Not your ordinary Philco 48-1201 "Bing Crosby" R/P combo
 

Before I begin, this record player is in pieces and has been buried in a box for years. I'm doing a major shop cleaning and thought I'd pull this out. Someone that I knew bought this at a flea market and I traded him an '80's "all-in-one" stereo for it.

I'm sure many recognize this as being the Philco "Bing Crosby" phono/radio combination. I believe there was a 46-1201 and a 48-1201 produced for the consumer market. These had an AM radio and a 78 rpm phono.

Well, this one is a little different. This one was made to play talking books for the blind and runs at 33 and 78 RPM. That round hole that can be seen on the side of the cabinet exposes a wheel that can be turned by hand to place the tonearm anywhere on the record. There is another lever located on the rear of the machine for raising the tonearm without disturbing the needle position on the record. The brass lever in the last picture is the speed shifter. There is also a headphone jack on the rear. The data tag on the rear reads "talking book reproducer, model AC-47, American Foundation for the Blind".

I don't know if these were custom built by Philco or if the AFB bought a bunch of stock models and modified them for talking book use.

I've talked to one person who actually remembers these. He claims that there were not many made and he was surprised that I found one.

This thing has had many hack repairs and I hope to someday get it going again.

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Great find! I've always had a soft spot for these guys...perhaps because they almost always are in such sad shape. Wonder how your grille cloth managed to stay so nice? I think I have some extra knobs and intact glass dial if you should need those.

Thanks for the offer. I have some knobs for this but may need a better dial glass. And, you're right about most of these being in sad shape when found today. There is one sitting in a local flea market right now that don't look much better than this one. It's been there for years with a big several hundred $ price tag. I also have the '46 model regular 78 version, also in sad shape. Maybe I'll get it fixed as well. I believe Philco made a console with the slide in record slot, didn't they?

I wouldn't be surprised to see they put one of these into a console, but the only other use of this slot load mechanism that I know of was in a stand alone unit that lacked the 46-1201's radio. Looked like a suitcase.

You can find the service bulletins for the 46-1201 and 48-1201 on my Philco page: http://www.audiophool.cjb.net/Philco.html

I thought talking books were always recorded at 16 2/3 RPM. All four-speed record players/changers (and Zenith's Cobra-Matic changer with its variable speed control, from about 15 to 85 RPM) had 16 RPM just for that purpose. I was not aware that talking books were ever recorded at any other speed than 16 RPM. Hmmm. :scratch2:

The glass dial scale on your unit looks good to me; I only noticed a great deal of dust on it. Doesn't look to me like it needs replacing yet, unless it is cracked or the painted-on scales are flaking off. I've never seen the paint flake on one of these old glass scales; I have seen old sets on eBay with glass dials that still had both scales on them, perfectly readable and usable.

Even before the days of the LP, the 33 RPM standard was apparently used for some 30s-era talking books. I learned that in a thread here some time ago.

Gov't funded talking book service for the blind began in 1934 with the first talking books recorded at 33 1/3 rpm. The machines to play these books were loaned to the borrower for as long as they were involved in the gov't talking book program. Sometime during the late '50's, two speed machines came out that could play 16 2/3 rpm and 33 1/3 rpm. I'm aware that consumer grade phonographs were available prior to the late '50's that could play 16 rpm records. I'm only speaking of the gov't issued machines that were loaned to the blind and visually impaired. In the mid '60's, three speed machines were introduced that could play 8 1/3 rpm, 16 2/3 rpm, and 33 1/3 rpm. By the early '70's, the 8 1/3 rpm record became the standard for all gov't funded talking books. The 8 1/3 rpm record stayed around until the end of 2000 when the last magazines were recorded on 9" flexible soundsheets. The earlier 16 rpm and some of the 8 rpm books were pressed on 10" rigid disc with a normal spindle hole. The 33's were on 12" disc similar to a regular LP. The reason the gov't went with the 8 rpm disc was to achieve more playing time on a record and to prevent the records from being played on standard consumer phonographs should one of these records fall into the hands of someone not enrolled in the gov't talking book program.

Yes, they did. I have one that I bought at an auction in Marion, AR for $10 a couple years ago. Beautiful cabinet and it's in good working order as well. I don't recall the model number, but when I get it pulledout from the wall in the shop I'll post it.

Interesting. I remember in the 80's-90's one of my grandmother's neighbors received talking books from the gov't on cassette, along with a machine that was cased in beige plastic - my hazy memory recalls it looking like an oversized Fisher-Price kid's deck. I wonder if the cassettes were recorded at a non-standard speed?

Did the tape player look like this? Those Gov't talking book cassettes were recorded at 15/16 IPS on 4 tracks. A normal talking book cassette is recorded at 1 7/8 IPS on 2 tracks. Up to six hours of reading can be recorded on a C90 cassette using the half speed, four track method. The cassettes will soon be a memory as the Gov't is switching to digital cartridges to record books. BTW, this tape player was built by Telex Communications.

The next picture is of one of the last talking book record players from the '90's. It plays 8, 16, and 33 rpm records and has a variable pitch control. The tonearm is unusual, as it does not lift. Instead, the head of the arm is pressed down, retracting the needle into the arm. Then, the arm is swung towards the edge of the record and released when it touches the edge of the record. There is a automatic cutoff at the end of the record. I like the features of this machine; but, it's one of the worst sounding models that they had. This was also built by Telex. There was a version of this machine that had a built in auto reverse tape player; but, I've never had one.

Next, we have a '60's vacuum tube talking book player that also plays 8, 16, and 33 rpm. It's built like a tank and sounds very good. It was made by Waters-Conley.

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Yep, that's the cassette deck!

My uncle used to get Analog magazine on the flexible discs back in the 80's and I would borrow the player and listen to them. I was sci-fi crazy.:banana:

A word of warning. Don't ever try to sell one of those gov't issued talking book players (no matter the age) on ebay! I had one from 1955 that only played 33's (obsolete for decades). I bought it on ebay and restored it to operating condition, which means I had $ in it! I listed it on ebay and the first thing I knew, I got a message from the Gov't talking book division "office of investigations" informing me that the machine was still Gov't property and could not legally be sold and that it should have already been returned when the original borrower no longer needed it. They then said that I needed to call my local state talking book library so they could send me a prepaid shipping container for it's return! I sent a message to the "big boys" informing them that I was a user of talking books and that I was not aware that record players this old needed to be returned and that I would call my state library for advice on what to do with the machine. When I contacted my state library, they were in shock that the "main office" would even want such an old obsolete machine back. The guy here told me the only way he'd request that I send it back would be if the "home office" leaned on him. That was two years ago and I never heard a word about it. I just never tried to sell anymore of these on ebay, LOL! I might could understand them wanting the cassette players back, since they still use them; but, I don't know why they would want a record player back that has been obsolete for 45+ years. I guess it's like the old saying, "we're government and we can do what we want".

Ironic, isn't it, how they can sell off millions of dollars worth of surplus stuff at heavily-discounted prices, enough that one guy even put together a working military helicoptor from legally-acquired scrap parts, yet they want this cheap, old record-player back! I imagine they have every LEGAL right, but I'm not sure where financial and common sense went. Got lost in the bureaucracy, perhaps?

Anyway, back on topic: That Bing Crosby player in the OP looks neat, but in need of serious restoration. Just wondering if any progress has been made since the post was made? Would love to see one of those, fully restored!