While we were at Ed’s our mutual friend Bryan Wright called and asked who I had to help me move it. It stands as tall as an upright piano and weighs only slightly less. It is a massive-and massively heavy-piece of furniture. What I had forgotten was how huge the C-19 is.

On June 28th my wife and I drove the U-Haul van to Ed’s with a blanket, an appliance dolly, and eight large plastic crates. I had seen it on a previous visit to his home, and its pristine golden oak finish was a true joy to behold. A 1919 Model C-19, the vaunted “Laboratory Model,” he had taken exquisite care of it through the years.

Unlike my childhood machine, Ed’s Edison was in nearly perfect original condition. My friend Ed Clute, a wizard of a stride piano player and a fellow accumulator of records, called to inquire if I might like to buy his own Edison Diamond Disc player. TST Publisher Andy Senior with his new Edison.įast forward to this year. A few years ago I tried to hire a refinisher who gave me a steep estimate (which I accepted), and he never returned to do the job. It has since been in and out of our house, and is back in the garage. It still played perfectly, of course.Īfter my mother died, I had to clean out her house, and I spun a record on the old machine-with requisite lump in my throat-before removing it to my garage. I got it down to something resembling its wood finish, but it looked worse than before. Since I never have been able to leave bad enough alone, I eventually attempted to remove the layers of paint.

Only when I acquired a portable Victrola VV-50 was I diverted from this wonderful contraption, since I could play all my other records on the new acquisition. The diamond needle stayed true and I enjoyed the limited Edison repertoire endlessly.

My mother allowed this monstrosity (which I loved) to be delivered into our basement, where it and dozens of its records managed to endure dampness and yearly flooding. I discovered immediately that it would not play standard shellac records but that I had to content myself with Edison’s proprietary Diamond Discs, vertically recorded and pressed on a quarter-inch sawdust sandwich coated with a thin lamination of shellac. It seemed a ghastly thing to do to a piece of furniture, but the old machine played loud and clear. In the fashion of the time, its dark finish had been coated with a thick green antiquing, itself painted over a coat of pink.

How to play edison diamond disc