New here, with a Brunswick 117

Hi. Nice place you have here. Just wondering if anyone has any information concerning the Brunswick Model 117 Ultona. Thanks!

I found this short description online -- http://www.mulhollandpress.com/Bruns117.htm

There's an online Ultona owner's manual available at nipperhead.com, but the site is currently undergoing a make-over, and this is not accessible at this time.

"Ultona" refers to Brunswick's unique reproducer/tone arm, which was designed to play the three record formats in use at the time -- Edison Diamond Discs (vertical cut groove requiring a diamond point stylus), Pathe discs (vertical cut groove requiring a sapphire ball shaped stylus), and conventional lateral cut "78s" (played with steel needles, etc., such as those produced by Victor, Columbia, etc.)

>> If you like, I can move this post-string to the "Gramophones/Phonographs" section of this forum, so more collectors familiar with these types of machines will see it. <<

That would be great. Thanks!

Hi,

I recently sold a Brunswick Mod. 117 that I had for over 5 years. Joe seemed to cover the Ultona tone arm quite well, and if you need any help beyond that, feel free to ask me. I even have some original Brunswick ads from various US publications that are up for grabs.

Bill

After a little playing around with the new nipperhead site's web address, I was able to call up the Ultona manual from the old site:

http://www.nipperhead.com/old/brult.htm (Just click on the thumbnail images to make them full size for viewing or printing.)

Hopefully, the new site will have all the jumps working correctly before long.

by Maroongem on Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:01 am ... I recently sold a Brunswick Mod. 117 that I had for over 5 years.

Hi Bill:

How would you rate the Brunswick, in terms of sound quality, compared to similar size models by Victor, Columbia, etc. The only example I've listened to, unfortunately, had it's original frozen gaskets intact, so the tone was overwhelmingly shrill. Looking at the horn's design, I'd imagine it would be quite mellow if properly restored, and perhaps a bit more natural sounding than the (pre-1925) Victrolas. (I also find it interesting that the smaller Exponential Horn Panatrope cabinet models used a very similar, though slightly elongated version of the earlier style Brunswick horn.)

Hi Joe,

In my opinion, I felt that the rebuilt soundbox coupled with the sprucewood horn was more than a match for a comparable Victor with a no. 2 soundbox on a non-orthophonic machine. There was more surface to the diaphragm, so better response. The Edison side was adequate, but I feel that Edison's rice paper diaphragm gave a better performance than the mica. The Pathe style stylus was probably superior to the smaller type diaphragms found on machines that had the ability to play vertical records of the era. All is objective of course, and may vary between listeners.

Bill