Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 11 (1927-08)

4*72 The Phonograph Monthly Review of the tone arm. It seems that the company making the machine doesn’t know enough to correct these faults and so have a wonderful phonograph. I’d like to suggest that they send over to England for your technical expert, Captain Barnett, the real pioneer in such points of alignment, etc., and still the leading authority, and have him spend a couple of weeks at their factory correcting their instruments. This is just a suggestion, but I hope it may have some effect, for it is extremely unfortunate that this leading company should not have an instrument that would be up to every standard of correctness and merit. Philadelphia, Penna. Philadelphia Dealer. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Noticing your mention of the new Columbia sound box in the “Preliminary Sound Box Survey” last month, I’d like to testify to my own satisfaction with this fine reproducer. My instrument is a wonderful old-style Victrola which neither my family nor I wanted to lose, although we recognized that a new sound box was needed for the powerful electric records of today. At Henderson’s, on Boylston Street, Mr. Scott, the Manager, kindly showed me a number of new reproducers and it was with his always reliable advice that I finally chose the Columbia box, which is made with a special fitting for old Victor instruments. (And by the way, it’s also a pleasure to testify to the fact that there’s one dealer’s place where really expert advice and service can always be had!) The new sound box has proved to be all and more it is claimed to be, and careful trial has proven that it improves my phonograph 100%; it’s wonderfully light in weight, so doesn’t wear the records; it can handle both the most power- ful electric and the faintest acoustic record in a way I had never imagined was possible; and for tone, volume, and clearness it is unexcelled by anything I have yet heard. I have followed the magazine from the very beginning and take pleasure in adding my praise of it to the equally well deserved praise of this new sound box and of an efficient and intelligent dealer. Dorchester, Mass. Chr. Sandberg. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I want to thank you for the opening article on soundboxes, and I am glad to see that, following this series, other prac- tical features of the phonograph, such as accessories, will be discussed. I am sure it will be found that these discussions will not help subscribers, but eventually will stimulate manu- facturers, who, for many years should have put into research a small fraction of the money expended on publicity, and finally were pushed into it by radio. Washington, D. C. Frederic H. Powell “The Sacrifices I Have Made to Obtain Good Records ” T HE first act of Mr. Fisher on resuming his duties as Chairman of the Contest Commit- tee on his return from Europe was to extend the closing date of the "Sacrifices I Have Made to Obtain Good Records” Prize Contest to next De- cember, which as he correctly points out will en- able overseas readers to get their entries in on time and also to give more time to those who may be away on vacations during the summer to write their letters. Mr. Fisher writes: "The closing date for entries on "The Sacrifices I Have Made to Obtain Good Records” will be postponed to December 15th, 1927, allowing more time for those who wish to enter, and especially to those enthusiasts living outside of the United ■ ' ! ' ! B BBBtt * States, whose magazines and letters are often- times several weeks in the mails. "It has been noticed that many enthusiasts are rather shy about describing their own per- sonal sacrifices, but we should remind them that initials or a pseudonym only will be signed to the letters in print, and that the true story of the sacrifices they have made (and there can be no doubt but that every reader of this magazine has sacrificed much at one time or another to get the music he longed for) will be the finest possible encouragement to new enthusiasts and also a convincing proof of the value fine recorded music really has lor those who are true "enthusiasts.” "A number of letters follow, all of them de- scribing sacrifices which many of us know to have been made in other cases. Extra work, slow and tedious economies, the actual going without sufficient food, all to get disks of rubber and clay! Rubber and clay? Not a bit of it! The music magically engraved on those disks, the love one has for the works, the efforts of the artists and recorders, the price—not alone in dollars—paid lor these disks make them precious beyond all computation. “What sacrifices have you made to build up your library? The story of your efforts will be of interest to everyone who owns a phonograph and loves good music. "Let us hear from all of you!” Fraternally yours, Vories Fisher, Chairman Contest Committee 4928 Blackstone Avenue, Chicago, 111. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: Every tried and true phonograph enthusiast will remember when the big batch of Columbia Masterworks was issued a few years ago just at the Christmas season. I guess there were a good many sacrifices made then, but my own would probably be hard to beat. The minute the new sets were announced I knew that I couldn’t rest easy until 1 had the whole release, yet all my available Christmas money had already been turned over to my wife for the purchase of presents and it was impossible for me to persuade her that the new records were more important than any presents. I went to my employer and got him to allow me one week of my two weeks’ summer vacation then and .there and then I worked the whole week in the post office to help handle the Christmas rush of letters. With the rush and the overtime I was about all in afterwards, but 1 not only got all the new masterworks but filled up several old gaps in my library. And when my neighbors were pitying me the next summer for working instead of vacationing, I merely turned on the phono- graph every evening and told them to keep their pity for someone who didn’t have the music I had at my beck and call! Veteran Enthusiast. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review: I suppose many record buyers have really sacrificed more than I ever did to get records, but I wonder if they tortured themselves quite as much as I had to do to keep getting records while I was putting myself through a conservatory. I had a tuition scholarship, but my living expenses took al- most every cent I was able to earn by playing in restaurants and the like. (I needed so much time for practice that it allowed me very little for outside work.) Records were a luxury for some, but they were a necessity for me and it was only by going on one meal a day that I was able to make even the smallest additions to my tiny but cherished library. A cup of coffee in the morning, dinner in the late afternoon when I couldn’t go any longer without food ,and then if I were lucky I might pick up something where I was playing in the evening. Two winters of that left me pretty lean, but also with a little record library that was worth a good deal