-About Amberola 1-A, #2 -

"As the story goes," this Amberola 1-A was found in a shed after decades of neglect.  I wouldn't say that it was neglect, rather, it was forgotten.
How it got to the home it was found at remains a mystery, and will require further investigation.

My friend John Maeder discovered this machine through a friend.  I later obtained it from John to restore and research.

How it was discovered:  The following story is used with permission of John Maeder:

A friend of mine still lives in the house he grew up in located in an old
neighborhood in Bristol, Virginia. He inherited it from his parents, who in
turn, inherited it from his father's parents. A few years ago, after he
realized my interest in old phonographs he told me that there was a machine
in the shed out back of the house that had been there as long as he could
remember. I played the usual 20 Questions with him to try to get some idea
of what it might be, but his answers were rather contradictory; the machine
seemed to both have a horn and not have a horn -- be a cabinet model, but
maybe not. Two summers ago, my son was cutting this friend's lawn for him
and one day I had to go pick him up from there. In the back yard was an old
Model T shed that was now used for the lawn mower and paint storage, etc. I
looked inside and much to my surprise, there was a lyre front Amberola IA!

Sitting on top, was an earlier brass bell horn for a cylinder machine --
probably the one the Amberola
replaced and the reason for my friend's confusion over whether it had a
horn or not.

While my son finished the lawn, I looked the machine over as
best I could as it was half buried in a corner of the dim shed. It was
pretty rough. The finish had completely crystallized from heat/cold exposure
and gasoline fumes. When my friend came home, he offered to give me the
machine for free. I explained it was a scarce model and made him a fair
offer that he eventually accepted, but only at my continued insistence. We
dug the machine out and carried it into the light. Of course, the first
thing I wanted to do was examine the serial number so I opened the lid, but
there was no ID plate. Drats! I knew where the machine was counter-stamped,
so I scratched away the surface rust on the front mandrel carriage rail and
exposed the number '2' !!!! I checked the cabinet cross member -- '2' again!
I went back and looked where the ID plate would have been affixed and
realized that there were no brad
holes.

This machine never had a plate! Stamped into the cabinet where the
plate would have been was again '2'. It is very prototypical in many ways --
it has a Triumph motor for example.

---------------------------------------

"Before" pictures (Courtesy of John Maeder).


Note the crank escutcheon hole!



The reproducer is the ELUSIVE "fish-tail"
Edison Model-L, 4-minute.  This reproducer has a longer top tube which reaches into the horn elbow.  It will ONLY work on THIS machine.
















The gear covers are identical to those shown
on Edison conceptual pictures, with the raised edges, and spring-loaded ball oilers on the tops!





















This early horn does not have metal support strips on either side, only on the top and bottom.  The horn was held up by its own form, and over time the material (a stiffened fabric composite) has weakened, and will require re-setting and color touchup.



















The serial number 2 is stamped in several places on the cabinet.  Shown is the position where we would normally find the Edison brass ID plate containing the same information.  NOTE:  there are no tack holes or shadows in the finish, because this machine was NOT issued a serial number tag!


















And lastly, the motor.  Look closely!  That is a Triton motor, and NOT the 2-spring unit which was put into the production models!