Greg: I was waiting for you to address tracking angle. I can't put my finger on it just now, but I recall seeing some mighty goofy tracking angles on some record players. There can be little doubt that the designers of a lot of phonographs had little or no idea what tracking angle is, or if so, what to do about it. A couple of years ago, someone got hold of some Victor field service bulletins, and they told of a product campaign to correct tracking angles, and they gave serial numbers of the Electrolas that needed correction. My Victor 9-18 was in one of those groups. I looked at it, and it appears to be OK now, so possibly, it was retrofitted. One can just imagine what those 5 pound magnetic pickup heads would do to a record!
Oh, now one comes up. The RCA Ejector changer. As far as I know, they were all the same, and the tracking error on my RCA 381 is pretty crumby. Unless they changed the pickup arm length, they were bad from beginning to end. > [Original Message] > From: Greg Bogantz <[email protected]> > To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]> > Date: 7/14/2009 3:25:29 PM > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Capehart > > Jim, you might get more response on your Capehart questions by posting > to the Electrola list. Electrola is dedicated to owners of just the kind of > early electric phonographs that you own: > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electrola/ > > But I can answer some of your questions. Yes, the early magnetic > pickups do exhibit considerable "needle talk" compared with modern pickups. > But if your pickup has not been rebuilt, it CERTAINLY needs to be. If it is > not rebuilt, the rubber suspension parts have hardened and the lack of > compliance with ruin your records in just one play! > > Yes, you need to find something other than common steel needles for use > with record changers. The Victor Tungstone needles (and similar tungsten > wire needles from other manufacturers) were the best choice for changers of > this vintage. The electric record players of the mid 1930s up to WWII were > notorious for inducing massive record wear, mostly due to the poor > characteristics of the electric pickups and the improper needles used with > them. In spite of the preponderance of the sapphire so-called "permanent" > needles often found with these machines, these needles are the WRONG choice. > These early pickups are much too low compliance and track at too high a > force to use a hard jewel-tipped needle correctly. I recommend using > tunsten wire needles for ALL of these record players if you want to preserve > your records. Unfortunately, nobody makes these needles any longer, so you > are faced with the choice of using steel needles and changing them with ever > one or two plays (which negates the advantages of owning a record changer), > buying tungsten wire needles when you can find them, or making your own > needles. Since I am a record changer collector and have a number of these > old electric players, I make my own tungsten needles. I'm not geared up to > make them in quantity, so it's a tedious process. But they are worth the > effort if you really want to use these players. > > The circuit diagrams for nearly every early consumer electronic product > and quite a lot of mechanical repair information concerning the Capehart > (and other early) record changers can be found in the Rider's Perpetual > Troubleshooting (PPT) Manuals. These manuals were the mainstay of radio > repair shops during this period up to WWII when that information business > was taken over by Howard W. Sams. (Sams is the place to look for info on > most postwar electronics, but they didn't publish anything on prewar > models.) You can find the individual PPT manuals offered on eBay (there > were 23 HUGE volumes in total), but the simplest and cheapest source of this > information is to buy the scanned and digitized PPT manual collections > complete on CD or DVD. These are also offered by several sellers on eBay > and can usually be had for $10 or less for the ENTIRE collection. Another > good source of early record changer info is the Rider's book titled > "Automatic Record Changers and Recorders". This was a single volume > published in 1941. These also appear often on eBay. > > Greg Bogantz > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 1:11 PM > Subject: [Phono-L] Capehart > > > > After many years, my 1937 Capehart 404G (serial number 10627E) is now > > functioning & sounds great & is fun to watch as it changes > > records. I have noticed quite a bit of "needle noise" in the magnetic > > pickup when the volume is turned down even though the pickup > > has been restored. Is this endemic to a properly performing Capehart as > > I suspect because all the doors to the record playing > > compartment are sealed with rubber gaskets, presumable to contain > > mechanical noise or does the pickup need further work? Also, > > where can one obtain needles for playing large numbers of 78s without > > being changed in the Capehart or Orthophonic Victrola 1050? > > I have Mr. Baumbach's excellent book on the Capeharts without which the > > repairman who usually works on 1950s & 1960s hifi gear > > would have been completely at sea in working on the Capehart changer but > > would like to obtain copies of the owner's manual & > > schematics of the tuner & amplifiers. > > > > Jim Cartwright > > > > Immortal Performances > > > > > > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > > Phono-L mailing list > > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
