EMG Mk VII

Discussions on Talking Machines of British or European Manufacture
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emgcr
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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by emgcr »

Oedipus wrote: Sure enough, my Mark X has an EMG turntable on its Paillard motor, a very heavy casting with a built in cork mat.
Fascinating Christopher and I too have never seen an EMG cast (aluminium ?) turntable. I do have an original Mk X base case with goose-neck tonearm but it came without a motor and had only the initial section of the broken horn---pictured on Chunny's superb gramophone museum website. I have restored it with the correct Paillard GGR 255 motor which fitted exactly and was clearly what it was supplied with originally. The escutcheon, unique to Paillard, also confirms this. I have used a pressed steel turntable (not Paillard, sadly) with felt as per all the EMG and Experts I have come across with the Swiss motor. Interestingly, the internal conduit is cast in bronze which I think may also be unique to the Mk X before cheaper aluminium was used in later Mk X variants as the depression took hold.

You have a very rare instrument Sir !
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Oedipus
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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by Oedipus »

Thank you Graham -- that turntable is not aluminium, it's cast iron, and v. heavy. Presumably the idea was to improve the flywheel effect, but of course it also makes for very slow acceleration, and I've developed a habit of speeding each record up by hand. I expect that is why they dropped the idea. What I have never been able to make out is why the 'spokes' have a little hole drilled at the outer end. All but one appear to go right through the metal, sealed only by the cork. Could they have been part of a balancing process?

Yes, the conduit on mine looks like bronze.

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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by Oedipus »

Thank you Graham -- that turntable is not aluminium, it's cast iron, and v. heavy. Presumably the idea was to improve the flywheel effect, but of course it also makes for very slow acceleration, and I've developed a habit of speeding each record up by hand. I expect that is why they dropped the idea. What I have never been able to make out is why the 'spokes' have a little hole drilled at the outer end. All but one appear to go right through the metal, sealed only by the cork. Could they have been part of a balancing process?

Yes, the conduit on mine looks like bronze.

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emgcr
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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by emgcr »

Oedipus wrote: Could they have been part of a balancing process?
I would think you are absolutely right that the holes are part of the balancing process.

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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by Oedipus »

Not sure why my last reply appeared twice - must have pressed a button twice!

Anyway, going back to the original topic (Mark VII), many years ago I was on the tourist trail in Scotland where, I think in Dunvegan Castle on the coast of the Isle of Skye, I spotted in a bedroom what looked very much like a Mark VII. It had an enormous vase on top of it, which precluded a quick shufty under the lid to see if it was all there while no one was looking. Might repay some further investigation ....

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emgcr
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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by emgcr »

Possibly this one ? But possibly not...………..

Could be HMV ?
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chunnybh
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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by chunnybh »

The cast iron turntable looks very interesting. I'm sure I have one on a Mk VIII Standard. It had an ill fitting modern rubber turntable mat instead of the cork. I always assumed it was the wrong turntable. I'll have to check to see if it's marked EMG.
Anyway, going back to the original topic (Mark VII), many years ago I was on the tourist trail in Scotland where, I think in Dunvegan Castle on the coast of the Isle of Skye, I spotted in a bedroom what looked very much like a Mark VII. It had an enormous vase on top of it, which precluded a quick shufty under the lid to see if it was all there while no one was looking. Might repay some further investigation ....
I went to school in Glasgow with a friend who's parents worked at Dunvegan. When they were on holiday, a few of us would go to stay in their house. Skye is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. Thinking back on it and shockingly, drinking Taliskar and shooting seagulls with shot guns was the done thing then. 1976.
I've been shown around the castle several times, it's huge but I cannot ever remember seeing a gramophone. Mind you there were several pieces of furniture there that seemed very similar to Darrieulat's veneer work. When I first saw Ester Ginns bureau, it reminded me of one in the castle.
I'll have to pay another visit, even just for the Taliskar.
Last edited by chunnybh on Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: EMG Mk VII

Post by Oedipus »

Re your lovely period photo of Dunvegan, Graham, I doubt if that cabinet, from what I can see of it through the foliage, is either HMV or Darrieulat. But the cabinet that I saw in a rather modest bedroom probably was a Mark VII, because I'm sure I would have checked to see if there was a hole for the winder, and if there wasn't, I probably would not even have remembered it!

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