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Why?
I think as a kid it was curiosity. I always wanted to know how things worked, and you can see exactly how a gramophone works, unlike a CD player or tape deck. The vibrations of the record grooves are picked up by the needle, and a simple mechanism amplifies these and sends them into the air so we can hear them. No electricity. No volume control! Plus I've always loved the music.
Now that I've nearly run out of space, I get a lot of pleasure from buying, restoring and selling machines. It's great to start with something that looks like it was heading for the scrap heap, and to restore it so that it looks and sounds as it was designed to. People are often surprised by just how good a decent machine from 70 years ago can sound, but beware of the reproduction (fake!) gramophones with shiny brass horns and grainy HMV logos - these look trashy and sound terrible.
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Click photo for a larger view |
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Left: An HMV model 193 wind up gramophone, 1929. | Right: A Leak Stereo 20 valve power amplifier, 1962. |
My favourite machine is the HMV 193, because it's one of the best sounding gramophones ever made. Even cabinet gramophones have a simple horn hidden inside them, but HMV designed horns which split into a number of compartments, with a large chamber to amplify lower notes, and a smaller chamber to amplify higher ones. Frequency response: 80Hz-5.5kHz. Not Hi-Fi, but better than we put up with from "RealAudio" over 70 years later!
I concentrate on gramophones because I can fix them, and they're not too expensive (well, they weren't when I started collecting). However, despite all my work in digital audio, I love the sound of valve amplifiers, and have my Dad's well used "Rogers HG 88 Mk II", and a Leak Varislope Pre-Amp and matching Stereo 20 Power Amp.
Records
What do I listen to on all these vintage machines? Well, my favourite 78s (old records are called "78s" because they play at 78 revs per minute, unlike "modern" 33rpm LPs or 45rpm singles) are those made by British dance bands between about 1928-1938. What do you mean, you've never heard a dance band recording from the 1930s? You don't know what you're missing! O.K., so you'll probably hate it, but here's a few samples, (chosen at random from the tapes I happen to have with me at uni).
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"On Her doorstep Last Night" by Jack Payne with his B.B.C. Dance Orchestra. A Novelty record, played on an HMV gramophone. NEW |
[.ZIPped mp3 file]
(540kB, 22kHz 16bit 32kbps) |
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"'Leven Thirty Saturday Night" by Ambrose with vocals by Sam Browne. A Hot Dance tune, recorded 22nd May 1930. RECOMMENDED |
[.AU file]
(1.26MB, 8kHz u-law)
[.WAV file]
(1.74MB, 11kHz 8bit) |
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"Sitting on a Five Bar Gate" by Jack Payne with his B.B.C. Dance Orchestra. Novelty dance record from 1930. |
[.AU file]
(1.24MB, 8kHz u-law) |
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"Ain't that the way it goes" by Jack Payne with his B.B.C. Dance Orchestra. Typical dance tune, recorded 7th August 1931. RECOMMENDED |
[.ZIPped mp3 file]
(1.05MB, 22kHz 16bit 64kbps) |
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"Yummy-Yum-Yum-Yum"
by the Metropole Dance Orchestra. A rare (and poor quality) novelty Jazz record from the late 1920s. |
[.WAV file]
(1.73MB, 11kHz, 8bit) |
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Help with the replay of various audio formats is available here
Frequently Asked Questions
(U.S. readers - see the rec.antiques.radio+phono F.A.Q. for Stateside info)
Can you get the needles?
Wind up gramophones play 78s using a steel needle. These are designed to play 1 side of 1 record only. Use the same needle for several records, and you'll get a horrible sound, and a pile of damaged records. Luckily steel needles are still manufactured, and are available from a variety of outlets. I sell them at £1 per packet of 100, or you can buy them in bulk from Phonoservice (see below).
What if the spring breaks?
Gramophones are powered by hefty springs, similar to a clock. These do break, but are replaceable. Contact Phonoservice (see below) for details.
I need a spare part!
Phonoservice can supply new spares such as needles, diaphragms, rubber gaskets (for sound boxes), reproduction horns and reproducers for cylinder phonographs, mainsprings, and some winding handles.
Phonoservice, 157 Childwall Valley Road, Liverpool, L16 1LA, UK
In the US, the following company offers a similar service:
Yesterday Once Again, Antique Phonographs, P.O. Box 6773, Huntington Beach, CA 92615. Phone (714) 963-2474.
