From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Tue Feb 27 08:23:02 2007
Subject:Re: "Tall Boy" decorator on eBay?

Hi All,

That is a Leslie 30A Vibratone, unless by chance it's a Leslie 30C, the church version with 2x the openings in the rotors. (It's hard to tell from the picture, but unlikely to be the latter.) It was made in the '40s, and is the ancestor of the 122 and it's brethren.

It has a few major differences from the later products, though:

- The sound from the horn comes out the top, not the sides.
- The horn rotor is made of paper mache, unless it's been replaced with a Bakelite version.
- Both speakers are the electromagnetic type. (Yes, the tweeter, too.)
- The amp is 30W and uses 6L6's.
- THERE IS NO REMOTE SPEED CONTROL. One must reach over and throw two switches on the side of the cabinet to start the rotors for Tremolo, or to stop them.

Based in the serial number, it was most likely made in 1941 or 1942. It is probably rather fragile at this point, and its value is more historical than practical to the average member of this list. Shipping it anywhere further than San Jose (CA) is going to cost an arm and a leg: If you've never seen a Leslie "tall boy" before, let me tell you that they are pretty big. Restoring it could cost hundreds more, if the speakers need re-coning or the motors need rebuilding.

That said, it IS a piece of history, and it's my opinion that scraping it for parts, or re-making it to modern standards, would be a real travesty. First of all, the parts wouldn't retrofit into the average Leslie. But beyond that, stripping that Leslie for parts would be like finding a pristine Ford Model A and turning it into a parts car. Rebuilding it to modern standards would be like turning that Model A in to a fuel dragster. There were only a few hundred of the Vibratones made, and the likelihood of more of them in this condition showing up is pretty slim. I hope that the winning bidder treats this item with the respect it deserves. If I didn't live 3,000 miles away from Oakland, I'd be making restoration plans right now.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com

At 09:03 AM 2/27/2007, Tom Sellers wrote:
>The amp, motors and drivers would each be worth more than $20......
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Barry
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 7:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [CWSG] "Tall Boy" decorator on eBay?
>
> I think this was one of the very earliest Leslie speaker designs.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jake92028
> To: CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 8:34 AM
> Subject: [CWSG] "Tall Boy" decorator on eBay?
>
> What the heck is this?
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yv66sx
>
> Wj
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]