Type of fabric used behind front grills

[gibsonj]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have a clue as to what type of fabric Edison used behind front grills on Amberolas and DDs? I checked Frow but did not see any discussion.

Thanks in advance for any knowledge on this.

John

[condensite]

I believe the cloth was/is silk, and the two Diamond Disc examples I have with the cloth somewhat intact are both in the dark-tan or medium brown color catagory. I don't really know how much the cloth has darkened or faded, and one grillcloth has a good amount of green in it, making it almost olive in color.
I don't know if grillcloths were standard throughout the line of Amberolas; I suspect not.
I've found good replacement material in the fabric stores in the section with garment linings. The cloth is thin and transparent enough to keep from muffling the sound, and there are some good color choices to pick from. Please avoid patterns, bright colors or excessive sheen.
Be sure to iron your cloth rectangle before gluing it to the inside of the frame. Wrinkles won't come out on their own. Using push pins to position the cloth on the grill works well for me.
I've used a thin bead of white glue that dries somewhat slowly. As it dries, you can follow around the edge, gently nudging the fabric outward so you end up with a pretty tight cloth surface.
If you PM me with your email address I'll send a picture of the grillcloths I have. Good luck!
Bob

[matty]

I think it depends on the machine, and the period in which it was made.
All but the earliest Amberola 30's had no grille cloth at all. I'm not sure about the other Amberola's though.
The picture below shows an L35 with the original cloth, and the same pattern was used in the Edisonic range, but was a different colour.



This is an Edisonic another member posted.
I think the colour of the turntable felt might be an indication of which colour cloth was used on earlier machines?