1920s Kennedy radio in gramophone style cabinet
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Location: Noosa, QLD
Member since 31 December 2010
Member #: 799
Postcount: 302
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Location: Sydney, NSW
Member since 28 January 2011
Member #: 823
Postcount: 6844
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My gut feel is that's been customised by somebody to fit a gramophone cabinet.
Neat job, though.
Where is this radio now? Do you own it, if so where did you find it?
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Location: Noosa, QLD
Member since 31 December 2010
Member #: 799
Postcount: 302
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Yes it is mine I'm nearly finished the cabinet
I got it at one of our club auctions none of the guys seem to know much about it or were it came from.
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Location: Brisbane, QLD
Member since 5 January 2009
Member #: 410
Postcount: 61
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My gut feeling is the same as GTC's, but it's never easy to tell without examining the cabinet in person.
If there's a patched hole in the side of the cabinet where a crank handle once went through, then you can be pretty sure it started life as an acoustic machine.
Electric turntable motors were something of a rarity here in Australia during the mid to late 20's, so if there is no redundant hole, there's a strong possibility the radio was originally fitted to the cabinet. Maybe a cabinetmaker adapted an existing stock cabinet for a special private order, or for a small music or furniture retailer?
I can't say I've seen an acoustic machine in the same cabinet before, and it doesn't quite fit the wind-up gramophone cabinet profile either, as the timber plith (?) above the grille (or doors) are seldom any wider than about 3 1/2", but on your cabinet it appears to be much wider. Perhaps this was to offer some protection for the radio chassis when the grille is removed, whereas normally the internal horn would prevent direct access to the motor through the grille opening.
The small storage area below the grille is also fairly unusual for an acoustic gramophone cabinet with such a large grille/horn opening, although I have seen similar on a couple American Sonora & (I think) Cheney machines.
If this cabinet was originally meant to house the radio, I wonder if the space was used to hold batteries, and there appears to be plenty of room to sit an ordinary horn speaker behind the grille.
I assume "Kennedy" is on the radio and not on the cabinet itself?
Also, do you know what timber/finish your cabinet is?
If it was made overseas, I would expect the cabinet to be either mahogany or US/UK oak.
Over here, although we did use UK/US oak for cabinets, mahogany was rarely used.
Queensland maple was usually substituted for mahogany by our manufacturers in the 20's and stained the appropriate colour, and occasionally Tasmanian oak was used instead of imported oak.
NZ kauri pine was commonly used here as well, and stained a dark walnut or cedar colour to disguise the grain.
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