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.
