That is an great suggestion and an interesting challenge, Ken... John Robles
Ken Danckaert <[email protected]> wrote: Thanks to all for the nice comments. We are all part of a wonderful hobby and our interests are as varied as the machines and music that we all enjoy. Thank goodness that we all enjoy different aspects of it because it will ensure that a broad range of items will be saved for the future. Myself, I enjoy the mechanics and the ingenuity of the early inventors. I also enjoy different music types from different times. Someone posted that you would not put this kind of effort into an Amberola 30. I don?t agree. If it was the first machine I ever bought or had some other sentimental value, I would go to extremes to make it right. I might not try to piece together a badly broken lid when there is a ready supply of other lids around but I would bring it back to life. You don?t have much choice on the rare machines. There are not many spare parts around for them. A good friend once told me that I can?t save every phonograph when he saw what I did to restore machines that came in for repair. I always assume that they are someone else?s treasure and have meaning for them. My time spent on them always far exceeds the monetary cost to them. I can?t save them all but I have saved a lot of them and, God willing, I?ll save a lot in the future. Between my efforts and similar efforts by a lot of other like you, these machines will out live us. Tim and George have provided a wonderful service to all of us with their books. Allen K. has made literature and patent information available. Others, too many to mention, have preserved other aspects of phonograph related information. There is a wealth of information out there that has not been made available to us as a whole. It would be great if there was a repository on line where we could place documents for others to read. One such document is one that I have from the Franklin Institute that certifies Berliner as the inventor of the Gramophone. It describes in detail how he made his records and the machines necessary to play them back. Many would enjoy reading something like this if there was a repository to get it from. Maybe one of you can create one. Any takers? Ken Danckaert _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
