Cylinders sound impressive if played on restored machines and are so interesting that I wish I could refer readers to a definitive book on the subject. Early cylinders--let's say from 1895 to 1903--generally sound better than early discs of comparable condition. Although variations in Edison cylinder machines are described in George Frow's The Edison Cylinder Phonographs, 1877-1929, no one book is devoted to the various brands of cylinders (Duane D. Deakins' now-rare CYLINDER RECORDS was published in 1956--in Bombay, India, of all places!). Allen Koenigsberg compiled a superb list of Edison items sold from 1889 to 1912, and that book (titled Edison Cylinder Records: 1889-1912) is a good start for any collector. I have also learned much from Ron Dethlefson's Blue Amberol books--one has been reprinted, the other remains out of print. But the Edison company (at the begining of this century, it was the National Phonograph Company, later called Thomas A. Edison, Inc) was not the only company to make cylinders. But Edison started it all and dominated the cylinder market, so I will refer to Edison cylinders often.
Movie aficionados may recall Spencer Tracy portraying America's greatest inventor in the 1940 film Edison the Man. Edison experienced more setbacks than the film shows, but the movie realistically depicts the first cylinder machine as crude and unreliable. Early machines consisted of a mouthpiece and a mandrel or drum around which one wrapped a sheet of tin-foil. The mouthpiece used for recording also served as a playback speaker. A tinfoil recording is a fragile thing: I'm not sure if it can be played more than once. Certainly it cannot be removed from the machine without damage.
The earliest commercial cylinders are so scarce that nobody reading this is likely to find many. They include white wax and brown wax cylinders, made from ceresin, stearic acid, sodium and aluminum stearate.
Some collectors today shave brown wax cylinders (their moldy ones, anyway) and then make fresh recordings of their own voices. Decades ago people could buy recording kits--a recorder, shaver, recording blanks--and then make home recordings, which means the cylinder phonograph was the cassette machine of its day. Early machines have handles so people could carry them around and record anywhere. I hope someone discovers from a New Orleans home a cylinder from circa 1910 featuring early jazz but I also realize authenticating any such discovery would be difficult.
Anything from the brown wax era is collectible. Since I'm on the topic of collectible cylinders, I should say a little about Bettini cylinders, Pink Lamberts, Bacigalupi products, and large-diameter items.
The large items are Edison Concert and Columbia Grand cylinders, which are an imposing five inches in diameter. Even if lucky enough to find one, I would not be able to play it since the machines are too rare. Also unusual are Columbia 20th Century cylinders, which are six inches in length instead of the normal four.
Bettinis are legendary. From around 1898 to 1901, Lieutenant Gianni Bettini (1860-1938) worked at reproducing with fullness and brilliance some important operatic voices of the time, and even some Bettinis are five inches in diameter. Watch out for fakes!
Bright pink cylinders were made by Thomas Lambert (1862-1928), whose control over Celluloid patents vexed Thomas Edison. Lambert himself used the term "cellulose." These cylinders are incredibly lightweight! Bacigalupi products are named after San Francisco businessman Peter Bacigalupi, who ran a shop at 941 Market and elsewhere in the city. He recorded some turn-of-the-century artists who never recorded on the East Coast, making these recordings very special. Also, a young Billy Murray made his first recordings for Bacigalupi. Not one Murray item from the late 1890s is known to have survived.
From January 1902 until 1912--that is, between the manufacture of the rare brown wax cylinders and common blue ones--the Edison Company employed a "Gold Moulded" process resulting in Standard Records. Don't melt them down. You won't find gold! Master metal molds, then spelt "moulds," were formed from the original recording, and melted wax was fed into the working mold whose grooving was in negative.
We call these "two-minute" cylinders though performances may not last exactly two minutes. The proper speed is 160 revolutions per minute, with exceptions including slow-playing cylinders that teach foreign languages or stenography--boring! Writer Allen Koenigsberg estimates 8000 different titles were issued on black wax, with total production running into the tens of millions. If not so fragile and prone to fungus, they would be more common today.
Columbia cylinders are two-minute black wax records, as are many Indestructibles, a brand easily identified by metal rings on the inside. When Edison introduced in October 1908 the four-minute wax Amberol (named for the smooth, regal-sounding "amber"), others followed with longer-playing products. They include Albany's Indestructible Company, which made Oxford cylinders for Sears, and Cleveland's U-S Phonograph Company, which made U-S Everlasting and Lakeside cylinders.
When I began collecting, I had trouble distinguishing an Edison from a Columbia or Indestructible. Among other things, I now look for an engraved Edison signature on a rim, and most Edisons have spiraling "ribs" on the inside. When handling a cylinder, insert fingers into the cylinder's bore. Don't touch wax grooves since that promotes fungus growth. But feel free to touch Celluloid surfaces.
