1927 to 1932 Kit Set Melody Makers

Cossor themselves seem to be very poor at documenting early sets some of which don't appear even in their own documentation. None of these sets have been restored by me so they are all pretty much as I got them. As far as I know all of these kit sets are represented here.

 

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1927 Melody Maker

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BK229

1929 Melody Maker

BK4

1930 Melody Maker

In 1927 Cossor keen to promote the use of their valves created a pamphlet for a 3 valve battery radio with a list of parts that would be stocked by most Radio suppliers the pamphlet cost 6d. It included the instructions to wind your own coil. This set has no Cossor model number.

The set is 3 triodes (missing on this one until I restore it. They would have originally been Cossor Stentor valves

 

These early sets are relatively common and obviously so successful Cossor went on to put a kit of parts together and offer the complete kit. The Cossor Valve Manual 1937-8 refers to this set as the 1927 Melody Maker. They are easily spotted by the large horizontal coil (6” by 3”) between the two tuning capacitors on the front panel.

These early sets were obviously very popular so in 1928 Cossor produced a fully knock down kit with a purpose designed metal cabinet BK229 Taking a guess at the model numbers meaning Battery Kit Version 2 model year 1929 model years are always are always the following year, everyone want to buy next years model its just a marketing ploy.

 

These 1928 Melody makers are often found in poor condition and with one set of coils missing since you need to plug in a set of coils to match the waveband you wish to cover Long Wave or Short Wave (now referred to as Medium Wave).

The next set in the series is the series and its 2 sister sets are not very common in fact they seem to have been something of a marketing disaster probably because as a kit set they were very expensive. Cossor Model Number BK4 (there does not seem to be reference to a BK3)

 

The set has a very large steel cabinet with a striking Escutcheon with only a single tuning control. This was achieved by using a factory assembled Tuning assembly Referred to as a “Synchronised Control Unit” This contains all the coils and capacitors as well as band switching and is factory aligned. Unlike the other sets the 3 sets using this cabinet could not “flat pack”

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MK530

All Electric Melody Maker

The second in this series of sets Cossor Model number MK530 MK standing for Mains Kit.

Shown here without its case.

This set was also marketed 1929 to 1930 and uses the same pre aligned tuning unit as the BK4 but in addition has a factory assembled mains power supply module. Cossor obviously didn't want to kill off the few customers they still had. From the outside it looked just the same as the BK4 above.

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BK531

Empire Melody Maker

The next set seems to be out of sequence but by model number it is next BK531 the “Empire” Melody Maker, Not to be confused with the similar looking 234. This set adopted the classic two wooden end cheeks wood lift up lid metal panels front and rear that most associate with the early Cossor Melody Maker Kits, Its back to two knob tuning and waveband switching is by switches on the top of the coils. This set seems to have recaptured Cossors lost market since there are still quite a few of these around.

 

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BK631

4 Valve Screen Grid Melody Maker

Next is a very rare set the BK631 Marketed as the 4 Valve Screen Grid Melody Maker. This is basically a BK4 with an additional valve added. I suspect this was a way to clear the shelves of the parts left unsold from the BK4 and MK530 and was on sale at the same time as the Empire Melody maker. It has the addition of a gain control (filament control on the SG valve) otherwise externally it looks just like a BK4. In the instruction sheet for the BK631 it boasts that more than 250,000 Melody Makers are in daily use. I don't currently have one of these in my collection.

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Empire Melody Maker Model 234

Empire Melody Maker Model 235


Now we come to the last of the series when more conventional Cossor numbering system is adopted, more on Cossor numbering conventions later. The 234 is the most common of these sets still found today.

 

These two sets both originally for sale in 1931 The 234 is a battery set Battery the 235 is mains.

They would have considered as 1932 model year. The 234 and the 235. The battery model 234 is probably the most common of all of the lift up lid style Melody Makers. This set uses a steel base board for the first time and a push pull waveband selection that was to be used on many other sets over the next couple of years. Considering the lift up lid the mains power supply on the 235 all looks a bit lethal. There are holes in the lid to screw it down since no access inside the cabinet is needed for normal operation, however I don't expect many were ever screwed down.