Gramophone bought on Ebay

Last year I bought a HMV picnic gramophone and started collecting old 78rpm records to play on it. So while I was mooching around on Ebay to see if there were any records I fancied buying, I happened across a Linguaphone branded, suitcase style picnic gramophone. It seemed a bargain at only £39.00 including postage, it come with some French language records in a case, some unidentified “instruments” and apparently some “old style...metal head phones”.

Not being an expert in these things I realised it will be a challenge to restore it to its former glory if there is anything wrong with it other than cosmetic damage. But I had been looking for a 10inch record box and I rather fancied restoring the device and using it along side my HMV 102. I could see from the picture that the gramophone wanted a good cleaning and some work was needed on the case.

I assumed the headphones didn't belong to the gramophone and had probably just been left in the case at some time.

When the parcel arrived a few days later I opened it immediately.  The rexine covering on the outside of the gramophone case and the record case is generally ok with the exception of one side of the gramophone where it is in pretty bad shape. The bottom of the record case just needs sticking down again.

The soundbox and crank had got lost down the horn but were easily recovered and each put back in their place. The inside of the lid on the same side as the damage on the outside has obviously been affected by damp at some time. This explained the poor state of the rexine on that side. On the same side inside the lid and on the motor board there appears to be a white mould caused by the damp but the machine seems dry now.

The damp (and the age of the machine) has unfortunately caused all the screws holding the motorboard in place to become rusty and the same with all the metal parts on the outside of the case. Fortunatly the chrome plating on the tone arm is in good condition and the felt on the turntable appears to be original and is in excellent condition too!

The Soundbox appeared to be in reasonably good condition. It’s a bit grubby and the screw heads have a little rust but nothing too bad. It no longer fits the tone arm very tightly as the rubber has shrunk but this shouldn’t be too difficult to fix.

I tried the gramophone properly for the first time with a record I know well and the playback is not good. The speed is not constant and there is an unpleasant crackling. As I said I am not an expert but I assume these problems can be fixed as follows:
1. The motor needs a good clean and regreasing. The original lubricants have probably hardened over the past 70 years
2. The diaphragm in the soundbox may have got damaged or it’s rubber seal that I can see through the perforated front has shrunk and hardened therefore affecting the sound quality. One of these or both may need replacing.

I also discovered that the headphones do belong to the gramophone! First thought was that they were part of a stethoscope or some similar thing. But when the soundbox is removed the end of the headphones fit on the tone arm and the soundbox fits on the other side of this. The rubber tubing has perished and is in poor shape. This should be easy to refurbish. A quick search on Ebay brings up many people selling suitable rubber tubing.

{pic:headphones}

Along with the headphones came two tins of linguaphone needles a part full packet of HMV needles and some other bits that seem to fit on the side somehow. As this is a Linguaphone branded gramophone I am using this as a clue that it is some sort of device to control the tone arm so one can repeat the section of the language course you are learning. I have no idea how it works...yet...