so this is a fake.edisonplayer.

Thanks for the replies. It's not something I want to add to my collection. Do you see any value in the parts? Otherwise, I'll chalk it up to "education" and stick to what I know.

Nice frankenphone, you can make a better profit selling the parts individually than in one piece.

And of course, a record on that is way too new to be played with an acoustic machine is on the turntable…

Funny you mention that record. It came with the machine and plays really well. I have taken this monster apart and found it has a fully homemade box and the tone arm is patched together in 2 pieces. Other than that, as a prior poster said, it all looks like Columbia stuff. The horn is nickel beneath the paint and I'm tempted to remove it to see what's there. I'd be really interested in what I have, if anybody has specifics. It doesn't have a place in my collection, as I currently do not add Frankenphonos lol.

As mentioned, it turns out to be a marriage of Columbia BN Horn/Bracket/Tone Arm and a Brunswick 101 motor, reproducer and related components-all built in to a homemade case. Wow. I have no use for it in my collection so I am parting out what I can. Certainly should get back my $100 and had quite an education out of it. If it had the complete tone arm, I located a BN that was missing these parts. However, the seller wants way too much for his case and motor and I would still have to buy a tone arm/reproducer and this horn needs refinishing. The Work vs Reward doesn't make the cut, but it was fun playing with it. Thanks for all the comments and productive info. Dan