The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just purchased a Cecelia phonograph and the wire which is attached to the arm is not attached at the other end. I am not sure exactly where it should be connected. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm familiar with the Cecilian Phonograph, but not one by "Cecelia"



There's a Cecilian Phonograph for sale on this craigslist site -- http://mankato.craigslist.org/atq/3098751936.html (There's also quite a bit of information online.)

Also, I'm not sure what tonearm "wire" you're referring to. Is this an electrically amplified phonograph or a crank type? It would be very helpful if you could post a couple of photos. You might want to consider joining this forum, so your posts will appear immediately, without the need for moderator approval.

DS

I had a Sicilian, but never could get it to talk.

I could post pictures later. It is a Cecilian and my best description is that there is a wire which goes from under the needle arm and down in to the horn compartment which is attached to nothing. The machine is crank driven as well.

I have a vague recollection that there were some aftermarket electric reproducers to fit onto older phonographs with wires that would run to jacks on the back of radios of the day to get amplification of the signal. Maybe you have a remnant of one of those?????

Clay

So i have attached the pictures. Any thoughts as to model, if that arm is even the correct one? Id really like to know what the wire from the arm is. Thanks

That's a tonearm for an electrically amplified phonograph which replaced the original tonearm & sound box. Mostly likely this "upgrade" was done some time ago. The tonearm looks to date from the late 1930s, while the phonograph, itself, probably was manufactured during the late teens to early 1920s. I would guess that an electric or battery operated amplifier of some type, and possibly a speaker, was positioned inside the mouth of the horn, hidden by the speaker's grille.

Here is a photo of the correct, original tonearm and sound box, which would have fed the mechanical vibrations from the record into the horn chamber:
From: http://mankato.craigslist.org/atq/3098751936.html

HTH,
DS

Thats what I thought, so what type of tonearm should i look for? and what do I look for when buying one?

The best source I know of personally for getting parts is George Vollema of Great Lakes Antique Phonograph. He has a couple of warehouses full of parts machines and many of the Forum members use his services. If he has the tonearm and reproducer for your model he can also rebuild the reproducer for you if you want. See http://www.victroladoctor.com/ for contact info, etc.

Clay

That style of tone arm is a common one and should be easy to find. I'd be more worried about what is behind the grille- someone might have ripped out the horn to mount a speaker.

Your Cecilian was sold by Montgomery Ward and is not common- Sears Roebuck's Silvertone machines outsold Cecilians. It's not a very valuable machine but it's attractive.