Improve tracking & reduce record wear on Victrola No.2

[Curt A]

Bill,
An Exhibition mod would be easier than the Victor 2 - all you need to do is modify the mounting flange by sanding the backside on a belt sander. Use a new one and sand it on a 12 degree angle and remount it...

[Player-Tone]

Measure the angle of offset for the Exhibition first. 12 degrees is good for the Victrola No.2, but an Exhibition may require a different angle due to its different dimensions.

[Retrograde]

you'd have to re-drill the screw holes as well to accommodate the angle, right?

Think about this, beveling the isolator would not work because the inside brass ring would end up being beveled and the tone arm end would have to be shaved which is not reversible.

The only way for this to work would be to add a beveled shim, and re-drill the screw holes in a new isolator.

[De Soto Frank]

Wonderful! Thanks for this Player-Tone!

I can make one of those for my Silvertone portable! Duct tape just isn't good on a hot sunny day.

Duct-tape just isn't good, ever.

( Unless you're Red Green... )


Try to find yourself some Gaffer's tape ( got any friends who work in the tech end of theatre or show-business? ). Once you go Gaff, you'll never go back !

[jamiegramo]

I am glad i'm not the only one that was somewhat concerned about this issue and the record wear it causes. Player-Tone's solution looks excellent for the No. 2.

Sometime ago I did a mod to the exhibition soundbox on my 1910 HMV style no. VII Monarch Senior. The VII is a 12 inch turntable, triple-spring horn machine with, I believe, essentially the same tonearm/parts as its American cousin the Victor V. The VII had a tracking error of 17.5°.

First I cut a piece of cork and sanded it to the same diameter as the rubber flange but made it thicker (at least ⅛ inch or 3mm). I drilled/filed an angled hole at the centre and fixed the brass collar in at the correct angle with super glue. You can assemble the pieces on the tonearm to check the angle prior to gluing. Super glue soaks into the cork well and provides a strong fixing to the collar. The top fixing hole is above the locating pin and once drilled out the original rubber flange can be used to line-up the bottom hole. Final tracking angle adjustments can be made by strategic sanding of the cork on the flat side that sits against the soundbox. The cork provided an excellent airtight connection and was painted black to look more in keeping. It is also lightweight.

Another way I considered would be to insert a strategically angled (wedge-shape) piece of cork between the rubber flange and soundbox. This would require longer fixing bolts or use of the existing bolts with the heads recessed into the flange.

[jamiegramo]

Another view

[jamiegramo]

and another...

[jamiegramo]

the cork was cut from an old jar bung.

[Player-Tone]

Nicely done jamiegramo, that angled cork flange looks great!

[jamiegramo]

Thanks Mike. The exhibition is easier to tackle than the No. 2!

I did plenty of 'before' and 'after' sound tests using the same soundbox. Records certainly sounded sharper with no distortion on the loud parts as before. It's like someone had turned-up the treble. But this was very much on later electrical recordings. The difference is not so noticeable on acoustic recordings and maybe I can understand why the Victor engineers felt that the problem wasn't significant enough to be of concern until around 1925. I believe that one of the main problems with the poor tracking is that it causes the needle to wear much more quickly which leads to distortion further down the record. The modified tracking improved this. It's true if the machine needs a winding the turntable won't slow-up on loud passages.

As mentioned in another thread there is the issue of keeping things original. These solutions are very easy to reverse and not intrusive to the machine or reproducer. The Monarch has a large horn so it's nice to take advantage of it. The exhibition looks a little strange when sitting back but does look 'correct' when playing a record especially if you are use to seeing later orthophonic machines playing.

Jamie