Anyone know anything about gramophones?

[FamilyWiggs]

Totally o/t but I am sure the collective traditional wisdom of PPUK will sally forth!

I have just come to own an old gramophone - was told 1910, but suspect nearer 1930s. It has "Peerless" on the lid, and little doors you open wider or less so for volume control!

I have a bag of bits also - including complete winding mechanisms and spare arms as well as something that looks like some gauges.

So, come on, own up. I know from previous threads that there are lots of orologists amongst us. Who is the PPUK gramophone expert? Anyone know of any good web resources?

Think I may have another project on my hands... :roll:

 

[philpjuk100]

Try Ian Calderbanks site on www.gramaphones.info most bits are available including needles,springs and diaphrams,I used to buy needles from recording devices in iselworth,they used to send them by post in a poly bag inside a "jiffy"bag after the post office had finished with them the bag looked like a hedgehog!,phil.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Thanks Phil. An interesting site. I'm itching to open up the gramophone and look inside, but other projects more favoured by SWMBO take precedence!

My bag of bits, on further examination, contains a complete and working Garrard No 30 motor - and an intriguing and fascinating little thing it is. I've never seen a gramophone motor before.

Anyone interested in that link, the correct address is http://www.gramophones.info

 

[Flyfisher]

About all I know is that the Garrard 301 was the turntable to aspire to when I was first 'into' hi-fi, but I doubt it has much to do with a Garrard No. 30 motor.

An American friend restored a cylinder gramophone and it played quite well, although not exactly 'hi-fi' by today's standards. I was quite surprised when he told me the cylinders were still relatively easy to obtain on eBay.

The web makes this sort of thing so much easier though - there's bound to be loads of information out there detailing how to fully restore such machines.

Any photos available . . . ?

 

[philpjuk100]

A dusty old Columbia out of the attic! As a schoolboy I pulled an old upright type wind up gram to bits and put the case on a bonfire so I could use the motor to power a model hydroplane! nobody wanted them then,you really could not give them away,everybody wanted G plan units with autochangers!phil.

 

[Juju]

I don't know anything about them but I have one! It belonged to my grandparents and when my grandmother died in 1985, I insisted my parents keep it even though they didn't want it - we played with it all the time when we were kids so I've always felt sentimental about it. Anyway I have it now and although it's a bit of an ugly piece of furniture, it's useful for keeping odds and ends in the little cupboards. When my aunt visited recently we played a record she remembered from the 1950s and she demonstrated the dance so it's still good nostalgic fun! I think my grandparents bought it in the 1930s or 1950s and it was probably second hand. My grandad was a scrap metal dealer and was always picking up useful items - he sold most of it down the pub for a pittance including stuff that would be worth a fortune now! Oh and my partner has a gramophone player which had its workings removed and is now a useful bedside cupboard. This is my one anyway (please excuse mess - it's surrounded by stuff cleared from my father-in-law's house destined for ebay!):

 

[Flyfisher]

As a schoolboy I pulled an old upright type wind up gram to bits and put the case on a bonfire so I could use the motor to power a model hydroplane!

I can't help with gramophone photos but I can illustrate a hydroplane with this old photo of Mrs FF's racing exploits:

 

[LadyArowana]

The gramophone looks safer, although probably not as much fun!

 

[Penners]

So, come on, own up. I know from previous threads that there are lots of orologists amongst us. Who is the PPUK gramophone expert? Anyone know of any good web resources?

The word "expert" is completely outside my vocabulary on any topic (as many will have ascertained by now), but I did once own a wind-up gramophone. What exactly do you want to know? There's a remote possibility that I may have the information you need, but more likely that I'll enjoy the challenge of making up some BS to suit the occasion.

 

[philpjuk100]

Expert! "x" unknown quantity, "spurt" a drip under pressure,

 

[JoceAndChris]

All I know is that the sound of a gramophone drifting through your period property, accompanied by a good gin sling, and perhaps the odd flapper or two (can I volunteer my services, free of charge - the Charleston is one of my specialities) will be unutterably perfect, and if I were Mrs W I'd allow you to drop everything until it's fixed.

 

[JohnB]

All I know is that the sound of a gramophone drifting through your period property, accompanied by a good gin sling, and perhaps the odd flapper or two (can I volunteer my services, free of charge - the Charleston is one of my specialities) will be unutterably perfect, and if I were Mrs W I'd allow you to drop everything until it's fixed.

