Columbia Grafonola Model 100 

"Mignonette"

This machine cost $100 when new, hence it's model number and was made about 1915. According to the "Columbia Disk Phonograph Book" it was available in mahogany, satin walnut or quartered oak of all finishes. Burled walnut was available for $10 more after September 1916. Drop tray record cradles were provided to hold 60 records. For $10 extra, Individual Record Injectors (for 45 records) could be substituted for the trays. 

I saw it in an antique store in Plainfield Indiana about two months ago and fell in love at first sight. It was big beautiful and ornate with the additional attractions of having a broken winding spring and seized pot metal tone arm. Another repair project! So Cool!! I waited for the price to fall, which it must under those conditions. Soon, 18 July 2007 to be exact, I managed to get the right price. I brought it home. 

I sent off for a spring and managed to get the old pot metal arm to loosen enough to finally remove and sand by putting it in the fridge so that the metal would cool and contract. I gently pried the arm from the pivot and went to work. It works smoothly now. On July 24 the spring arrived and I managed to wrestle it in the next day. I will never do that again. I will farm that job out. After hearing it run for the first time on it's own power I discovered the friction governor was out of whack and I tweaked it until it now runs acceptably. 

How does it sound? Just like any mica diaphragm phonograph sounds. Absolutely all midrange and no treble or bass at all, like a really cheap hand held radio. Most cheap phones have ring tones with more range. But who cares, this is something I enjoy for the looks alone and the glorious feeling of being in a past that was never mine, and which if I had lived back then, I would have probably hated for it's limitations. But I try to never let reality get in my way with these.

There is strangely almost no info at all on the web or any library I can find on the Columbia Grafonola. This is unaccountable since at one time it was the number two phonograph company in the world. If anyone knows anything more about this model, please let me know.

Here are some pictures.

Here it is just sitting around.

Lid open, ready to play. The front louvers are the volume control. When open, the sound is loudest.

When closed the sound is weakest.

Here is the record storage area.

The following is a cool 1914 ad I recently acquired from eBay. It was too large to scan in one piece, so I had to scan it one part at a time and weld it together.