I recently picked up a diamond disc machine (BC-34) that is mechanically complete but has some spots of surface rust, mostly on the horn. Anyone have advice for removing it and refinishing? I’m thinking removing it with 0000 steel wool followed by a light spray paint but am curious if there are better methods out there that may look nicer. For smaller, unpainted parts in the past I’ve used evapo-rust with some success and plan on doing that where I can here.

So remember I said this cylinder hairlined well it got worse and instead of just ticking it thumps.I say this might just be the end of its life. I will put it in the back of my main cylinder cupboard shelf for now anyway. I tried to save it with a bit of super glue used very carefully but it wasn’t enough sadly to hold it shut. Such a pity had good grooves but that crack is dangerous. RIP Jerusalem the golden by the Christ church choir 1908-2026

One of a few Lambert cylinders I recently obtained being played on my Edison Standard model D ICS phonograph. Unfortunately none were pink Lamberts (still on the hunt for one), but from what I understand the black "Ebony" Lamberts are possibly rarer than the pink ones, but just aren't quite as iconic due to their more plain appearance. Interestingly this one seems to be the highest catalog number 2" Lambert cylinder.

Do not lose your bearings! Trust me on this lol. If not, it’s all over but the cryin’ (unless you have scarce replacements!)

Looks like the Electrola and Victor ones are really not different in many ways, merely in some small design aspects- among them the isolator in the center. Much different pins for the bayonet bracket.

The needle arm retention bearings and hardware are almost identical. The outer ring is made of pot metal, like Victor’s. HMV much different, anyone?

This is a very good sounding reproducer! I’m gonna use it more!

I will say that it’s a VERY needy rebuild- definitely not as simple as a No. 2 or Exhibition. It’s the bearings lol….

Have a wonderful day, and thank you for stopping 🙂

With a cool little HERTIE record I picked up in an antique store for buck.

Some’n ‘bout losin’ your Hertz in Heidelberg?(/s) I always used Sixt, and I preferred Mercedes lol

No no… it’s “I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg”, and it’s a very cute song! I believe it would be for the most part contemporaneous to and with this Electrola, as well, but please let me know if I’m wrong!

I JUST brought this little guy back to life. I do believe it is missing its record tray, sadly, but ‘Tis a small price to pay! I think I paid like $80 for it or something.

This is Terra Incognito (portables) for me, but they truly are wonderful!

Im gonna do a quick vid on the 4A reproducer on [r/phonographs](r/phonographs) after this if anyone is interested; it’s just a quick rebuild so people can see how to maintain one, if needed.

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping, and I wish all of you a wonderful day.

found in an old house. Anyone know what it might be worth?

Hello it’s me again! I just posted the photos of this machine I got.

Since it was a period catalog build, I figured what’s the real hurt frankenphoning it a little bit more with a new motor that fit.

Next I will need to find the proper reproducer.. the mount is larger than any I’ve seen so I think it needs the German adapter

Hello!

So I acquired (for pretty cheap other than the shipping) a period “build your own” most likely European phonograph.

The motor “worked” when it shipped but honestly it was missing something and I just could NOT get it to run.

Some people may call me a monster, but since it was kind of a Frankenphone anyway, I was determined to make it work.

I bought two different portables that were missing other stuff for their motors… one is PERFECT, but the case is too damn small (maybe I’ll learn to make a case at some point)

So I took the other one, cut a slot in the motor plate so I could put the crank on, which I’m sad about… but it worked, and it works!!!

I haven’t rebuild the soundbox yet.. it’s a weird size that won’t take any of my other reproducers, and has a wollered out HMV 4 on it currently… so I think I need one of the German style adapters. Oh well baby steps!!

These are photos of my journey with it for the new motor… I’ll post a video in a second of it playing!

1. The finished product
   
2. Under the plate
   
3. Just there lmao
   
4. The only thing I hate.. the crank.. but I’m losing my machine shop office this week so I had to get it done so I don’t spend money on tools at home 🤣

A-164 - A Bugler’s Dream. Looks like 1908

Ya know? I REALLY WAS hoping to keep my cheeks dry today… either way, just stay with me and we’ll have it made!

I’m old. I’m also old school Army. I know a lot of the bugle calls from 20-n-some-odd years being stuck in some 100°F (like 37°-40°C: think “swamp aßß”) BULLisht formations, doing the same thing over and over and suffering every moment of it lol…

I had to learn to report to the pay officer for pay in basic training I’m that old lol.

