I have a lot of hobbies and change them frequently.  Without the next project to work on I get restless.

For many years I have been building a small collection of AM radios.  They are from an era of tubes and a radio was a piece of furniture.  Some really fine cabinetry went into them and I guess that's what draws me to them.  After all, what can you listen to on AM radio?

A couple of months ago it dawned on me that a Victrola or other wind up record player would be a great addition to my collection.  After all, they have the fine cabinetry but with the addition of a wind up record player.

There are many makers.  They started out recording not on discs, but on cylinders.  There are two ways to record music on them, kind of like AM and FM.  The Edison system cuts the information DOWN into the disc, making hills and dales or high spots and low spots.  The Victrola system cuts a wavy grove so the information is inscribed side to side.  You can tell which system you have by how the sound box (needle holder) is oriented.  If it's flat side toward the recording, you have an Edison system and if it's standing on its side, you have a Victrola.

I purchased a Columbia Granofola from a guy in the East Bay.  He was very nice.  The player came with boxes and boxes of records.  Most of them are seriously water damaged but for the most part the actual disks are good.





The physics of it are quite simple.  The clockwork spring drives the turntable.  The grooves drive the needle which through the magnifying action of a lever, beats on a mica disk, making sound waves.  The waves are amplified by the simple horn hidden in the cabinet under the motor.  So basically the tensioned spring energy is turned into sound waves.  It gets it's information from the record but the sound comes from your energy of turning the crank.

Pretty neat I think.  The sound is quite loud.  Much louder than I thought it would be.  It's actually difficult to speak over while standing next to it.
Here is some music that came with the device.
Click the play button.

Download | Duration: 00:03:55