Edison four-minute wax Amberols have the notation "4M" to indicate they are four-minute products. They played longer because twice as many grooves were squeezed onto the surface, 200 per inch instead of 100. These longer-playing cylinders required an adjustment to an old machine and a thinner sapphire stylus.
Edison's wax Amberols wore out too quickly and were replaced in 1912 by a better product--Blue Amberols, issued from November 1912 until mid-1929. Edison at last paid for rights to the Celluloid molding process, soon making bright azure blue Amberols made of Celluloid backed with a plaster of Paris core. Celluloid resists both fungus and wear, but a drawback today is that plaster of Paris sometimes swells--or, as I've been told by Allen Koenigsberg, the Celluloid shrinks (Edison's Blue Amberol cylinders are rugged, having the least Celluloid problems of any manufacturer, but if you put a Blue Amberol cylinder in a freezer, the Celluloid will shrink and split). Anyway, around 1912 machine owners again had to upgrade equipment, this time needing a heavier diamond-stylus reproducer for the best sound.
Non-collectors assume that if a cylinder fits on a mandrel, the machine can play it, but you need to learn which machines and reproducers play which cylinders. Crudely put, early machines play early cylinders, later machines play later cylinders, and early machines can play later cylinders if adjustments have been made to the machine. A two-minute Standard Record plays at a different feed rate than the four-minute Amberols and needs a wider sapphire stylus. The heavy diamond-stylus reproducer designed for Blue Amberols delivers a great sound--only when Blue Amberols are played (except the Edison company began to "dub" the sound onto cylinders around 1915--I'll soon cover that). That diamond will destroy earlier wax cylinders, including the Blue Amberol's immediate predecessor, the wax Amberol.
Blue Amberols were a genuine improvement over wax Amberols, but from January 1915 onwards, the Edison Company compromised quality by issuing "dubbed" cylinders, forsaking a more direct recording process. This saved money since the company no longer paid artists double fees for recording in both cylinder and disc mediums. Dubbing was done from a disc to the master cylinder, making sound on most Blue Amberols second generation. Collectors use the term "live" for Blue Amberols released from November 1912 to December 1914.
Edison and Columbia dominated the early cylinder industry in America. The latter left the cylinder market in 1909, by which time the public preferred discs, though Columbia distributed Indestructible cylinders until 1912. Indestructibles stayed available into the 1920s, and they are worth collecting since the material issued by the company was recorded specially for that company, and some interesting performances can be found Sadly, a factory fire on October 11, 1922 put an end to this brand (one wonders if the company could have stayed afloat for much longer anyway). Don't date Indestructibles by the "July 29, '02" notation on rims. It is merely a patents date.
The Edison Company made money on cylinders into the 1920s though from 1914 onwards it also pushed thick Diamond Discs, which had superior sound. If someone tells you that Thomas Edison was a bad businessman if only because he continued to issue cylinders into the 1920s, don't believe it! He still made money on them since they were cheap to produce. The last commercial Blue Amberols were issued in 1929, by which time there was little demand. Some special educational Blue Amberols were still pressed--into the 1960s, I'm told.
One needs the right reproducer to play a cylinder. I should mention some sapphire reproducers since the alphabet of them bewilders beginners. Letters for sapphire reproducers, from B to S, have no connection with letters on machines. The Model C is commonly used for two-minute cylinders--it won't play Amberols. The Model H is often used for wax Amberols--it won't play two-minute records and is too light for Blue Amberols. Various Models--K, O, Q, R, S--let one select either a two- or four-minute stylus. The L and M are for some Amberola machines. The R and S, which have larger diaphragms, sound better than the K, all three of which fit machines with small carrier arms. The Model O fits only machines with large carrier arms.
Whereas not all 78s have value (junk 78s are just that--junk), every clean cylinder has value since somebody will value it if only as a curiosity piece, especially in its original box with lid. Dealers can ask a few bucks even for dreary Blue Amberols featuring waltzes, flute solos, hymns, Hawaiian tunes, whistling solos, and bird imitations (these six categories are the worst ones, from an average collector's point of view).
An original container adds value. Edison products came in round cardboard with the inventor's face prominently displayed. Tiny lyric sheets or slips were provided for Blue Amberols from December 1912 until September 1914 (but mice have stolen many of the these, taking them to line their nests). Over the decades, many cylinders have been placed in the wrong boxes. Matching a specific cylinder with the right kind of box is an art, requiring knowledge of container changes.
Specially colored Amberols called Royal Purple Amberol Records were issued from 1918 to 1921 to replace an earlier Concert series. These feature mostly classical selections.
Collectors prize the last Edison cylinders, seeking items in the 5,000 series since the company issued upbeat, even "hot," performances from 1924 to 1929. There are some jazz titles and fewer "dogs" in this series--fewer parlor songs, waltzes, bird imitations.
I would be happy to answer any questions that readers email to me. If I am unable to answer your question, I can turn to my friend Ron Dethlefson. I call him "Mr. Blue Amberol."
