The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Ok,,, what the heck is this thing? A homemade cylinder phonograph of sorts? Ebay 120810101466

It's bits of a 'Wizard' designed by Pliny Catucci. The mech sits on top of the inverted lid, that appears to be missing. The mandrel and shaft assembly must be removed to fit the cylinder. The mandrel is flipped the wrong way in the photo -- the little sliding gear on the shaft should mesh with the drive gear on the motor. The horn is similar to a European 'hunting horn'. 2-min only, it was introduced right at the advent of 4-minute recordings, so failed to have much market impact. Fairly scarce machines.

Don't know what it is but I can tell you that the mandrel assembly is on backwards. The gear that is on the mandrel shaft should be on the other side where it mates up with the motor assembly gear.

I thought the Wizard had a mechanical feed system (mandrel moves instead of tonearm and or horn. I don't see it here?

It's the scraps left of one of these: http://www.phono-fun.com/INTERNATIONAL/

The mechanical feed is a thread cut into the mandrel shaft that rides in what amounts to a feed-screw. The mandrel does move under the stationary reproducer.

Was there a cheaper version of the "Wizard"? This example has some peculiar differences: the wooden bedplate (which does not appear to have any means of attachment to a cabinet lid); the wooden(?) mandrel; the rounded motor housing and the winding key, rather than a crank; and the reproducer support.....