When I was quite a young guy we had a spring-wound grammaphone that played cylinder records . Then it would not play and my father gave it to a neighbor who assured him that he could repair it. He later admitted he couldn't and returned it minus the diamond stylus! He swore that the diamond was missing when he got it but...! Then the spring broke. Along with the grammaphone were two large cardboard boxes filled with cylinder records, most of them Harry Lauder songs. My aunt later threw out both the grammaphone and the records as garbage!
As for the old 78s, we later had a spring-wound victrola and many 78s, most of them country songs (notably Wilf Carter) but also others of The Carter Family, Doc and Chickie Williams, et al. Ah, fond memories! Great thread, Jerry!