THIS ITEM IS SOLD
VICTOR I
By 1916, the Victor I had gone through numerous changes. The cabinet was greatly enlarged, the horn was greatly enlarged. The turntable was expanded to 10" in diameter. The cabinet expanded to veritably the size of a Victor II or III (instruments further up Victor's roster). The newly expanded cabinetry allowed for the use of a bigger horn, one as big as a II or III would require. And so, as it marked 10 years in production, the Victor I morphed into a much more lavish instrument.
Students of the subject will notice the shape of the crank. The crank for this version of the Victor I differed from the early models -- it is in fact the same type of crank used on an internal-horn Victrola. Victor had adopted the cost-cutting measure of sharing components between its external and internal horn models. Further evidence of this policy is seen in the motor -- it's a conventional "Victrola" motor, which was shared by the Victor I and the Victrola "IV." We stress the rarity of this instrument -- it is very seldom we find external horn Victors of this very late "Victrola motor" period.
This motor is the type also found in the Victrola 50, a sturdy machine is a wood carrying case. Note the cleanliness of the mechanism.
Typical of the later period, the ID plate is aluminum. External horn Victors were designated by "V." Whereas Victrolas were stamped "VV."
The horn bracket, with original decoration. The arrangement of the tone arm was borrowed from the fittings used on Victrolas, with internal "stops" to keep the arm from swinging too far left or right. The tone arm itself incorporates the later style U-joint, a rarity on external horn machines. The elbow "slips in" to the top of the bracket, a later improvement. Note also that the bayonet fitting between the horn and the elbow is located on the TOP of the elbow. During the 'teens, Victor moved the location of this connection from the bottom of the elbow to the top. Naturally, we rebuilt and adjusted the soundbox to play sweetly and clearly. ALL SOUNDBOXES (needleheads) are NOT created equal--- the junk you buy on eBay has not been correctly calibrated. There's an art to making these components produce bold, bright, crisp music and our experienced technicians know it inside and out!
Our wonderfully pretty and pretty wonderful Victor I will delight your eyes and ears!
Price: $1895.00 plus s/h (NY State residents must add sales tax if applicable).
Contact: phonotim@gmail.com
Telephone: 585-582-1586
FAX: 585-582-2624
US Post: PHONOPHAN
PO Box 747
Henrietta, NY 14467 USA
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