A range of more expensive original spare parts is available from Ken Priestly at:
Holmfirth Antiques, 28 Roaine Drive, Cinderhills, Holmfirth, W. Yorks, HD7 1EX, UK. Tel. 01484 686854.
All three companies offer catalogues on request, and can also offer a fitting service for most spares.
I've got some 78s in the loft - how much are they worth?
Most second hand things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. Any 78rpm record has a novelty value, and any value between 10p and 50p each is reasonable. Rock'n'Roll is particularly collectable - eg Elvis 78s can fetch £25 a piece. This is in excellent condition. Warn or scratched records are worth much less, and cracked or broken records aren't worth anything, so HANDLE WITH CARE. Unfortunately, classical 78s are difficult to sell, though some are wonderful to listen to. There's a more detailed guide to 78 values here.
There's a gramophone in my garage - what's it worth?
Good condition non-HMV portables ("suit-case model") seem to go for £40-£80 these days. Coloured (red, blue, green ie not black) portables manufactured by His Masters Voice (look for the doggie trademark in the lid) go for up to £200, depending on colour and condition. (My last one cost £75) If your machine needs repairing, only a collector or dealer is going to buy it. Bodged machines can be worthless. If a machine is in poor condition, even if it works, it will have half the value of an excellent example.
Small wooden cabinet models are called "Table Models". These fetch between £50 and £150, top HMVs slightly more. Floor standing machines can sometimes be bought cheaply, simply because no-one has room for them. Some late HMVs are valuable, but for others the sound and the look will either sell the machine, or not.
BEWARE OF FAKE MACHINES
I've had five emails in the last week from people who have purchased a gramophone with "a big brass horn, and the doggie trademark on the front" - these are now being manufactured in India, using new brass horns and cabinets, and other parts salvaged from old broken machines. These fakes retail for £50-£150, while a decent genuine HMV horn gramophone would be around £1000, depending on the model.
How to spot a fake
1) BIG BRASS HORN. Few HMV machines were sold with brass horns, and the horns on fake machines look like they were made yesterday - because they were.
2) HIS MASTER'S VOICE (or other) TRADEMARK. Look closely at the transfer: If it's raised (even slightly) above the surrounding woodwork (unless it's pealing off) then the machine is a fake. Check also the printing of the transfer: modern copies use the dot-colour printing process (like a photograph in a magazine) while the
originals used mainly solid colours - the green background should be solid green!
3) WINDING CRANK. Many fake machines use motors taken from old portable gramophones. Some of these had winding handles that came out at an angle. All real horn gramophones have winding handles coming out horizontally.
4) SOUND BOX. The sound box is the large circular part, on the end of the arm, which
has a screw at the bottom to hold the needle that plays the record. It
should say His Masters Voice on it, possibly saying "Exhibition", "No.
2" or "No.4" - one side is black, the other has a nickel plated ring
around the outside, holding a circular mica diaphragm (this looks like glass). If in fact the whole thing is silver in colour, and the diaphragm is aluminium, enclosed by a piece of metal (which forms
one whole side of the sound box, so possibly hiding the aluminium plate
completely) then the sound box is from another machine, or a modern reproduction.
Can I play 78s electrically?
Yes. The cheapest way is to buy a 1960s or 70s record player from a car boot sale which has a 78rpm setting, and a turnover stylus, where one side of the stylus plays 78s, while the other plays LPs. If there's a 78rpm setting on the deck, but no special 78 stylus, you'll still get a sound from the records, but it'll be a lot scratchier than using the 78 stylus. If the record player has a "tape out" socket, it might be possible to connect it to your hi-fi and tape your 78s.
The best way of playing 78rpm records electrically (as used when transferring old records onto CD) is described here. High quality styli (approx. £40 each) for the replay of 78rpm records and phonograph cylinders, are available from The Expert Stylus Company, PO Box 3, Ashtead, Surrey, KT21 2QD. Tel. 01372 276604.
If you have any questions, you can email me and I'll do my best to answer, but there are more knowledgeable people on rec.antiques.radio+phono.
Gramophone Links
National Vintage Communications Fair
Jazz and Dance 78s
Artist details, sound files, film credits
Music Hall; Early Recordings; Wax Cylinders
Books, books and Leaflets
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Gramophones and Records
