Several of my Blue Amberol cylinders don seem to fit on my phonograph. Is there something wrong with my phonograph?
No, the problem is not your machine. The inner core of Blue Amberol cylinders is plaster, which, over the years has absorbed moisture and swelled. This causes two problems. The first is that the outer celluloid splits. The second is that the cylinder no longer slides far enough onto the tapered mandrel. To solve the second problem, you can purchase a specially designed tapered reamer which returns the inner core to it’s proper diameter. There is no real satisfactory solution to the first problem, however, but drilling a small round hole at the base of the split will generally prevent it from splitting any further there. Keeping cylinders in a cool dry location is the best preventative maintenance.
