The stiff neck

In 1982, while working with the Mapleson cylinders at the Rodgers and Hammerstein archives in New York, Tom Owen designed what he came to call the Owl Cylinder Playback Device. It uses a rigidly moumted Stanton 500 AL cartridge, with its heavy cantilever working as a damping agent for out of round cylinders.

It was designed to fit into the reproducer ring of the Edison model O phonographs. Pressure against the cylinder could be regulated by the screw on top of the device. Some Owls may still be available through Tracer Technologies

It was popular with collectors and institutions, according to Rob Lomas, who provided these pictures.

Christer Hamp, 2003