Nice substitute cable for Electrola electrical pickups

Share your phonograph repair & restoration techniques here
Post Reply
User avatar
PeterF
Victor IV
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Nice substitute cable for Electrola electrical pickups

Post by PeterF »

As I progress through the restoration of our Victor Electrola 9-40 (Backbreaker Edition), all sorts of little details are popping up. The Tomcat amp is now rebuilt and ready to go, so now it's time to deal with its inputs and outputs.

The 9-40, like the 8-60, has the funky hydra-headed tonearm, with both a standard orthophonic u-tube/reproducer and a grafted-on second arm with an electrical horseshoe-magnet style pickup hanging precariously on its end. The electrical arm has a channel in its underside for the wiring from the pickup, which travels along from there into a tube under the tonearm and then through a hole in the motorboard to its eventual electrical connection to the amp.

This route therefore includes two places where the cable gets repeatedly flexed, up top when the pickup gets rotated up out of the way when not in use, and at the tonearm base as the tonearm swings during play.

The original cable is a thin 2-conductor, with two thin rubber-insulated wires covered with a braided golden-brown cloth. Mine had rotten insulation and the wires were broken in at least two places. At first I though I would just re-use the original segment from under the motorboard and add modern wiring beneath where it wouldn't show, to maintain an original appearance, but in my heart i knew this would soon also fail with much use.

And I intend to use the dang thing a lot, for many reasons, including great sound, wackiness and uniqueness, and payback for my damn broken back...

So this led to a search for thin 2-conductor cloth covered wire. All that seems to turn up is stuff intended for line cord replacement on antique lamps. Too fat.

But then I had a brainstorm: phone charger cable! And I was able to find one thin enough to pass through the holes and channels, covered with a braided cloth in a suitable color, and best of all: dirt cheap (3 cables for $6). So one has sacrificed its modern life for a retro application, plus we have two spare iPhone charger cables.

Here is what I used:

Qiangson Phone Charging Cable... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P75NQ95?re ... b_ap_share

User avatar
barnettrp21122
Victor IV
Posts: 1600
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:19 pm
Personal Text: "Did you ever stop to think that pleasure is a duty?" (Victor sales pamphlet)

Re: Nice substitute cable for Electrola electrical pickups

Post by barnettrp21122 »

Fine idea!
Thanks for the link!
Bob
"Comparison is the thief of joy" Theodore Roosevelt

His Master's Voice Automatic 1A Exponential Gramophone Demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi70G1Rzqpo

User avatar
PeterF
Victor IV
Posts: 1913
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Re: Nice substitute cable for Electrola electrical pickups

Post by PeterF »

Oh by the way, this stuff is 4-conductor. So although it probably won’t happen, you have spares in there already if any conductor breaks. That keeps you from as big of a job rewiring everything.

Post Reply