Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: dguzzi on June 28, 2020, 01:12:26 PM
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Does anyone play with , collect, repair or know someone that enjoys old phonographs (non electric record players) ?
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Don't know a lot, but we enjoy our old Columbia Grafonola that's here in the living room. It belonged to my wife's father and brother when they were kids. They took good care of it, so it's in pretty great shape. We've had it for a few years and enjoy listening to it, especially watching him run it & listen to his old records during holiday get-togethers. He's not old then..
(https://i.ibb.co/5Y8X7PY/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5Y8X7PY)
(https://i.ibb.co/WDdwXDR/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/WDdwXDR)
(https://i.ibb.co/gZ06FzY/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/gZ06FzY)
(https://i.ibb.co/0ZJXqTV/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0ZJXqTV)
All I know is that the needles are (supposed to be) relatively high-wear consumables. The volume is controlled by the amount the series of four doors across the front are opened or closed. It's like any very old, very basic machine. It just works.
Pretty special to have a turn taking care of it after he had it for nearly 70 yrs. Very cool.
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Wow, thats the best I've seen. More advanced than the Victrola or Edison versions.
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Greetings cliffrod,
I'm curious as to the needles your phonograph uses. I have a small box of Recoton needles and have no clue what they fit. If these will work their yours, let me know dimensions etc.
Paul B :boozing:
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Wow, thats the best I've seen. More advanced than the Victrola or Edison versions.
Greetings cliffrod,
I'm curious as to the needles your phonograph uses. I have a small box of Recoton needles and have no clue what they fit. If these will work their yours, let me know dimensions etc.
Paul B :boozing:
Thanks, guys. My fil doesn't do material "stuff" but he kept this phonograph in pristine condition for all these years. when he said it was going to goodwill during a round of cleaning out, it was time to bring it here. It's the only stereo we've got.
As far as needles, I not sure. There are three thimble-like inserts for storing needles, around 10-11:00 by turntable in pics above. I'll have to ask him about the needles. From what I understand, he and his brother just used the sharpest ones.... Reading about it online said to always use new sharp ones, some even claim it should be a new needle every session or the records would be quickly ruined. He said that didn't make sense because they used the same few needles for many years as kids listening to these same records that are still with it. So ??
Here's a pic of the thimble with the loose needles we have now. Some are straight with a round point. Others have a slight spade, so may be for a record lathe.. Not sure. I'll take them down to the shop and measure them to see if they're like what you've got.
(https://i.ibb.co/n3H8c8J/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/n3H8c8J)
We were going to run cords into it to use it as a charging station for my wife & daughter's iPhones. Before we did, we were cleaning out my childhood house in VT. This old hand crank original Bell phone that we played with as kids was still there, so it's going to be the phone charging dock instead. All the guts are still in it, but there's still room for a few phones in it. Need to get a replacement Bakelite earpiece. One day when we were playing, a friend dropped this one on the concrete floor in the basement. I think she was calling the police about a bank robbery while I was either getting away or chasing the robbers in one of our TR3s.... I would like to remove the very old white paint (it doesn't taste like lead...) without wrecking the original varnish(?) under it. It still has some of the original Western Bell logo on front. It's just one more project waiting for time. My grandfather got this during a job one day & brought it home for us to play with, so it's special for me.
(https://i.ibb.co/PYjKdrX/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/PYjKdrX)
(https://i.ibb.co/f00X1sR/image.jpg) (https://ibb.co/f00X1sR)
Figure it will look pretty neat, hanging on the wall near the Grafonola....
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We *had* one ^^^^ when I was a kid. Our number was two shorts and a long. :smiley: