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Greetings!

I'm slowly dipping my feet back into the antique phonographic world and have a quick question.

I purchased a really nice Edison Standard Model A a few years ago and am finally able to put it out on display and use it.

My model number is S178992 1903. This model can only play brown 2 min. cylinders correct? Just want to make sure I know what cylinders to buy.

Thanks!

Edison Standard #178992 left the factory in November 1904. (An article describing and illustrating all models of the Edison Standard, including a dating chart, appeared in the December 2023 issue of the APS magazine.)

In its original configuration, your Standard played only 2-minute cylinders. However, when 4-minute cylinders were introduced in October 1908, kits were made available to convert older machines (like yours) to play both 2- and 4-minute cylinders.

If you haven't already found them, the Antique Phonograph Society has a number of free articles on its website. This one gives an overview of the Standard models - including a 2/4-minute attachment installed on a Standard:

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collectiondetails/79

To see all the free articles on the APS website, just click on the 2 page Table of Contents. Here's page 1:

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collection/1

Here's page 2:

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collection/2

To see what the different cylinder records look like, and the proper reproducers to play them, check out this article (scroll down about ⅓ of the way):

https://www.antiquephono.org/#/collectiondetails/16

Welcome to the hobby!

George P.