Playing Pathé records on HMV

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kirtley2012
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Playing Pathé records on HMV

Post by kirtley2012 »

I'm currently in France and happened upon a small stack of a few Pathé records, I'm pretty intrigued to hear what's on them, I know that with some rewiring (which I'll have to look up) that a stereo turntable cartridge can play vertical, I have one on a turntable I made wired to mono for 78s but may be able to adapt it for vertical cut, but I would like to be able to play it on a gramophone.
I can't afford to buy a complete Pathé machine, as much as I would like to, but are there any good adaptors for playing vertical cut records on a hmv, alternatively how much are Pathé reproducers and styli for which I can make an adaptor, or is it possible to make an adaptor for a regular soundbox, turned 90 degrees, tilted back and fitted with a Pathé stylus?

Cheers
Last edited by kirtley2012 on Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

CarlosV
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Re: Playing Pathé records on HMV

Post by CarlosV »

There is an adapter made by Pathé and sold in England, that fits tothe HMV tonearm. It is relatively common, it shows up on Ebay frequently. On turning a regular soundbox, it can be done, many gramophones sold in France have soundboxes that swivel between parallel and perpendicular to the record, allowing then to play both types of reccord by fitting the proper needle. There is one now for sale on the French ebay https://www.ebay.fr/itm/LOT-PIECES-POUR ... SwXclbWJNP, too expensive unless you will need all the other parts, but it serves as example.
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epigramophone
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Re: Playing Pathé records on HMV

Post by epigramophone »

Pathé reproducers require a certain amount of weight to avoid skating problems, especially with centre start discs. The smaller the diameter of the disc, the more likely it is to skate.
I have a c1911 Pathé Reflex to play my discs on, but a machine whose tonearm has a weight adjuster, such as the one pictured below on my Micro-Perophone Chromogram, is probably the next best thing :
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