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i am getting a phonograh!

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poodlesrule

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A wee bit west of Boston
Neighbor is giving me a vintage phonograph... no electric amplification, just a big internal wooden horn!

We tried it, working by hand, as the electric cord for the platen motor is broken -it is not a crank model.
Playing an old fox-trot 78 record was a hoot! Caution, the needle is single-use, or you ruin your records.. but you can still buy them!

Sadly, these things aren't worth much, as collectors and enthusiasts pretty focus on one brand, Victor, which was indeed of superior quality. There were a couple of hundred companies in the US alone making "talking machines" back in the day...
 
So cool! I just lost out on a bid for an Australian made 1950's era Reel to Reel. $47 it went for and it appeared to be functional. I had this grand vision of restoring it and popping it on top of my 1960's amp and cab for a total vintage recording setup ;)
 
Robert said:
Pics or it didn't happen! :D
Click to expand...

Patience..!
The machine is yards away, and neighbor isn't changing his mind.
Except that Junior keeps his tarantula living space on the thing... so it needs to be relocated!!

I will update for sure.

A DJ at community radio near me has a Tuesday night Movie Classics thing going (as well as a GD show), and I think of proposing a silent movie event with the machine playing some period piano records for ambiance.
 
Uncle Joe's phonograph is in da house!

Pics, or better, sound sample to follow!

It came with a bunch of loose needles, and an unopened Brunswick needle pack reading "Specially adapted for playing electrically recorded records". From what I read, the dynamics were vastly different.
Oddly, you can still buy needles, and for a while cactus needles were in use..!
 
You need some George Formby :cool:

I buy a lot of remastered collections of 78s. You can really tell the difference when electrical recording came in. The signal to noise ratio is hugely improved.

Chojin: or a diy tape echo :AOK
 
My friend has the crank type. IIRC it's a Victrola or something like that. He got it from his grandma and it even have the old 78s with it. We got a kick out of playing it. Works quite well and quite loud too. Weird, needle on a membrane pickup and a big megaphone. It must've been a deluxe model.
 
If it is a real Victorla, he should care for it, they are just about the only ones sought after, as they were much, much better than others. Does it have the "morning glory" horn (megaphone)?

I hope your friend knows about the one needle-per-play rule. Otherwise he may be wearing out some of his 78s. youcan still buy needles...!

You are right, the diaphragm and pickup is an amazing thing to look at. That part is called the sound box, has gaskets, and diaphragm was usually made of mica, I think (a few brands used alumimum).
 
I think this one is mica because it's clear. The megaphone is fancy looking so maybe that's the "morning glory." Like I said it looks like a deluxe model.
 
poodlesrule said:
Oh, wait, I still have my Sony Reel-to-Reel in the attic.

And I happen to like the vintage effect!

How do you DIY?
Click to expand...

I would love to have a proper 1/4" reel to reel machine, or even a bigger one. I would use it in mastering in a jiffy.

There simply is no digital plugin that can really reproduce the compression to a limited dynamic range and the tape saturation effect real tape gives...I know several CD releases that have at the mastering phase been transferred to real tape and back for just such effects. In fact there is even a completely transparent digital integrated system available for big money studios that loops any desired audio thru all analog tape recording and back to digital right thru the DAW software, and it IS used hugely, especially for guitars.

It can really be so good when you try it...it's like, screw the guitar master comp and EQ, this thing is WAY better. Oldskool tape sound, lush as it comes, none of that harsh edge of digital only.

Same deal with old semi-digital semi-analog reverbs...even a cheap old Boss stereo reverb unit I have simply wipes the floor with any digital plugin reverb unit I know...I'm constantly thinking of any possible and easy ways to get it to work as an outside chain/looped external effect in my DAW. I just can't get such a warm lush vocal reverb out of plugins no matter how I try. It just irks me that I get a more awesome reverberated vocal sound in my monitors while I sing, than what I can muster after the fact. But I just can't commint that to 'tape' before mixing...I'd have no control over verb later on in the mix.
 
markb said:
You need some George Formby :cool:

I buy a lot of remastered collections of 78s. You can really tell the difference when electrical recording came in. The signal to noise ratio is hugely improved.

Chojin: or a diy tape echo :AOK
Click to expand...

George Formby? Didn't he make a grill? :pancake

Sadly I got severely outbid on that old R2R, but as I've posted, I now have a Strymon El Capistan which totally does what I need (and more) as far as tape echo goes. (well for the moment) I LOVE the look of reel to reels though and will have one at some point for recording.
 
I get a permission denied error from flickr. I think you have the pic set to private....
 

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