On a personal note, I used to sit on the banjoist's lap when I was around 3 years old. He was Fred Van Eps (1878-1960) and he used to come into my mother's coffee shop in Burbank. I wish I could say I remember him and his son Bobby, who also came in, but I was just a bit too young.
Yes, just in time for my 1913 Victor Victrola purchase to arrive tomorrow! I already have an 1906 cylinder player. This example played was perhaps the most obnoxious he could find. They are usually better.
Not really. Much like a steam train it takes coal and steam to power it where this machine takes gears, springs, a governor to run it. It makes sense. Anyone could really make a new one if they had the knowlege and know how.
Interesting video. I just acquired an oak Amberola 50 in showroom condition so I really enjoy learning about the history of these machines. Have fun restoring your treasure!
My grandmother left me a phonograph just like yours. I saw an ad for one in an online catalog, and the catalog was dated 1921. So the date is somewhere around then. I have 3 or 4 cylinders, but have no idea where they’re packed away.
WOw!!!! The howling and yelling is hilarious!!!!😂🤣🤣🤣 I wonder what alcoholic beverage was popular when this song was playing and popular😁😆?? Whisky maybe? It would have been a wild night if I put this song on...LOL Anyway, I was on Ancestry looking at old newspaper articles and saw a few in the paper from Dec 20, 1923 for sale... I wanted to know how a Phonograph worked so, here I am watching this great vid. Thank you for sharing and satisfying my curiosity!
Thanks for sharing. I just got one as an heritage from my cousin. It looks exactly like yours ! It belonged to our grandparents. i had no idea how it works and thanks to you i will be able to look at it and try to understand …
@@oldcuriosityshop265 Then, there was the string instrument "viola" - a use of "ola" that predates Pianola, Victrola, and Amberola and a few smaller phonograph company versions of "ola" - by several hundred years. Payola? Yours trooly, Your Uncle Josh
This was recorded when Frank Buckles joined the army at 17. He died in 2011 at the age of 110. He was the last surviving American World War 1 veteran. The majority of last surviving veterans were from the United Kingdom, such as Harry Patch (1898-2009) Henry Allingham (1896-2009) and Claude Choules (1901-2011).
My dad used to have a phonograph that belonged to his grandmother (my great-grandmother). Unfortunately, it was in very poor condition (the wood had rotted on it). But the mechanical part still worked, and it was able to play a cylinder. I faintly remember my dad and I listening to it when I was a little kid (this would've been in the early 90s). I don't know what's become of it since.
i ended up finding a newer version of these, built for 6 inch cylinders but run at the 4 minute speed, electric with pneumatic controls, it was a dictation machine and it was an absolute nightmare ti get everything working again, the governor gave me absolute hell to get it in a playable state and there was rust all over the feed screw so i had to drown it in oil while running it several times to clean up the threads the positive to having a 6 inch dictation machine is that its unusually well suited to playing warped or swelled cylinders without doing anything to them since the seating on the mandrill has a lot more room for variance without affecting playback
I’ve heard that the correct way to hold those old wax cylinder records was/is to hold it on your pointer and middle fingers like this ✌️, because, like with vinyl, the music/data is etched directly into the surface of the record.
Just picked up a 1915 Amberola 30 that's been in my family for a long time. It came with 15 cylinders and it sounds incredible, but it could use a good oiling and cleaning. Any idea where to get good advice on how to maintain these? thanks
I would visit your local antiques shops or auction houses to see if they have any recommendations on someone local who could service your machine. Edison machines are fussy with many little adjustments and alignments to be made for proper playing. There are fewer and fewer old dues around who service these so good luck. You might have to drive a distance.
Fascinating, Scott! I’ve never seen one of these in operation. Thanks for sharing. It’s like an early version of the iPod, only better. I have to wonder though if Harry Suckle’s title might have been flyball Governor. Ha! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!
i wish you would do another video o. your amberola! and yes i’ve always had a problem with a loud or un even governor, if it’s an even hum, that’s fine, if it’s loud and un even, then i’ll be mad, ive restored quite a few gramophones and phonographs, and some have been absolutely destroyed, same with clocks typewriters lamps etc. i love your amberola, one of a my gramophones had an even worse finish situation on a victor i have, it was lumpy! and dripping, and very pigmented, so pigmented it was black. i’ve almost bought an amberola twice but sold before i could get it.