Relative to the age of many period properties, a gramophone is a bit of very newfangled technology. For most of it's life, any music played in it would have been played on real life live instruments .

 

[Penners]

if I were Mrs W I'd allow you to drop everything

She just can't resist the double-entendres, can she?

 

[philpjuk100]

His Masters Voice! Grommet says "they should have used limecrete!"

 

[Feltwell]

I felt very old recently when my friend's 10 year old daughter saw our turntable and asked what it was. I could understand why - she's only ever known CD's and Ipods.

Then her little brother saw the telephone in our kitchen, which is a bog standard 1970's black wall phone - they had no idea what it was, they'd never seen a 'phone with a dial.......

 

[Penners]

my friend's 10 year old daughter saw our turntable and asked what it was

Funnily enough, I have recently dug out my old NAD turntable (rather fine in its day) and rigged it up through a pre-amplifier into my computer. I'm in the process of copying my old LPs, and converting them for my mp3 player. Talk about a trip down memory lane!

Albums so far converted include ones by:

Jethro Tull
Eric Clapton
Joe Walsh
Bob Dylan
The Who
The Beatles
Roxy Music
The Kingston Trio
Joan Armatrading
Marvin, Welch & Farrar
John Stewart
Dan Fogelburg
Elton John
ELO

I swear eternal brotherhood to anyone with all of those in their collection.

 

[wobs]

Relative to the age of many period properties, a gramophone is a bit of very newfangled technology. For most of it's life, any music played in it would have been played on real life live instruments .

When I was viewing my house prior to buying, it was empty other than a very nice piano. I had the option of buying it, and everyone wanted me to get it, but as I don't play, I declined. No one else wanted it in their house of course.

 

[wobs]

my friend's 10 year old daughter saw our turntable and asked what it was

Funnily enough, I have recently dug out my old NAD turntable (rather fine in its day) and rigged it up through a pre-amplifier into my computer. I'm in the process of copying my old LPs, and converting them for my mp3 player. Talk about a trip down memory lane!

Albums so far converted include ones by:

Jethro Tull
Eric Clapton
Joe Walsh
Bob Dylan
The Who
The Beatles
Roxy Music
The Kingston Trio
Joan Armatrading
Marvin, Welch & Farrar
John Stewart
Dan Fogelburg
Elton John
ELO

I swear eternal brotherhood to anyone with all of those in their collection.

Don't have many of those, but was reading yesterday how turntables haven't really progressed since the 80s, so I see no reason why your NAD wouldn't be a fine piece of kit (depending on needle condition). I've just cranked up my Technics turntable, and plan to record some old vinyl this year (and some tapes with the old Technics tape deck).

See link for a lengthy article about digitising analogue music:
http://www.knowzy.com/Computers/Audio/Digitize_Your_LPs/USB_Record_Player_Turntable_Comparison.htm

You can also record to digital using the Brennan CD player, as it has a hard drive built in.

PS, My musical radar is a bit later. My Half Man Half Biscuit complete-ism inched closer to satisfaction yesterday.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I felt very old recently when my friend's 10 year old daughter saw our turntable and asked what it was. quote]

I had the opposite surprise.

My 7 year old came down yesterday and asked if I had been in the loft. When queried why he was asking, he said "Because there is a record player in the lounge". He was talking about the gramophone which wasn't there when he went to bed.

I was surprised because I didn't expect him to know what a record player was (or even records!), as I'm not sure he's ever seen one. Maybe they do teach them something is school after all! :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

I swear eternal brotherhood to anyone with all of those in their collection.

A fine list, although I must confess to be missing three of those artists.

I converted my LPs soon after buying a first-generation iPod and, as you rightly say, it was a trip down memory lane. I now listen to them far more then when I had to go through the rigmarole of playing LPs, plus the nuisance of having to turn them over every 25 minutes or so, which also interrupted some of the more self-indulgent prog-rock pieces. No doubt you'll be working your way around to your Pink Floyd, Genesis, Hawkwind, Yes, Focus, King Crimson and, perhaps, Van Der Graff Generator albums in due course. :wink:

Just a brief note for anyone now considering converting their old LPs as a result of all this nostalgic banter - it's important to use an pre-amp with "RIAA correction" in order to get the best results. This is because the frequency response of a vinyl recording is not flat (a consequence of the mechanics of tracking the record grooves). Any hi-fi amplifier with a "phono" input (not to be confused with 'phono' plugs and sockets) should include the appropriate correction and the "tape out" signal of such an amplifier should be compatible with PC soundcards.