The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello everyone,

I’m in a bit of a conundrum. I have a beautiful Columbia Graphophone Model AT that I picked up from the grandson of the original owner, who himself is an older man. He sold me the phonograph at a great price, and honestly, the machine is in pretty good shape! The motor runs strong, and the wooden case is in beautiful condition. However, the reproducer carriage, made from pot metal, is warped and doesn’t move freely on its track.

I’ve tried looking everywhere. I contacted a gentleman in Spain who apparently made these parts for a time, and I also reached out to a gentleman from Great Lakes Antique Phonographs. Unfortunately, both leads came up empty. I’d hate for this beautiful machine to become a parts machine, but at this point, I don’t know what to do.

What do yall think?

if you really cant find anyone you might have to contact someone like a metalworker

Personally, I enjoy a phonograph that has a "background" story, such as purchasing it from the original family. If it were me, I would put it to the side and lurk on ebay and the "forums" for about six months or so, to see if a parts/donor machine comes available.

You mentioned that you got a pretty good deal on it.... That being said, if you buy a "donor" machine with a good reproducer carriage, there exists the possibility that you could "resell" the other parts not needed or apply the "cost" toward your original purchase price and still come out pretty good, financially.

The only problem is "waiting" for the right donor machine or parts to become available....

A donor machine will have the same pot metal parts... If you have the ability to cut a piece of brass tubing that has the correct diameter, you could possibly make the sleeve yourself and fasten the good parts to it. That's how the replicas were made. It won't be nickel plated, obviously, but it will be functional.

The cylindrical part with the cracks in it would be quite easy for a competent machinist to replicate in brass or bronze (or even a semi-competent one, like me).
On the other hand, you might be able to get the part to move on its shaft just by honing it a bit with some fine emery paper wrapped around a wooden dowel. If it fits the shaft but just a bit too snugly, it is probably only a half a thou tight or thereabouts.
This is why we should all own metal lathes. I can’t imagine living without one now that I have owned one.

I’d agree! However, I don’t have the equipment to hone it down. I don’t have any dowels either lol. The next tool on my list is a lathe.

Don’t do anything. Preserve it for future generations.

My Phonograph hero Jean-Paul Agnard used to make fantastic reproductions of these. Did anyone take over from him in making the huge variety of replacement items he created?

This is the typical Columbia problem. Consult, or better get a copy of, The Compleat Talking Machine by Eric Reiss. He deals with this problem and learns you how to do this repair work. It is also in archive.org
https://archive.org/details/compleattal ... 0reis_ed02