All Activity

Thanks Fran. I Googled how to fix it - apparently it's a common problem - but the fast-talking Youtube experts just told me to do other things I don't know how to do, while moving their cursors with lightning speed. After trying a half-dozen time I gave up. On Monday I'll take it to the local tech who is great and never annoys me! George P.

I hope you get your new PC issues resolved without much pain.

That was my first thought, but there are several BS Graphophones with higher serials but retaining the routed front panel. I can't be more specific because my Windows Libre Office has locked up and I am unable to access any of my documents. I LOVE computers and software... My wife wondered the same thing, but it seems nonsensical when Bacigalupi had these decals designed to integrate with Graphophone banner decals. If this BS originally had a banner decal, I believe it would have been the earliest serial number to have one. (I only wish I could access my files.) I really don't think that is the cause of the discoloration. George P.

What a great find! But don't you think it would fit in better in a collection adjacent to San Francisco? I've never seen a first generation BS without the lines at the lower front, but yours does have the angled, open-faced coin chute of the early ones. An intermediate example?? That's also the decal that came between the rare engraved metal tag and the more frequently seen decal only listing phonographs. The decals mentioning Graphophones weren't used very long. Ditto for the huge rubber stamp on the bottom, listing Graphophones. It's also very interesting that the decal has the 946 Market St. address that burned down in November 1898, while the stamp on the bottom reflects the new location at 933 Market. The pattern of the spotting on the front panel strike me as resembling a normal decal. Is it possible Bacigalupi removed it? That seems out of character but something caused that discoloration.

Thanks Fran!

Or make me a offer?

That's beautiful, George!

MODEL: Graphophone Type BS SERIAL #: 160301 YEARS MADE: 1898-1904(?) COST: $20.00 REPRODUCER: Graphophone #2 MOTOR: Eagle REPRODUCTION PARTS: Sign board. Naturally, someone broke and lost that. Also one of the two little springs in the timing gear/shutoff assembly. (But even the braided tube is original.) CURRENT VALUE: ? INTERESTING FACTS : This Type BS is early-production, but does not feature the routing typically seen on the cabinet front in early examples. Also, there is no large "The Graphophone" decal on the cabinet front, which - until now - has always been included on non-routed cabinets. Had there been a typical Graphophone decal on the front, the Bacigalupi decal would almost certainly have been applied over the bottom right-hand corner. The most interesting feature of this BS is the Bacigalupi provenance, as displayed on the cabinet front and beneath the base board. I can't explain the light area in the lower area of the stencil. It almost looks like someone attempted to clean it. Your guess is as good as mine but, fortunately, whatever happened didn't destroy the stencil. This machine is also a good example of interesting artifacts that still pop up "in the wild." Some "Before" pictures at the seller's cellar: Check out the bent crank: Crusty, but it wanted to run as soon as it arrived home. The timing gear/shutoff assembly was bent and a spring was missing.

Here's a Bacigalupi item I acquired a few months ago. Believe it or not, this came out of the wild. I'll describe it in detail under "Featured Phonographs" on this forum, but the Bacigalupi markings needed to be included here.

Thanks!!!

The various record storage boxes and albums are illustrated and described in the Victor Data Book. The chapter identifies specifically where each of the boxes/albums were used.

I tried searching but haven't been able to find any articles about what Victrola record albums came with different Victrola models. Does anyone know if there is such an article?

The Silvertone reproducer has been spoken for.

The cabinets on these two phonographs are too far gone to restore. If you can use any parts from them, send me a PM with an offer. The motors runs well but could use a good cleaning. The grills are in nice shape.

Thanks Nate for your reply. It's on my task list to provide you with some photos of this phonograph. Unfortunately for the machine and its factory aniline dye finish, the prior owner's father stripped the cabinet, apart from the inside of the lid, and then varnished the bare wood back in the '50s. Fortunately for me, he didn't apply a blonde finish that would require additional and harsher removal! Otherwise, it's a solid survivor with an undamaged and complete cabinet, including the metal grille. The internals are dirty and dull. I have them out at this time in preparation for performing a sensitive cosmetic restoration, and for cleaning and lubrication. There's also a problem with the winding that I need to address. It came to me as a donation from one of my clock repair customers, along with three small boxes of cylinders, about 45 in all. Two of the boxes still retain original Babson Brothers paper labels; icing on an already scrumptious cake. Finally for now, I appreciate your reminder that the factory would have been under duress in these first days following the disastrous December 9, 1914 fire. I hadn't yet connected this object that landed in my space to that dramatic event. To exaggerate, one can almost picture the residual smoke rising from piles of charred ruins, while these machines were being built. In reality, one can easily imagine the sounds and noise of reconstruction going all around those assembling these early post-fire machines; shouts of foremen and workmen, scaffolding assembly clanking, power equipment of all kinds and steam cranes still engaged in debris removal, etc. In the world of Edison's laboratory and its supporting lab buildings, and the factories on the premises producing the array of goods, from some contemporaneous accounts it seems that activities were carried on in an air of organized chaos in the best of times. It's easy to perceive how some anomalies arise, that we know are sometimes seen (though they represent a very small percentage of the bulk of the production), materially multiplied by the temporarily heavier pressure of the plant recovery.

