Hi all ~ I just wanted to report on a very positive experience that I had with my first order from Brian Krapes. Brian reproduces grills for Edison Amberola 1, and various other machines, and has patterns for a number of Diamond Disc phonograph grills. He also makes diaphragms for Amberola and DD machines. The quality of work on the grill he made for me was exceptional and the cost was reasonable. I was most taken with the perfect edges on the mahogany-veneered fretwork, with not a trace of tearing or splintering, and nice smooth surfaces where the saw blade engaged the wood. For this particular early A-250 grill reproduction, I requested and paid a slight additional charge for a slightly over- thick fretwork panel to match the over-thick panel on my newer A-250. An additional advantage of this was that I got to have the mahogany veneer on both faces of the panel. (In my recent research of the A-250, I've learned that Edison seemed to have progressively increased the thickness of the panel, from 1/4" to 5/16" to 3/8", from 1912 to late 1914 -- Brian attests to the fact that the slight added thickness is a noticeable plus in the free stability of the panel). The surrounding frame was also reproduced to a high level of quality, with the correct details as per my original. The total cost for this grill was $140.00, and given that the original was missing on an otherwise solid machine, I felt that it was a very sound investment. Although Brian has patterns for a number of machines, there were originally slight variations from one machine to another, even in the same model, so to be certain of capturing ALL the details of my original, I mailed him an actual tracing of the fretwork panel that I made with a fine pencil point against the edges of an original from my other machine, and also included a detailed cross-sectional drawing of the frame surround. It was an interesting process to make this accurate tracing of the grill, and brought to my attention the fact that the factory band-saw work 93 years ago was not perfectly accurate and not perfectly symmetrical. I never noticed this when looking at my original grill, but little variations became apparent during the faithful tracing of it. This is due to the hand-made nature of that part of the process. I can attest that Brian's accuracy is equal to or slightly better than the original. He is also a pleasure to work with and is receptive to any communication or concern. The grill arrived in good shape and basically ready for stain, and required no additional prep work, unless to -slightly- cut the edges of the fretwork pattern to make them marginally less sharp. For those interested in contacting Brian, he can be reached at: briankrapes at msn.com Life has been extra full lately, but I'm still gradually getting my A-250 questionnaire summary ready to post to this forum. Best to all, Andy Baron