That's awesome. I have the full size floor model. I believe it's named the Amberola 70. Would you happen to know if the diamond stylus is still available somewhere?
No. Edison Amberola cylinder players do not have a speed adjustment that can be altered by the consumer. It is spinning at exactly the correct RPMs. Disc phonographs do have rpm speed adjustments because not all 78 RPM records spin at 78 some actually spin at 80. But the speed of this style Edison cylinder player is standard and the speed of the mandrel cannot be altered by the user.
@@oldcuriosityshop265 Found that out after getting mine, and I was surprised to learn about the lack of a speed knob like on my '06 Columbia BK Jewel. I only mentioned that after hearing a slower recording of the same record in the UCSB cylinder library. But then again, each model is going to be different, I suppose.
@@oldcuriosityshop265 i think very early amberola models had speed adjustment from what i’ve seen and heard about, but i could just be tired, it is midnight here after all lol
Hello Danielle sorry for this late response. No....didn't make the Brooklyn flea today but I'll be sure to announce when I plan to go. If you shop there on a regular basis I'd love for you to come by and say hello. I love meeting folks! Thanks for watching.
Hi Scott, I am in Ca but my daughter is in NYC and was headed there this past weekend. I told her to give you a shout out if she sees you. So next time
Adjust the speed! My grandma had a Victrola, and there was a knob to fine tune the speed. Most old records were 78s. I realize a cylinder recording may be different, but it's rotating too fast and it sounds awful.
Real wax cylinder records have much much less high frequencies and much pops and clicks, for example records of Dan W. Quinn, Edward Favor and so on. :-) You may compare, they are in the internet.
I wish we had some that were 200 and 300 years old. No the music isn’t good but the fact that it is a true time capsule where you could hear what people sounded like or thought from their own mouths and not the history books. So sad we have such a short recording history and that so many of the books have been destroyed by Caesar
My grandmother left me a phonograph just like yours. I saw an ad for one in an online catalog, and the catalog was dated 1921. So the date is somewhere around then. I have 3 or 4 cylinders, but have no idea where they’re packed away.
On a personal note, I used to sit on the banjoist's lap when I was around 3 years old. He was Fred Van Eps (1878-1960) and he used to come into my mother's coffee shop in Burbank. I wish I could say I remember him and his son Bobby, who also came in, but I was just a bit too young.
Just wonderful. How far we have come in 100 years. 🌹
Yes, just in time for my 1913 Victor Victrola purchase to arrive tomorrow! I already have an 1906 cylinder player. This example played was perhaps the most obnoxious he could find. They are usually better.
Museum quality. Thanks for the demonstration of Edison craftsmanship.
My pleasure.....thank you!
Not really museum quality. This one needs work.
@@toonman361 Nah nah, I agree it's museum quality.
Can't stop watching videos on phonographs. So fascinating!!
It is hard to believe that there is absolutely no electricity to it and it is all mechanical.
You give the energy, you get music... then you get energy...
dont worry we will return to developing stuff like this soon
Not really. Much like a steam train it takes coal and steam to power it where this machine takes gears, springs, a governor to run it. It makes sense. Anyone could really make a new one if they had the knowlege and know how.
Remember that Sounds are Mechanical waves. That's all...
Well, it does certainly sounds more crisp than the flat discs of the same era, but with half the time length. Love it 😍
Interesting video. I just acquired an oak Amberola 50 in showroom condition so I really enjoy learning about the history of these machines. Have fun restoring your treasure!
My grandmother left me a phonograph just like yours. I saw an ad for one in an online catalog, and the catalog was dated 1921. So the date is somewhere around then. I have 3 or 4 cylinders, but have no idea where they’re packed away.
Very interesting. I haven't seen one before. I saw the cylinder before but never the machine. Thanks !
So Glad I found you 😊. I've been watching your video's. Love the music❤️. I'm in Philly too.
My Aunt had one of these -- looked just like this -- and she let us play the old recordings (very carefully). It was fascinating to us kids.
They are wonderful Phonographs
Thanks for uploading it! Sounds so good, and so full of life, I'm amazed. :) Wonderful machine
WOw!!!! The howling and yelling is hilarious!!!!😂🤣🤣🤣 I wonder what alcoholic beverage was popular when this song was playing and popular😁😆?? Whisky maybe? It would have been a wild night if I put this song on...LOL Anyway, I was on Ancestry looking at old newspaper articles and saw a few in the paper from Dec 20, 1923 for sale... I wanted to know how a Phonograph worked so, here I am watching this great vid. Thank you for sharing and satisfying my curiosity!
