unidentifiable heirloom

[JMCS]

A dear eighty year old uncle passed recently. He had a houseful of interesting junk and valuables, many of which harken back to his parents and grandparents, who had the house before him. 

I don't know what to make of this phonograph. It has a homemade look.  Is it?  My Uncle's uncle was very good at creating and putting things together, so maybe he built it.

Or was it manufactured? 

Can anyone help me with this? [attaching five photos]
- Jack

[electrolaman]

Well it is not home made. RCA Victor had may models similar, but it is not a RCA Victor product. The volume know looks to be Philco.  But I have not found any photos of an example. This would be late 1930s into 1940s with the crystal pickup.

 

These "add-on" record players were common in the late 30 and into the 40s basically made to ad to a radio set. 

 

Carlton Smith

Indianapolis, IN

Electrolaman 

Edited April 3, 2021 by electrolaman

[MisterJive47]

That looks an awful lot like the 1939 Motorola "wireless" turntable I had years ago. Tone arm, turntable, and needle-cup look nearly identical, except that mine was an automatic changer. As Carlton pointed out, it was an add-on for home radio consoles. I would either be hard-wired to the set or "broadcast" to it on a specific frequency of the standard AM band.