Memories of Grandfather Gramophones

The photo of this old "grandfather" gramophone was used as a "memory aid" at the "Singapore Memory Project" workshop conducted by Kevin Shepherdson, writer of "The Great Genealogical Search" at National Library Building on 5 June, 2010.

This "grandfather" gramophone was placed on the table at the workshop, wrapped in a big piece of cloth and left to the end of the workshop as the main attraction. Many of the curious young participants of the "1980s and later" discussion groups were surprised in exclamation of "Wow!". This is a rare museum antique not easily found anywhere else as a collector's item. A record player also called acoustic gramophone, a device for reproducing the sounds stored on a record. This is an obsolete mechanical sound device that uses a clockwork motor and acoustic horn.

The demonstration of this over 60-years-old sound gadget was in working condition and played on a 78" vinyl record. The song was familiar and heard many years ago, but I couldn't remember the song title.

More information about "Gramphone Records" from Wikipedia "here"

The portable gramophone record player.

In the 1960s when I grew up in Bukit Ho Swee, the photo above was the portable version of the "Grandfather" gramophone. The box was in black, not blue as shown above. This "new toy" in the neighbourhood was given an used set in working condition to me by my elder brother.

I spent hours to experiment with the portable gramophone almost every day after returning home from school. It was a novelty which my childhood buddies had never seen it before. The gramophone actually played on the Chinese song records, with five or six records which came along with the player.

Strange. I did not have to operate the player with written instruction manual. I did then to use by trial and error. There were a few moving mechanical parts after my elder brother taught me to make the gramophone run. No batteries or electricity to be powered. I just had to wind it up and let it go...and listen to the songs to enjoy.

Learn how to do just about everything at eHow .

As a personal user experience, I had to rewind my memories now to share here on this incidental blog.

The gramophone was quite heavy to an 11-year old boy then. I was cautioned to handle it with care or not to damage the "new toy" as the portable gramophone was not cheap.


I treasured it with pleasure and guarded it with precious gramophone, especially the "diamond needle" which was sensitive and delicate.



Why not sit back, relax, revive memories and watch a video clip of a "Portable Gramophone" by an enthusiastic, young Japanese friend on YouTube. Thanks to "transformingArt" to share with us worth a thousand words. Enjoy!

The lever was winded carefully and there was no indicator to display whether winding was too tight, too loose or just right I use the handle to wind. There were only two simple switch items to select the "On/Stop" lever control; and play the appropriate speed for 33" or 78" record.

The learning exploration of the device was really fun. I discovered that if the gramophone is run on a slow gear without a complete winding, the sound would be like the voice of the "chipmunk" or the singer was going to die with slow breath. The needle and tiny speaker would be placed back to the holder. Switch off the record and wind it up completely again.

Hey Presto! The singer came alive after winding it up.


There were times when I had purposely loosen the record without rewinding, and our friends would then roared with laughter...request repeatedly for encore. Those were the childhood days of fun and laughters we enjoyed "nong nong ago".

Sadly, the portable gramophone was destroyed together with our home during the Bukit Ho Swee fire in 1961. Whatever that is left for me are the nostalgic memories...

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Blog update on 7 Jun, 2010

Portable gramophone. Photo Credit: Philip Chew

I am pleased to receive the following email from my blogger friend Philip Chew of his "NOSTALGIA - My Golden Years" blogsite:

Hi James

I read your blog on the above and I thought you might want to add another old portable grandmophone picture in the attached file. We had a portable grandmophone in 1960s. Practically every week my dad would bring home a LP. Thanks for the memory.

Regards
Philip

Thank you for sharing, Philip. Much obliged.