info on brunswick gerona

[icemandan01]

hi all i just picked up a brunswick phono. it is the gerona model. does anyone have any sort of info. on this machine. i could not find anything on the internet. when i seen a pic. of it in the classifieds i thought it was a victrola vv 4-3 consolette. due to the cabinet's being very similar as well as the tone arm and reproducer. what i would like to know is approx. when this mach. was mfg. the reproducer only says brunswick on it. so i wonder if this could have been made before brunswick teamed up with balke & collender. thanks dan ;D

p.s. also i'm sure brunswick had their own line of needles but where they of a unique design. as this mach came with about 40 needles which have a very long taper and was wondering if these were brunswick needles. thanks again

[maroongem]

Hi Dan,

By your description, I believe you have one of Brunswick's Panatrope models which debuted in 1926. These were designed to play the new electrically recorded discs (and can play the earlier discs too) and they really sound great. These would have been made by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., but are generally referred to as simply "Brunswicks."
Brunswick did offer their own packaged needles but I can't say if they actually made them. More than likely they didn't but bought from a needle supplier such as W. Bagshaw of Lowell, Mass.
Where you describe the needle as being long and tapered, this is more than likely a soft tone needle. The heavier the needle and shank, the louder the tone.

Bill