HARDWOOD RECORD 



Minor Musical Instruments, 



The pedant will perhaps tell us that the 

 phonograph or ' ' talking machine ' ' is not a 

 musical instrument, because it merely re- 

 produces. But that problem is not of 

 much interest to the lumberman. As to 

 the talking machine from a lumber standpoint, 

 it consists, to the outward eye, of the horn 

 and case. The latter is usually of solid oak, 

 occasionally of birch or mahogany. The cab- 

 inets of the large-sized instruments, such as 

 the Victor Victrola. are often of the finest 



closed, a beautiful four-sided figure that is 

 almost a perfect rectangle. The upper doors, 

 when opened, reveal a compartment shaped 

 like a truncated pyramid, which takes the 

 place of the horn. This, it may be somewhat 

 surprising to some of our readers to learn, 

 is of mahogany, which wood has been found 

 to make a perfect horn, free from harshness, 

 and presenting a good appearance. Mahog- 

 any horns are even supplied for talking ma- 

 chines of the ordinary pattern. A very hand- 



woods, either veneered or solid, about three 

 and a half feet high, and are frequently 

 costly affairs. A recent production in the 

 Victrola line, for example, is in the Louis XV 

 style, of solid Laguna mahogany, with em 

 bellishments in gold. The two pairs of doors 

 which are a feature of this type of machine 

 are Vpaneled, that is, with the figure run- 



ning obliquely. In the lower pair each door 

 has a single veneer, ^'ith the figure running 

 upward from the middle, but in the upper 

 pair each door has two veneers, meeting at 

 the knob and forming, uhon ttm .li.i.rx nn- 



uninitiated call it, is not a very complex af- 

 fair as regards cabinet work. In the finest 

 varieties, which are expensive, a piano sound- 

 board, made of spruce, is employed. The 

 cabinets, when American-made, are generally 

 of mahogany, solid or veneered. These are 

 for the disc machines, which are the favor- 

 ites on this side of the water. The cylinder 

 boxes are imported from Germany and Swit- 

 zerland, and the cabinets come with them. 

 They are of hardwood, generally stained to 



some one in quartered golden oak has also represent mahogany, except the interior of 



been placed on the market recently. These 

 horns, exclusive of the ones for the Victrola, 

 are of the usual conical shape, and the process 

 of bending the wood must be very interest- 

 ing, as also that of joining the pieces, which 

 is a matter of great importance, as joints 

 are the bane of the horn maker's existence. 

 The musical box. or "music box," as the 



the lid, which is made to resemble maple. 

 The wooden frame surrounding the glass 

 panels inside is sometimes of birdseye maple. 

 The largest sized cabinets, which consist not 

 only of the container for the mechanism but 

 also of the disc receptacle, exhibit the usual 

 characteristics of high-grade cabinet work. 

 Drums are of three kinds — snare, bass and 