That is truly astonishing.

Amazing work! Looks like new! I guess it blends well with the rest of the machine? What kind of finish did they use, do you know?

I just got the lid back for my Circassian Walnut Sonora Elite phonograph. Jon Schefield from New England Victrola Restorations did an amazing job to repair the Circassian veneer damage to the top of the lid. It also had some bad stains on it. Jon was able to restore the missing and damaged veneer without stripping it. I couldn't be more pleased with how it looks. I highly recommend him for restoration work. Their website is: https://nevictrola.com/

That's simply a beautiful early example of a quintessentially classic Phonograph! George P.

Thank you. My error. That must be the one I have a duplicate of, as well as a single copy of 52646.

Great record, and would love to find a copy!!! Thanks for posting! Hey, Rod. The last DD issued was 52,651 by Vaughn De Leath.

I believe this was the last DD issued. If I recall I have two copies somewhere but have never played them.

The two sides here were recorded on July 30, 1929 and feature Eva Taylor accompanied on piano by Clarence Williams. "Have You Ever Felt That Way?" is matrix # 19325-B and "West End Blues" is matrix # 19326-A. This release occured near the end of Diamond Disc production and also appeared on the Edison Needle-Type (conventional lateral cut 78 rpm) discs. Eva Taylor - Have You Ever Felt That Way.wav Eva Taylor - West End Blues.wav

Andrew, Congratulations on finding and purchasing #67! Would you be willing to share some photos of it here? I’ve been slowly compiling a database of Amberola 30/50/75s and try to save images of each one I record in the database. I’d love to see yours. I haven’t recorded many early 50s. Aside from 16, 41 and now 67, the next earliest I’ve seen is 440. I’ve attached images of #41 here. Unfortunately, they aren’t the best quality, but there’s enough there to confirm it’s an Amberola V style cabinet like #16 and your #67. 41 does have the Edison signature decal but based on the photos it didn’t appear to me to have had the full striping. This one was listed briefly on ebay a few months ago. I don’t know if it sold or the listing was pulled, but it was not up long. From my observations on the Amberola 30, the earliest machines (up to about 10,000) had the full striping on the bedplate and gear cover, then machines started switching to only having the signature decal on the bedplate, before it disappeared entirely. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right and these machines were assembled in the way you suggest. I know surveys have been done in the past on other Edison models, and the results showed that changes in features were done gradually, with older parts being used up and intermixed with new parts. Not to mention these early Amberola 50s would have been assembled at a very chaotic moment for the Edison company. It’s a wonder they got these out at all. The biggest question I have is what came first, these Amberola 50s or the virtually identical Amberola BV?

I would like to add something here that will help to paint a broader picture of Edison production situations and realities. First, I want to say how sincerely I appreciate Nate's posting. It's exactly for the reason of reaching and teaching others who share our interests and passions, that we do this. The posting is also timely, because quite coincidentally, I was offered one a first-generation Amberola 50, serial number 67, a week after this posting appeared in the Forum. Here's what I can add. My Amberola s.n. #67, would have been made around the fourth day of Amberola 50 production, depending on how you interpret published production targets and schedules. Although it appears to have been made AFTER s.n. #41, it does have the pinstripe on the governor cover, in addition to all of the other attributes of s.n. #16. Since the stripe is overpainted on the more durable fired enamel(?) surface, the stripe on #41 may have been polished off, or if #41 is otherwise in a fine state of preservation, its governor cover either slipped past QC minus its hand-painted detail, OR as the case often is, a production change decision to eliminate the stripe was made sometime during the first batch, after all of the components were being assembled into complete machines. For example, if parts had been made for the first 100 machines (hypothetically), you might have bins of hardware, a stack of serial number plates, a pile of motors, horns, reproducers, and governor covers, and waiting cabinets to accommodate the subassemblies. Now picture no fewer than two complete stations with factory workers assembling the parts. In most manufacturing, redundancy of assembly groups is the norm, both for efficiency of production, and so that the initial trained worker groups can be the template for subsequent groups, as the production and demand (hopefully for the company) expands. If a decision to stop painting the gold stripes on the governor covers came through after fifty were made, the next batch of covers without the stripe would have been thrown in with the first group, and it's unlikely anyone would have specified to use only the striped ones first. Would love to hear back from Nate and anyone else who might further illuminate this history. Andrew Baron Santa Fe, NM