That was awesome! Very nice I know this video is five years ago I sure like to see the finished cleaned up version!
Amazing times when you consider this was state of the art !! ♥️♥️
It just baffles me that this is how people used to listen to music, this is just so cool.
Thanks for sharing. I just got one as an heritage from my cousin. It looks exactly like yours ! It belonged to our grandparents. i had no idea how it works and thanks to you i will be able to look at it and try to understand …
Thank you so much, that was amazing, like being transported back in time.......incredible!!!
The Victrola actually wasn’t the first “ola”. The first company that used “ola” suffix was the Aeolian piano company for their pianola.
Indeed. In fact there were many companies who used the "ola" suffix. Amazing how popular it was.
@@oldcuriosityshop265 Then, there was the string instrument "viola" - a use of "ola" that predates Pianola, Victrola, and Amberola and a few smaller phonograph company versions of "ola" - by several hundred years. Payola? Yours trooly, Your Uncle Josh
@@oldcuriosityshop265 Crayola?
Hi Scott! I never heard of or seen a music player like that before! Very cool!
This is a beautiful machine. I really love Blue Amberol cylinders. I think it's my favorite recording medium of all time.
This was recorded when Frank Buckles joined the army at 17. He died in 2011 at the age of 110. He was the last surviving American World War 1 veteran. The majority of last surviving veterans were from the United Kingdom, such as Harry Patch (1898-2009) Henry Allingham (1896-2009) and Claude Choules (1901-2011).
It is so clear,I'm amazed.
My dad used to have a phonograph that belonged to his grandmother (my great-grandmother). Unfortunately, it was in very poor condition (the wood had rotted on it). But the mechanical part still worked, and it was able to play a cylinder. I faintly remember my dad and I listening to it when I was a little kid (this would've been in the early 90s). I don't know what's become of it since.
Love it, thanks Old Curiosity Shop!
Thank you for playing first i ever listing cylinder music.
What a treat! Thank you!
A lovely piece of mechanical sound reproduction
I like this music a lot, it's nice & loud
i ended up finding a newer version of these, built for 6 inch cylinders but run at the 4 minute speed, electric with pneumatic controls, it was a dictation machine and it was an absolute nightmare ti get everything working again, the governor gave me absolute hell to get it in a playable state and there was rust all over the feed screw so i had to drown it in oil while running it several times to clean up the threads
the positive to having a 6 inch dictation machine is that its unusually well suited to playing warped or swelled cylinders without doing anything to them since the seating on the mandrill has a lot more room for variance without affecting playback
This is a great record player
Sounds like an awesome koto jam.
It's not awkward, it's just big! Clean it by taking lacquer thinner,and fine steel wool. U will keep the old varnish/stain which will seem renewed.
1 song per cylinder damn son I'm spoiled.
They were geniuses to be able to do so much without electricity back than.
Great record!
I’ve heard that the correct way to hold those old wax cylinder records was/is to hold it on your pointer and middle fingers like this ✌️, because, like with vinyl, the music/data is etched directly into the surface of the record.
Unbelievable! Wow 😮
How wonderful.
Oh my God they really were living in old cartoons back then
Just picked up a 1915 Amberola 30 that's been in my family for a long time. It came with 15 cylinders and it sounds incredible, but it could use a good oiling and cleaning. Any idea where to get good advice on how to maintain these? thanks
I would visit your local antiques shops or auction houses to see if they have any recommendations on someone local who could service your machine. Edison machines are fussy with many little adjustments and alignments to be made for proper playing. There are fewer and fewer old dues around who service these so good luck. You might have to drive a distance.
An antique shop in PA had one just like this. Came with a separate cabinet with wax cylinders for $550. Should have picked it up
I have one and im seeling it
Fascinating, Scott! I’ve never seen one of these in operation. Thanks for sharing. It’s like an early version of the iPod, only better. I have to wonder though if Harry Suckle’s title might have been flyball Governor. Ha! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!
Introducing the next Flyball Governor elect, Mr. Harry Suckle!!!!!! BTW...did you see I sold the mug in less than 10 days!
Scott's Old Curiosity Shop, I did see that! I wonder if it went to a Suckle descendant.