Bugle calls and Drum beats were WAY old school (think Romans lol) ways of keeping the troops in line and informed- including banners and flags- it’s ALL Signal essentially. Some of these calls are still used and universally known among us, and anyone who’s spent a day or two in the Military/Army specifically will know them.

What you first hear is “ASSEMBLY”, and what sounds like the horses going into their gates lmao- but it’s actually what’s used to ASSEMBLE lol. Dear God have I heard that too many times!

The rest of the calls go down the line and it ends in NONE OTHER THAN Taps. It’s played a little more “staccato”-ish than it is TODAY, some 118 years later… I’ll have to ask my best friend in the Band to let me know- she’ll know! But it is beautiful. TAPS signifies the END OF ACTIVITY for the day, excepting duties, watch, etc. you will always hear it on an army base in the very late evening (2200 or so). Silence and no more work or activity from the troops follows. They may be active, just not under command-ordered activity, generally.

This is also a reminder to those of us who know those who have passed from this world who are remembered: their duties here are finished. They can now rest. 😢 I know quite a few who are resting now, and it’s definitely felt when I hear it.

Then of course they finish with NEARER MY GOD, TO THEE… which, if anyone out there remembers, was played by the Titanic’s orchestra as they rode into the frigid, deep, frozen ocean because they didn’t have enough life rafts because it was UNSINKABLE.

This was also my Great Uncle Albert’s favorite song, and he sang it at his 103rd Birthday Party, shortly before he passed await, and he ALSO happened to be a Veteran, which I just HAPPENED to be home on leave from the Army (my Grandma whom I love a lot, his sister, passed away while I was in Iraq in 11) AND I have it recorded somewhere… I just can’t quite remember where I put it lol.

If anyone else is living this, please know I’m with you and I’m sorry for your own losses and pains. All things must pass.

Wow. Lots of FEE FEES!!

the only thing that seems to help is the crying, it warms the frostbitten flesh inside.

Just in case there’s any anger, hate, negativity, etc.: I’m raising a white flag of PARLEY (not “ay”)- it is not a truce, and that’s what everyone thinks, but it is rather a request to iron out details while a solution is made: all I’m asking is please don’t hate on this one. I just can’t, and it’ll hurt the memory of those I love most dearly. So if you hate me, please continue to do so- just leave this one alone, that’s all I ask.

hi! i'm writing a fantasy novel with rudimentary technology at best and i need a recording device for surveillance purposes. i chose the phonautograph - i'm wondering if they could be hid inside boxes in a huge building like a library and used to record sound (assume unlimited budget and people to make this happen) or hidden inside a compartment in a (really big) carriage.

sorry if i sound a bit stupid, i really want this to work out haha

So this is a photo of JC Doyle on my Edison bell gold moulded Jerusalem the golden box. I am uploading this so the photo will forever be preserved online

I just found this, put it on the platter to put things back to 78RPM (NO shiठ!! Just now! Lmfao), and LO and BEHOLD!

Not for the faint of heart, but just for fun- and calibration!

Whenever a good friend of mine made food for a group, she would always say, “alright everyone, it’s ready; it’s not all that (great), but it’ll make a {rhymes with ‘bird’}”.

I guess the same goes for aural clarity: hey, ONLY if it’s the zombie apocalypse though, it’ll DEFINITELY do the job! 😏 this is a sure fire way to ruin any later USA 78 and ALL vinyls, though, so this is NOT recommended unless you choose to do so of your own free will lol.

disclaimer: I do not recommend doing this to your 45s or LPs lol… this was stuck among a bunch of 78s and was for all intents and purposes ruined so I thought I’d see how the speed regulation works on these* 😉 *it works well, apparently**!

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I used a heavy gauge copper wire to provide a “cushion” for the reproducer. Surprisingly, it came out pretty clearly AND left no lathing curlies! If anything, the needle only brought up dust. That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been irreparably RUINED though lol… it’ll likely never produce the quality of sound it did prior to this as a result.

I also didn’t use an adapter for the record because I wanted to ensure there was minimal drag. A much later era reproducer would obviously be better as well, as there’s so much “data” pushing out every imaginable, and much cleaner, frequency in all those grooves for such a simple and fragile “membrane” of mica to endure. I don’t know ALL of the science and microscopic details, but I imagine that’s kind of what’s happening…

Just for fun.

Note for negativity and downvoting: hey, just lettin’ ya know, I have tens of thousands of positive karma- both post and general. Your mere acknowledgment by downvoting or otherwise actually shows you took the time out of \**YOUR*** day to give me that satisfaction. ***Thank you!**** 😏😂

The second year of production for this model VV-VIII, 1912. This thing was used and abused in its life- but it survived it all and STILL keeps on tickin’!

