My Pot Belly Gramophone

Nipper, a mixed breed fox terrier owned by his master, English illustrator Francis Barraud was immortalized in a painting listening to the horn of a phonograph. In 1899, Emile Berliner visited the London offices of the Berliner Garmophone Company and took a liking to the painting, purchased and copyrighted it which later came to be a registered trademark as His Master's Voice. This became the world's most recognizable trademark.

This was one of the records that came with the gramophone when I bought it. It was produced by the Gramophone Company with Nipper listening to his master's voice.

The gramophone floor cabinet has a mahogany finish, a top lid protecting the mechanism, a pair of upper doors which serve as the volume controller, and the lower storage area for records.



The gramophone brand is an Excelsior which is British-made.

Although the velvet pad of the turntable is frayed along the edges and the various parts are showing their age, this grand gramophone still plays beautifully and brings the past to the present.

The gramophone is played by cranking the handle clockwise to wind up the mainspring inside the cabinet. I avoid getting overly zealous about overwinding it so I usually stop when I feel a resistance. Underwinding the handle will make the record slow down and stop in the middle of a song.

The part of this gramophone that holds the needle is called the soundbox. This is the circular part with the Excelsior logo on it. A thumbscrew grips the needle in place at an angle rather than vertically. The stylus (needle) rides the undulating grooves of the record as it spins, transferring the vibrations from the stylus into the soundbox diaphragm. The diaphragm vibrates and disturbs the air molecules creating energy which sends sound waves along the hollow tonearm to the horn inside the cabinet.


The soundbox rotates freely on the tonearm so that the the needle swivels upwards when not in use.
A brush is attached to the tone arm of the gramaphone to keep the grooves of the record dust-free as it plays on the turntable. Sometimes, the needle gets stuck in a damaged groove and replays the same notes over and over again as the old saying goes "Like an old broken record."

When the needle or stylus rides the grooves of the record as it spins, it moves from side to side or bobs up and down. This causes the diaphragm in the soundbox to vibrate and move in and out to create energy. The disturbed air molecules will create energy in the form of sound waves routed through the tonearm to the horn inside the cabinet.

The volume of the gramophone is controlled by partially opening or closing the upper pair of doors at varying degrees. When the doors are wide open, the tone will be at its highest volume; when closed, the volume is reduced to the minimum, and when not in used, the interior is fully protected.

The storage for the needles or hoppers are located at the back of the gramaphone cabinet. The needles are made of soft steel and are made to wear away instead of ruining the grooves of the 78 rpm disks. This is the reason why a needle should be replaced after one side of the record is played.


Photo Credit: gramophone needle tins

Needles are graded loud, medium, soft and came in little metal boxes of 100. The tin boxes for the needles have become collectables.

Photo Credit:cazjane97------------Photo Credit:sallycat101

This simple speed regulator controls how fast or slow the turntable will spin. If turned to slow, the tone will lower and slower and drop several octaves; if turned to fast, the tone or voice will go from a baritone to a falsetto.

The gramophone turntable has a manual brake to start or stop the turntable from spinning. This is the lever on the left side of the turntable which is usually turned off as the handcrank of the gramophone is being wound to tighten the mainspring inside the cabinet.

The sound of the music is etched or carved in the grooves of the flat disk or record. The grooves are either lateral cut where the needle moves from side to side along the grooves, or vertical cut where the needle bounces up and down.


This is a macro shot of the wide grooves on a 78 rpm record. Notice that the grooves are sightly wavy so the needles can move from side to side as it reads the sound tracks.

Photo Credit:Jason P-B

Read more: History of the 78 RPM Recordings

The brush attached to the soundbox serves the purpose of keeping the grooves clean as the record is spinning. The needle is made of soft steel which would wear away, leaving small particles along the grooves. The continuous use of a blunt needle on a good record will eventually erode the grooves and ruin a favorite song. This is the reason why that a needle should not be reused after one play.

Climb up on my knee sonny boy
Though you're only three sonny boy
You've no way of knowing,
there's no way of showing
What you mean to me sonny boy.

When there are grey skies
I don't mind the grey skies.
You make them blue, Sonny Boy.
Friends may forsake me,
let 'em all forsake me.
I still have you, Sonny boy

You're sent from heaven
and I know your worth.
You made a heaven for me here on the earth.
When I'm old and grey, dear,
promise you won't stray, dear,
for I love you so, Sonny Boy.

When there are grey skies
I don't, I don't mind grey skies.
You make them blue, Sonny Boy.
Friends may forsake me,
let 'em all, let 'em all forsake me.
I still have you, Sonny boy

You're sent from heaven
and I know your worth.
You made a heaven for me here on earth.
And the angels grew lonely
Took you because they were lonely
I'm lonely too Sonny Boy.

Although the word "gramophone" is no longer used, the term Grammy is still used in the record industry. The Grammy Award is the shortened word from Gramophone and is the highest and most coveted honor that pays homage to artistic achievement and technical and overall excellence, album sales and chart position.