The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I wrote in a previous thread in the repair section about a Victor front long throat reproducer. This is a different type of reproducer. It has a spring bar like a Columbia Analyzing reproducer. Does anyone know when these reproducers were made? I'm sure that they were short lived. I'm sure that Columbia sued Victor for patent violations. I have both a long throat and a rear mount. This reproducer came with a Victor P 1. The label on the bottom is Feb 1 1903. Any insight about these unusual reproducers will be greatly appreciated.
Harvey Kravitz

Harvey, could you please post a picture of these two reproducers?
Thanks
Andreas

I think that you are describing the Gibson needle chuck. Victor only used it briefly. Gibson designed the New Century and Exhibition sound box, and licensed the design to Victor. He was paid a handsome royalty over the years. His contributions are described in Look for the Dog.

It's a bit off-thread, but did anyone produce an after-market "up-grade" reproducer to play electrical recordings on an older machine? I'm familiar with the No 4, of course - what I mean is something like an ortho-type soundbox that would fit on an acoustic Victrola (regardless of the properties of the non-exponential horn).

Nat

Yes, Nat, several (likely dozens) of companies did! I have a "Sun" reproducer with box and instructions at home that came with one of my VV-130s, the little blurb on the instructions touts the improved tone quality over other reproducers with new "electric process" records on your phonograph etc etc. Another member here has (ot had) a "Coronet" one that was very nice and sounded great, too. The "Sun" one I have is pot metal and if I tried to take it apart to rebuild it, it would just crumble. I believe Oro-tone made one also, again, I'm sure there were lots of others out there for folks who wanted to upgrade their non-orthophonic machine. A good properly rebuilt #4 sounds pretty nice on electrics IMHO, though.

Sean

Aftermarket reproducers were something of an obsession in the UK with large and small makers all offering something that would revolutionize the tone of your machine. You don't see large quantities of the stuff over here though.

Here's the reproducer page from the Honest Quaker supply company dating from 1928. They supplied the repair shops and the smaller manufacturers. This is from a reprint of the catalogue done in the 80's. The range of parts is extraordinary: thousands of phonograph gears, tone arms, motors, widgets.....

Jim

wow, guys! Thanks!

I've got a No. 4, but the pot metal is pretty cracked and it doesn't sound very good. I've been thinking of injecting something like JB Weld into the cracks to stabilize it; now I need to look for a new gasket.

Nat

Here is a pic of a Gibson/Johnson "New Century".They are very hard to photograph and are very rare.

OrthoSean wrote: I believe Oro-tone made one also,

Indeed they did. Below is Oro-Tones "Chieftain" soundbox. They're a very heavy soundbox & have a less than adequate needle bar pivot arrangement, so record wear is a problem with these, and the sound quality really isn't as good as most other aluminium diaphagmed boxes i've come across. I've also seen a different style Oro box that came with their late (last?) Edison DD adaptors, but again I think weight might be their biggest downfall.
Both Thorens & Paillard made a few different ortho syle with the standard bayonet fitting that Victor had, but many are rebadged for whatever off-brand company that used them. Many of these too use a pretty hefty pot metal back which can make weight a problem, though in my experience the Paillard boxes seem to be a little lighter than those made by Thorens generally speaking.
There are however some excellent sounding off-brand boxes constructed for brass & steel, but I doubt they'd turn up in USA very often.
You're probably better off finding an HMV or good Victor no.4, or one of the oversized no.4 knock-offs made by Paillard to use on your Victor, or make a simple adaptor (a sleeve) to reduce the throat in a Victor ortho box.