Graham, I am sure you will have fun with this motor. I use the Simpsons motors when DJing. No need to worry about adjusting the speed and they are very reliable.
I like the idea of a lamp in circuit.
The motor was reviewed by The Gramophone in it's August 1932 issue.
"The mechanical noise, the temperature rise and the consumption (about 6 watts) are the lowest of any motor that has passed through our hands. Stringent mechanical tests as well as playing tests with steel and fibre needles, using the heaviest recordings we could find (including the .usual tell-tales of pitch variance—organ, piano and heavy orchestral recordings with sustained string notes), proved conclusively that a uniform speed is maintained under fluctuating loads. A weight of 3lbs. on the needle point with the needle on the outside grooves of a 10-inch record did not succeed in reducing the speed."
I suppose these days it is possible to produce some sophisticated electronics to vary the frequency but why bother when other motors (Garrard induction) solve the problems so well in a mechanical way ?
The whole point of this motor is that it has no moving mechanical parts. No governor to add noise. It runs at a constant speed only or it does not run at all.
I picked up a cheap frequency adjuster for motors and it works with this motor, I get 78rpm on the strobe with the frequency set to 49.4Hz. But with all the variables involved, I don't really use it and being bless with not having perfect pitch, I don't really notice it.
I have an audiophile friend who gets physically ill if everything is not set up perfectly and he refuses to listen to 78's because they never really ever were at 78rpm.
78's run at 77.92 rpm at 50 Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings
and at 78.26 rpm at 60 Hz stroboscope illuminating 92-bar calibration markings.
I believe that was due to the gearing of a standard 3600-rpm motor and 46-tooth gear (78.26 = 3600/46).
Of course, even after standardization, recording speeds for 78's may well have varied depending on how each engineer set up the equipment. By the time LP’s were being made all cutting lathes had A/C synchronous motors to make sure they were running to a true standard and the curse was somewhat lifted for those with perfect pitch.