Bettini

 
Hearing a Bettini machine play - well, it may seem somewhat of a let-down if one has read and heard the hype surrounding Bettini. However, the problem is that we are listening with our modern ears, and it is difficult thus to understand the major improvements that Bettini contributed in the closing years of the 19th century, as the recorded sound industry was getting under way. In the 1890's Bettini equipment & the quality of his recordings were head & shoulders above any of his competitors. One should compare normal phonograph reproduction of the time, with the reproduction of sound using Bettini equipment.

We also have Bettini to thank for preserving the voices of many top singers of the day, who, because of the quality of his recordings, could persuade these top singers to record for him.

Gianni Bettini first patented his "spider" type reproducer in 1889. In 1889 the phonograph industry was still in its infancy. Edison had just brought his "Perfected" phonograph onto the market, as a response to improvements from the Graphophone company. In 1889, very few people were thinking of the phonograph as a machine for domestic use.

Bettini made of recordings of Pope Leo XIII in 1903, Mark Twain and President Benjamin Harrison. Bettini cylinders cost $6 when Edison cylinders cost under a dollar. He sold to a specific discerning clientele. The center of his improvements in recorded sound was the Micro-reproducer. This was a multi-legged stylus he called a "spider" That he claimed distributed the sound more effectively over the diaphragm and hence to the ear when listening, or the cylinder when recording.

Initially while he lived in New York he only made reproducers that were used an accessory to other manufacturer's machines. Around 1900 he began to Manufacture a line of Phonographs in France, and later even some disc machines.

Just before World War I Bettini brought many of his rare recordings & matrixes to France. It is believed that during WW1 these originaly were all destroyed. Bettini accessories, machines and cylinders were sold in small numbers.

Bettini Reproducers

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Bettini Model 2

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Bettini Model 4

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Bettini Model 6

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Bettini Model 8

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The Bettini Model 8 was a machine that was possible the cheapest of the Bettini range. (Perhaps the No.3 was cheaper?) From its design, it was very much aligned with the Graphophone Eagle (B) architecture that was common at the time.

 

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