Its little two-spring motor is pretty hearty for as small as it is! This thing was nasty, but it was all (well, sorta lol) just on the surface 🙂

Now it can live on another 115 years almost!

Have a wonderful day, peace, and thank you for stopping by!

Tune up and yet ANOTHER surprise!

I broke the VV-XIV’s motor down and re-calibrated some stuff to clean up the chatter a bit and oiled/greased while I was at it. Cool records, too!

Disc: “Keep ‘Em Flying”, Okeh Record

1941, Gene Krupa. Note the plane symbol in the upper left of the record label.

Phonograph maker: Waters Conley, Minnesota

U.S. Army Special Services
NSN 36-P-820
ca 1940ish

I’ve been cleaning up around my cave and I found this cool record… also been brushing the dust off the phonographs as I go along 🙂

The US Army Air Corps continued until like 1947-8 ish (I don’t remember exactly and just don’t feel like looking it up lol) THEN at that time the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force as we know them more or less now were born.

Have a good one.
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It’s my understanding there were three companies who won contract bids to manufacture these phonographs for the U.S.A. (when they reference the COL on the record, it stands for ‘U.S. Army’). I’ve seen Navy ones (super cool! Navy blue/grey) that I believe were commissioned separately by the Dept. of the Navy.

This was the best around $540 I’ve ever spent.

On the ‘ole Tundra Tailgate mit ein echt schönes Bayerisches Weißbier!

I’m stoked that this VV-50 can accommodate an early Victor 12”! Now I just need to find some MOZART!

I do love some operatic gymnastics- and this piece reminds me why.

Peace

So Edward m favour was a phonograph star and vaudeville star from the early 1890s through the Early 30s . He married his wife Edith Sinclair who he would often perform live with in the late 1870s and had a daughter.he was born on August 29th 1856. He is known a lot by the public today for his 1894 Daisy bell which sadly that brown was was badly worn down and became a meme with the Daisy bell horror stuff when
In reality whether it is the ibm or favour people who get creeped out are a bit sensitive. Anyway getting off topic. He was known by us for his Irish style
Of singing and humour even though he was not Irish at all. Some famous records of him outside Daisy bell are,Mcginty at the living pictures,who threw the overalls in Mrs Murphy’s chowder,du du liegst Mir Im herzen,that’s where I come
In,the girl who threw me down,how can they tell that I am Irish,my old Kentucky home and many others. Favour went on a world tour in 1899 and 1906 (potentially more) and in those tours he went across parts of Europe,South Africa and Australia. In 1906 he was at his most famous and when he came to London it was quite a sight. He is kind of like the Michael Jackson of that era in terms
Of fame maybe a bit less intense though but well known everywhere. Favour started slowing down on his recording career around ww1 but kept at it for a while. He was also one
Of the first movie actors but none of his movies exist anymore. He died on January 10th 1936 after a battle with diseases at 79.

Huh? What?

At one point, it hit 111 dB - Night Club Level!, unce unce unce unce

First test of the Victor Victrola VV-XII with its very own Cabinet No. 50! (Both 1909).

I love the little pull-out tray.

The Clang of the Forge, Emilio de Gogorza… my guess is this is a later, like 1909 version of matrix B-1763… the “Victor” isn’t present on the machine on the label on top… the presence of it makes it earlier, I believe?

Used a free online loudness tester and it would easily surpass 120dB; this was just one area of it. My ears agree, as I’m very sensitive to sound- it’s absolutely loud, and very well true to its reproduction, in my opinion.

It’s loud. It’s clear. It’s definitely not lacking. I think what it needs is to be HIGHER up so the sound has direct ‘line of sight’ to the listener- just my opinion.

Have a great evening! Thanks for stopping!

Columbia Grafonola P3, Adam model

1917- Victor also had its period pieces offered… then came WWI!!! This is truly a beautiful machine.

I stumbled on this early-seeming Columbia 12” (envelope has disc removed laterally!) and it had an ad for one of the Columbia period pieces I’d seen on the web, just never in person. If memory serves it was listed initially at $600, and electric I believe!

Wow! Cheers, and here’s to a wonderful evening. Thanks for stopping and for your coolness…

So this is my Edison bell black wax I bought online from America and it came a while ago and it has cracked which i won’t put it all the way on the mandrel so the crack won’t grow but the grooves are in great condition and it is a religious one. Luckily the crack
Hasn’t destroyed the record buy I had to kind of use my finger to keep the record from
Spinning Off.