And I know a fellow in Georgia who does a great job restoring the pickups. He's done a Vic and a Columbia for me.
Ronald L'Herault Lab Supervisor, Biomaterials Division B.U. School of Dental Medicine 801 Albany Street S203 Roxbury, MA 02119 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 10:10 AM To: Antique Phonograph List Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Columbia-Kolster 950 - Radio Phonograph Combination Hi I have a 950 that is complete for sale. And Roman in CT has one he got from me. -Barry ----- Reply message ----- From: "Arvin Casas" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Subject: [Phono-L] Columbia-Kolster 950 - Radio Phonograph Combination Date: Mon, Apr 8, 2013 8:46 am Hi All, I recently picked up a Columbia-Kolster 950, a "Radio - Phonograph Combination" piece embedded inside a secretary (i.e., a desk - not a human!). It seems to have been bouncing about for some time in my region (New England) before I rescued it from an oddly forgetful seller's disgruntled girlfriend (a very unnecessarily long story). The desk as furniture is rather nice - it's a traditional secretary with a built in hutch above. The secret of this secretary is the main drawer which actually holds the phonograph. From what I can gather the industrial looking GE motor is intact, as well as all the wires - involving the motor and the electric pickup (with its volume knob in place). I only brought it home Saturday evening and have yet to truly get inside things. Sadly the phonograph is all that remains of this unit. All during the courtship process of buying, the seller insisted that "everything was intact" including the amplifier and speaker, yet admitted that "I don't know anything about these things." As you would predict with such kinds of hyperbolic, bi-polar sales pitches, this was not the case. I noticed quite loudly upon inspecting the piece in the freezer-cold room of the storage facility, that these two key components were nowhere to be found. The disgruntled girlfriend, who had been roused from sleep to meet us after the appointment had been forgotten by the seller, was happy to let us cart it away for a fair, adjusted sum. If I can get the phonograph working again on its own, I may try connecting the pickup wires to an amplifier. Ideally, but perhaps with less probability of success, I would love to restore this to something close to the original (if not the original itself). Does anyone here know what once lived north of the phonograph in these late 1920's hybrids ? All I have is an empty cupboard, so to speak, so I don't even have a visual reference of what was once there. Is it possible to approximate the original via Kolster radio components of the same specifications? If so, what might those specs be? Even if it sits idle as a desk I'm happy to have it. I feel like it's a nice "bridge" piece to have in my Columbia collection, between the worlds of mechanical and electric. Thanks, Arvin _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
