First time owner

[michaele]

After many years of looking, I was recently fortunate enough to purchase an Edison model C-19 (I believe) in a chippendale style cabinet at a small antique auction. It is in wonderful condition. A few blemishes on the cabinet which I'll be repairing (I'm a woodworker), but the unit works great. I've been told by a few people that own Edisons that I got a really good deal on it at $195.00, especially given that it works and plays great!
I have a couple of questions. How do I find out exactly when the unit was made? Is it adviseable to have the reproducer (soundbox) refurbished?

Thank you,
Michael

[maroongem]

Hi Michael,

Congrats on your purchase of the C-19! The price paid was more than reasonable as these machines generally go $400+ around here. Unfortunately there isn't a cut and dried way to date these machines as no records have turned up regarding serial numbers. Is the wood mahogany (most common) or oak? Also the late ones had the 10/12 buttons for the long play records and occasionally you can find them with the extra spring and mechanism installed for the long play.
I would advise that you have the reproducer rebuilt as the rubber gaskets have more than likely dried out.
Contact me off board as I will be more than happy to rebuild it for you.

Bill

[lukewarmwater]

Congratulations and welcome to one of the world's most multi-faceted hobbies! I would suggest you purchase a copy of The Edison Disc Phonographs and the Diamond Discs by George Frow (ISBN: 0 9505462 5 9). Scholar Ron Dethlefson also publishes some excellent DD material as well. His web page is www.edisonrecords.com/Books/index.html

Precise dating of Edison Phonographs is not an exact science based if on serial numbers as those papers are still unavailable from the Edison National Historic Site, so it is difficult to determine, say, what day or week your C-19 left the factory. However, production spans are well documented so I can give you a range. Comparing your S/N with others of the same model will help you learn how late or early your machine may be in that range. Sometimes, minor changes in mechanics or design help to narrow production to a smaller range.

Your C-19 was introduced in April of 1919 and were still listed as being in stock as late as August 1927. It supplanted the nearly identical C-250 (introduced 12/1915) -- the difference being that Edison economized cabinet construction on the C-19 by eliminating the two pull out record storage drawers of the C-250 and replacing them with row dividers in the C-19. A word of caution regarding the C-19 dividers: the leatherette facing on the divider bars sometimes lifts at the inside edge, and will catch the edge of the label of a paper label DD record (which also tend to lift) and tear it off the record. The 'C' prefix model designation indicates Chinese Chippendale cabinet style, albeit an Art Nouveau interpretation.

The diaphragm in a DD reproducer is dozens of incredibly thin rice paper laminated with shellac. A cork stiffener on one side, and a turned ivory button on the other. The button secures a woven silk cord that connects to the stylus bar. There is much debate over rebuilding these regarding the materials used and resultant sound by various rebuilders. Who to recommend is beyond the scope of my post . . . perhaps others can chime in there.

DD phonographs are their own wonderful beasts. I love them. Be aware of sub-categories such as early belt-driven machines, art case models, the Edison Long Play DD, and the late Edisonic models designed to play electrically recorded DD's.

I'm sure you have more questions . . . you may fire when you are ready, Gridley! Welcome aboard! Is yours oak or mahogany? Kind regards, Luke W.

[michaele]

The wood is indeed Mahogany. I was fortunate to be in the "right place at the right time". This was a small auction in a small town in NE Georgia, and I was amazed at the price for the condition it's in.
If I'm not mistaken, these will only play (or play well) the original 0.250 thick Diamond Disc records?

[maroongem]

Hi Michael,

With the Edison reproducer, those indeed will only play the DD records. There were many companies that offered a reproducer & arm that could be installed allowing you to play the more common shellac records. Kent was one of the more notable mfgr. of this arm. Some soundboxes could even be rotated and you could play the vertically cut(eg Pathe) records with a sapphire ball stylus.

Bill

[maroongem]

Also Michael, you may want to grab a flashlight and peak behind the red record dividers. I have found the original manual in several machines and once found the entire shipping envelope and contents that was nailed to the shipping crate. I even found Little Wonder records and some aluminum home recording discs in one!!

[lukewarmwater]

Diamond Disc machines with the DD reproducer in place are designed to play Edison DD records only. The records are essentially flattened cylinder recordings insomuch as the sound grooves are modulated at the bottom (vertical recording) rather than on the sides (lateral recording) as on a 78rpm record. The reason DD's are so thick is that the Edison vertical playback system requires them to be an absolutely plane surface since the groove is modulated from the bottom. The thickness of of DD records varied slightly over the production run, but the most typical thickness is .235". Lamination methods varied over the years, too, but you should know that essentially, they are what Edison called Condensite (a phenolic resin compound virtually identical to Bakelite) pressed over a wood flour/glue binder core.

Many DD record titles are found on cylinder as well.

DD phonos will play 78's if fitted with any one of several after-market adapters such as the Kent or Union lateral attachments. Luke W.