Customer Reviews

The Compleat Talking Machine

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4 star:		(2)
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This book was recommended to me by a friend who has a number of old phonographs as a good guide to understanding the problems that might plague old players, both cylinder and disk players, and how to address them.

There is a nice background about old phonographs, their invention and evolution, and most of the book is dedicated to problems and repair. There are photos and text to provide guidance to approaching repairs - many of which are not so complicated and can be accomplished by the average collector.

It's a good guide to learning how the mechanisms work, the interrelatedness of the pars, and smart ways to fix, find and/or replace parts, misalignment, and other common problems.

It's a useful reference for restoration and repair of these intersting old machines, from the mechanical aspects to the restoration and repair of the cabinet finish.

This is really a very thorough book for such a wide subject. Obviously you can't describe all the repairs possible on all the hundreds of different machines out there, but he comes close. I was able to get my Columbia graphanola working. I bought the machine for $80. at a junk shop. Love it. A machine 100 years old that still works. How many things today that you buy will still be working 100 years from now.

This book is really good at what it sets out to cover which are basic hints and suggestion for how to fix up your older acoustic wind up phonographs. Plenty of helpful pictures and advice. Have applied much from this book to the really world. Good overview of machines from various makes such as Edison, Victor, Columbia etc. Though was a very good value. As many of us know the only way to hear the really old 78's is on a wind up phonograph. Digital transfers of old 78 music to CD and iPod just doesn't sound right to me so I thank Mr. Reiss for contributing his knowledge to us who like to keep the older wind up machines in working order so we can hear music as it was intended to be originally.

This is a great book to keep handy if you're starting to collect phonographs. Lots of great info on different machines and tips on care and restoration.