The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

HMV130 wrote: Nevertheless what puzzles me is the supposedly paint coating of some mod. III diaphragm - when it has been introduced? Was this coating for cosmetic purpose only?

Yes, I think that coating might be paint but could possibly be anodising (hard to tell), although the latter might suggest a covering of both front and back surfaces ? In my example only the front face is covered suggesting cosmetic reasons. I too am not completely sure of the purpose but would guess that it might also have been done to aid longevity as a protection against oxidisation ? That is rather ironic in view of the subsequent history of my soundbox ! They may also have found that sound quality/performance changed in some way so, in order to answer that question and in the absence of specific contemporary literature, we shall have to reinvent the wheel !

chunnybh wrote:The body cast is unusually heavy and has swollen so much that the compression nut has seized. It's 148g. I'd like to see some more Meltrope III's with triangular needle holders.

Here is one of my Meltrope III's with triangular needle holder and original box. The one I had to scrap also had a seized compression nut and I had to machine it out on the lathe. Even so, the final threads resisted and only yielded to being chipped out with a hammer and chisel---following heating ! The melted lead content is clearly visible. Some Mazaks (pot metal) can be really dreadful depending upon the exact constituent metals/proportions etc.

Very interesting thread, thank you very much. What a shame that the attached images are no longer available for viewing. This is an annoyance that I frequently come across with somewhat older articles.

Annoying and tragic in the extreme---really unforgivable with reference to the operators of this forum. Promises have been broken continuously. So many people have put their heart and soul into very detailed and diligently researched contributions to further unique accumulated knowledge and history. If photographs disappear after such a relatively short period there is no point at all in involving oneself in the prodigious work in the first place. We have tried to coax action from the organisers on many occasions to retrieve the all-important photographs without which the text is often meaningless but action comes there none in spite of financial contributions. There are also people who have been prepared to do the necessary restoration work---for free---but we have not even had the courtesy of a reply to the suggestion.

What a shame that HMV130’s attachments don’t seem to be available anymore. I would love to have read them.

I've been doing some sorting out at home and discovered that I have a long-forgotten collection of assorted soundboxes. Included is a Meltrope III which is in as-new condition in its box complete with the instruction leaflet. I have no idea now when and where I acquired it. Last night I tried it on my HMV 13 (probably not the best machine for the purpose!) and it sounds amazingly good. I might keep it on there for a while.

It is a pity that the photos from previous posts have disappeared as they would be a valuable resource. Would it be possible to set up a Flickr group or similar to share photos?

On the problem of disappearing photographs (and online articles in general), this is a very good reason why anyone interested in our subject should subscribe to and contribute to, magazines such as the CLPGS 'For the Record', which are printed and permanent. Well, I would say that, wouldn't I, as Editor?

As a regular contributor to the CLPGS magazine, I much prefer turning the pages than scrolling up and down a computer screen.
There is no better medium for preserving the written word and accompanying pictures than the printed page.
As we have seen on this forum and elsewhere, digital media can be here today and gone tomorrow.

Resurrecting this thread as I had a realisation on the Meltrope IIIa soundbox, the one with the interchangeable chucks.

I’m probably late to the party with this, but it seems that the interchangeability of the chucks was designed for the BCN type needles to work with their range of sharpeners. They made several quite complicated designs where you can turn a handle to operate a mechanism that causes the needle to rotate against the sandpaper to sharpen the point.

The parts that the needle fits into come in three different sizes for different thicknesses of thorns these holders or “chucks” are the same dimensions exactly whether they come with the soundbox or the sharpener so they seem to have been designed so the needle stays in the holder at all times.

In that way all that needs to be done, is take the metal holder out of the soundbox and insert that into the sharpener, needle and all. Sharpen, then return to the soundbox. This saves the “effort” of having to unscrew the needle screw and remove the needle each time it needs sharpening.

Good point -- and the holders you refer to are known in the tool trade as 'collets'. They were supplied both with the IIIA sound box and the crank-operated sharpener, so if you had both, you had two sets of collets. No bad thing - they would be easy to lose...