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Hello,

How would I go about spotting one of those Indian Crap-O-Phones without checking the motor? Should I look at the reproducer’s branding and whether or not it has a feed screw or something?

Sincerely, Victroid

Cheap stamped-brass horn
Crudely angled horn elbow, at usually a 45-degree angle soldered instead of smoothly curved
Beveled metal edge to the turntable, covering the edge of velour; an authentic turntable is usually going to be wool felt and have a sharper edge to the cast or stamped steel. Velour and beveled edges are authentic for portable gramophones of the later period but not usually found on original open-horn gramophones.
A muddy varnish often purplish-brown in color (though it can be tough to tell)
Angled cranks are a dead giveaway.
A plastic winding knob on a crank, a crank that's notched into the side of the case instead of going through an escutcheon, a crank that doesn't "look right."
A motor from a Garrard portable or similar British Empire late-era portable.
Any sign that it might've been an old tabletop hornless gramophone at one time.
Glass sides on something that doesn't say Zonophone usually means a fake.
The fake "His Masters Voice" reproducer which actually looks like a Thorens Sonata copied in tinfoil & plumbing solder.
It's super light & doesn't seem as substantial as you'd hope.
The back bracket has a piece of standard machine screw to raise & lower the tone arm instead of a nice pivot pin.

https://oldcrank.com/articles/crapophon ... ction.html

There are others, but this is a good primer.

Another thing is to go to eBay and do a search for "gramophone". You'll spot dozens if not hundreds -- all with the tell-tail features described above in various types of cabinets. The first thing I always notice is the angled horn support.

If you've any doubts about a particular gramophone/phonograph, you can always check here.

OrthoFan

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 2:24 pm Glass sides on something that doesn't say Zonophone usually means a fake.

What are glass sides? Where would they be on a Zon-O-Phone?

VictrolaGuy - Walt wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 4:41 pm https://oldcrank.com/articles/crapophon ... ction.html

There are others, but this is a good primer.

off topic but hey its Jerry B in 2001!
https://oldcrank.com/articles/salem2001/index.html

Victroid wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 5:54 pm

VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 2:24 pm Glass sides on something that doesn't say Zonophone usually means a fake.

What are glass sides? Where would they be on a Zon-O-Phone?

Glass panels, probably on a type A.

There are other makes of machines that may have had glass panels (the Kurtzmann, for example), but they are uncommon...

- Bill

Lucius1958 wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:20 pm
There are other makes of machines that may have had glass panels (the Kurtzmann, for example), but they are uncommon...

- Bill

The German Odeon made gramophones with glass panels as well, and the Swiss steam-powered Paillard has also glass panels. Both are uncommon, as well.

What are glass sides? Where would they be on a Zon-O-Phone?

I have seen glass sides on Zonophone and Crown machines.

Jerry B.

Victroid wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 11:25 am Hello,

How would I go about spotting one of those Indian Crap-O-Phones without checking the motor? Should I look at the reproducer’s branding and whether or not it has a feed screw or something?

Sincerely, Victroid

As far as the reproducer goes, this might help:
https://youtu.be/C9FyvIl6VD4