Oh I hope so! Would Suckle descendants be called Sucklings? I better stop!!!!!!
Scott's Old Curiosity Shop, hahaha!
Sounds like it could be the Fred Van Epps trio. Recorded 1914. Ragtime was very popular back then.
There was also one Stereo sound phonograph invented at that time. Pl; show some thing about it.
A revolutionary invention at that time. Some years later, it's classified as toy rather than an entertaining device.
The first record player to have a a quelling
Increíble máquina...
While these are fascinating devices, the process for recording the music itself onto the cylinders seems far more impressive to me
i wish you would do another video o. your amberola! and yes i’ve always had a problem with a loud or un even governor, if it’s an even hum, that’s fine, if it’s loud and un even, then i’ll be mad, ive restored quite a few gramophones and phonographs, and some have been absolutely destroyed, same with clocks typewriters lamps etc. i love your amberola, one of a my gramophones had an even worse finish situation on a victor i have, it was lumpy! and dripping, and very pigmented, so pigmented it was black. i’ve almost bought an amberola twice but sold before i could get it.
Rewatching this the Edison amberola 50 is positively tiny next to the others.
Very interesting!
Btw The model 50 was 50 bucks. Like the model 30 was 30 bucks
I have an Amberola 30 in rough shape, but it plays nicely.
It starts in 7:32
That's awesome. I have the full size floor model. I believe it's named the Amberola 70.
Would you happen to know if the diamond stylus is still available somewhere?
Yes the reproducers can still be rebuilt.
7:21
That song is hilarious 😂😂
Assuming there is a speed adjuster knob, You've got the machine tuned ten times faster than what it should be.
No. Edison Amberola cylinder players do not have a speed adjustment that can be altered by the consumer. It is spinning at exactly the correct RPMs. Disc phonographs do have rpm speed adjustments because not all 78 RPM records spin at 78 some actually spin at 80. But the speed of this style Edison cylinder player is standard and the speed of the mandrel cannot be altered by the user.
@@oldcuriosityshop265 Found that out after getting mine, and I was surprised to learn about the lack of a speed knob like on my '06 Columbia BK Jewel. I only mentioned that after hearing a slower recording of the same record in the UCSB cylinder library. But then again, each model is going to be different, I suppose.
@@oldcuriosityshop265 i think very early amberola models had speed adjustment from what i’ve seen and heard about, but i could just be tired, it is midnight here after all lol
r u going to be at the Brooklyn flea tomorrow?
Hello Danielle sorry for this late response. No....didn't make the Brooklyn flea today but I'll be sure to announce when I plan to go. If you shop there on a regular basis I'd love for you to come by and say hello. I love meeting folks! Thanks for watching.
Hi Scott, I am in Ca but my daughter is in NYC and was headed there this past weekend. I told her to give you a shout out if she sees you. So next time
W.O.W.
The record is running a bit fast. It should be set to 160RPM.
Suks, I don't even hear any 808's.
808's???
@@oldcuriosityshop265 It doesn't go " Boom Boom, pirrrrtt". You can't put amplifier and subwoofers on it 😔.
Adjust the speed! My grandma had a Victrola, and there was a knob to fine tune the speed. Most old records were 78s. I realize a cylinder recording may be different, but it's rotating too fast and it sounds awful.
No you are wrong. I have been collecting for over 40 years and the cylinder is spinning at the correct revolutions per min.
👍👍
Why does it actually sound good... and to think that all of this is mechanical!??
Real wax cylinder records have much much less high frequencies and much pops and clicks, for example records of Dan W. Quinn, Edward Favor and so on. :-) You may compare, they are in the internet.
Sounds like a woman being tortured. Great soundtrack for a haunted house!
Odd comparison…?
7:22 - 9:45
When you say MAN DRILL you mean MANDREL.
I wish we had some that were 200 and 300 years old. No the music isn’t good but the fact that it is a true time capsule where you could hear what people sounded like or thought from their own mouths and not the history books. So sad we have such a short recording history and that so many of the books have been destroyed by Caesar
Getwithit
Now do a video of the diamond dics they were the best physical madia of the time
My grandmother left me a phonograph just like yours. I saw an ad for one in an online catalog, and the catalog was dated 1921. So the date is somewhere around then. I have 3 or 4 cylinders, but have no idea where they’re packed away.