The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everybody,

I'm brand new to this forum and so far I'm really enjoying the information, images and advice I'm finding here. My name is Tim, I'm an artist and police dispatcher in Denver, CO and the proud new owner of a Columbia Grafonola floor model of unknown number. I've always had an interest in antique technology, especially when it concerns audio or photographic equipment.

My recent purchase has me both excited and intimidated. The Grafonola cabinet is in acceptable condition aside from a cracked foot and someone had the unfortunate habit of placing potted plants on the lid, so now that piece of plywood is warped and separating. The internals appear to be clean, no rust and everything seems to move freely. Aside from the spring which knocks a bit when playing. I understand this to be due to old chunky lubrication that I'll need to change or have changed. The turntable doesn't play for very long, maybe ¼ to ⅓ of the length of the record. I've noticed also that while playing there are times when the speed governor will shift slightly to one side then back, I don't know if these are related or not. The stop eliminator doesn't really seem to do anything, I'm not really sure what the problem is but I haven't really had a chance to get into it yet. I'll be rebuilding the reproducer once I get some time. As for the rest of it.... I live in a one bedroom apartment, so rebuilding this thing might be difficult but I know at least one gear-head with a garage who will probably help. Oh and the tone arm elbow is siezed up. I tried freezing it, no go. I'll try some penetrating lubricant in the next couple of weeks. I spoke to a guy locally who said I should soak it in acetone for a few days which should eat away the swollen gasket, but I haven't seen anyone else mention this, or even a gasket for that matter. He also offered to rebuild the whole works for $600 or just the spring for $400, which seems a bit high.

Has anyone heard of or tried the acetone solution for a siezed up elbow? Could anyone offer advice to adjust the playing time, or what I should look for? I think I'll be placing an order for the Compleat Talking Machine book, which looks like it's available electronically now on Google.

Thanks!
Tim

P.s. Pictures to follow.

The seized up elbow is because the zinc in the metal casting causes it to swell with age. There is no gasket. Treat this gently because it can shatter. Try lubricant and if you can get it to move at all work it very gently.

$600 is very expensive to just clean a motor- you could buy several good Grafonolas for that sum.

Tim, I send all my motor rebuilds (which it sounds like you need) off to George Vollema at Great Lakes Antique Phonograph. He has done 4 or 5 for me. He does good work and has an amazing stash of old phonographs to mine for parts to work with. He has never charged me anything like $600 to overhaul a motor--even one that somebody else had screwed up so that several parts had to be replaced. He may be able to do the reproducer and tone arm work for you also. A lot of the other folks on this board use him too. You might want to give him a call. http://www.victroladoctor.com/

Others here on the Forum may have their own favorites to suggest as well.

Clay

Thanks for all the information! I did a little more research on the problem with it not playing long enough and I think it's likely caused by the elbow assembly being removed to try to free up the elbow. Looks like this mechanism dictates to the motor when to stop based on tone arm position on the disk. Anyway, as much fun as it would be to restore this motor myself, I think it's probably well worth the money to have a professional do it instead. I'll try to get some photos up tonight or tomorrow and hopefully someone can help me identify it.

In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun tuning into The 1920's Radio Network on my Android phone and placing it on the horn input to listen through the cabinet anyway. I know it's kindof cheating, but it makes me happy.

Tim

Success! I had a difficult time with that elbow, but it's free now. I soaked it in some penetrating lubricant, but it still wouldn't budge. I finally got fed up and decided to take drastic measures and if it broke, that was going to happen anyway. I braced a piece of galvanized electrical conduit in the tone arm mouth of the elbow and twisted as hard as I could on the base, and low and behold, it didn't shatter, but worked free. Must have been the lubricant afterall. After wet sanding it and the socket down a bit, it works like a charm. The problem with the turn table stopping prematurely was solved by the elbow mechanism operating correctly, as expected. Now to rebuild my reproducer!

Tim

Congratulations on your success. Be sure and post pictures.

You should change your board name from Mr. Tall to Mr. Lucky!

WOW The phonograph gods certainly smiled on you!

Clay

Here are the photos finally. If anyone knows which model this is, please do let me know. I talked the seller down from $100 to $50 on account of the tone arm elbow not moving and not being able to really test it. Someone used to put plants on the top of it, and the water damaged the lid and I think I'm going to find cracked wood under some tape wrapped around the back right foot. However, the motor looks to me like it's in decent shape. A good buy I think! I have a mess of needles on the way and just picked up some new disks to listen to at the local record store. I think I must be very lucky to have avoided completely shattering the elbow when I pryed on it, but I did manage to chip off part of it when I was taking the key out before I attempted to separate the two pieces. I taped the key in, hopefully it will stay for a while.

Tim

Oh yea, and it looks like someone tried to access the motor once by force without taking the crank out first.

Looks like a G-2 (introduced 1918).

Bill