[Phono-L] Shellac records and damage from steel needles

Aph4990 at aol.com Aph4990 at aol.com
Sun Mar 9 23:00:31 PDT 2008


 
In a message dated 3/9/2008 7:45:42 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
jimcip at earthlink.net writes:

Dear  John,
The box the attachment came in is marked "Edison Needle-Cut  Attachment" &
the soundbox (reproducer) has what appears to be an  aluminum diaphragm.  
Its case is nickel plated & on the back it  says in  letters "EDISON" in
smaller letters it says"Orange, N.J.,"  & "Made
in U.S.A."    There is also a facsimile of Edison's  famous signature.  On
the front there is a large script "E" on the  diaphragm cover over the
stylus bar & a cut out ligthtening bolt cut on  either side. 
On a twelve inch 78, when I lower the horn to engage the feed  gear in the
far right position by the time the record has played the horn  has
swung to the left & the tracking is absolutely terrible.   
Does anyone have instructions put out by the Edison company for using  this
attachment when was obviously manufactured by them & probably  included with
the Edison models?


Hi Jim,
The reproducer you describe was made for the early  "uncatalogued" needle-cut 
portables and is a beautifully made reproducer.   The machines themselves 
were made by the "Prime" manufacturing Co. and I think  the reproducer was 
certainly Edison-made.  But I was not aware that the  Edison Co. actually made the 
adapter to enable needle-cut records to be played  on a diamond disc machine.  
There was an adapter made by Edison in 1914 as  noted in Frow's book but it 
apparently was removed after 1 year.  And the  reproducer that you describe 
wasn't made until 1928 or 1929.  A picture of  your adapter and box would be 
great. It would be very interesting to see whether  Edison created another adapter 
in 1928 or later.
 
---Art Heller
 



**************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & 
Finance.      (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)


More information about the Phono-L mailing list