The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Anyone have any experience with these? Curious if they're usable on earlier phonographs. They look like a standard steel needle with the upper shank in light green.

They're probably meant for electrical pickups with less weight. I'd suggest you not use them on earlier machines, lest it be an Orthophonic or another low-weight acoustic machine.

Thanks Roland. I'll give it a try on my Credenza but not my other machines.

Those were meant to play a number of records before they wore out. The green paint let you know if it's been used, and RCA also used other colors for the 33 1/3rd speed records and recording. They aren't the kindest needle to records and must have come out in the mid 30's I would guess.

A friend of mine used these on his Credenza for quite a long time and I did notice significant wear on the records. To my opinion, all of these long-playing needles provide their convenience at the expense of inevitably destroying the record much quicker than a regular steel needle, at least with acoustic reproducers.