Maker SHED

Please note: This product has been discontinued by the maker. We're looking into a replacement. If you'd like to be notified if we find one, please click here to be e-mailed if/when we get more in or find a substitute.
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Create an actual working gramophone recorder/player. Record onto many different types of materials, like old unwanted CDs (yes, I'm talking about your Wham collection) or any hard, smooth surface material you can cut a groove in. Check out the English PDF instructions in the How-To tab on this page (book and kit are in Japanese but beautifully done) but the detailed illustrations are more than enough to easily put this kit together. MAKE is proud to be the exclusive distributor in North America for these brilliant kits from Gakken.

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• Experiment Highlights

In the 20th century, the dominant medium for recording and playing sound was the 'disk record'. It was invented in 1887 by the great German-American scientist Emile Berliner. After distinguishing himself as an engineer at the Bell Telephone Company, Berliner was to become Thomas Edison's greatest rival in creating a commercially successful 'talking machine'. It was Berliner's gramophone that was to triumph, largely because it used a flat disk that was much cheaper to mass-produce. That 'disk record' went on to become the leading way of playing music until the arrival of the CD. This gramophone kit applies the principles of Berliner's 'disk record' to replicate sound. With it, you can enjoy experimenting with different materials to create Emile Berliner your 'disk record'. But which material will sound best...?