Columbia 156a viva tonal gramophone

[phonosandradios]

Ah, I assumed they were pot metal - but if they are brass then that would put a new spin on things. I'll have another look and see what I can do to correct the droop of the tone arm and if it does snap along the solder joint then I can always re-solder it.

[Phono48]

Also does anyone have any tips of the removal of a turntable stuck on the spindle? Mine won't budge but because of the velvet turntable covering I cant drop penetrating oil down the spindle. Would heat via a soldering iron to heat the spindle be a way forward?

You need another person for this one! Arm them with a wooden mallet, NOT a hammer, and whilst you pull the turntable up on opposite sides, get them to give the centre spindle a whack with the mallet. I have done it in the past by putting two wooden wedges under the turntable, but I'm always aware of possible distortion of the turntable, so another person is preferable.

Barry

[phonosandradios]

Also does anyone have any tips of the removal of a turntable stuck on the spindle? Mine won't budge but because of the velvet turntable covering I cant drop penetrating oil down the spindle. Would heat via a soldering iron to heat the spindle be a way forward?

You need another person for this one! Arm them with a wooden mallet, and whilst you pull the turntable up on opposite sides, get them to give the centre spindle a whack with the mallet. I have done it in the past by putting two wooden wedges under the turntable, but I'm always aware of possible distortion of the turntable, so another person is preferable.

Barry

Excellent idea. That wouldn't of occurred to me to tackle it that way. I'll get my son to give me a hand.

[CarlosV]

I was always of the impression that these arms are brass and not pot metal. Could the flange be a soldered-on piece? Is it possible that the solder joint has cracked, allowing the flange to skew and causing the arm to droop? If that's the case, it should be very repairable.

The arm is pot metal, unfortunately. I have model 132a, similar to the 156a but without the lateral record storage extension. The photos below show the gap between the tone arm and the turntable, which is quite higher than the one shown in the pictures above. The soundbox I use is a Meltrope, I found it has better performance than the original Columbia. A very nice-sounding machine, with its large bifurcated horn.

[phonosandradios]

I was always of the impression that these arms are brass and not pot metal. Could the flange be a soldered-on piece? Is it possible that the solder joint has cracked, allowing the flange to skew and causing the arm to droop? If that's the case, it should be very repairable.

The arm is pot metal, unfortunately. I have model 132a, similar to the 156a but without the lateral record storage extension. The photos below show the gap between the tone arm and the turntable, which is quite higher than the one shown in the pictures above. The soundbox I use is a Meltrope, I found it has better performance than the original Columbia. A very nice-sounding machine, with its large bifurcated horn.

I am looking out for a meltrope myself as I have heard very good things about their performance. Is that a counterweight set up you have fixed up on your tone arm? Would you be able to post a photo of how you have done that as I have been thinking about doing something similar. I did see on ebay that someone is selling a spring kit to achieve the same kind of thing and here is the link to it.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HMV-RCA-Orth ... SwiDFYMK9b

but I wondered if I could rig something up myself.

[CarlosV]

Is that a counterweight set up you have fixed up on your tone arm? Would you be able to post a photo of how you have done that as I have been thinking about doing something similar.

Sure, please take a look at the photo below. It is crude but works effectively. You need to adjust the length of the wire to control the spring stretch and consequently the amount of weight reduction. I prefer to utilize thorn needles, so a counterweight is necessary to allow them to play through the record. I did such counterweights for several of my larger gramophones. The only one I could not fit properly was the Brunswick Cortez, its tonearm shape makes is complicated to find a workable path between the soundbox back and the auto break stud.

[phonosandradios]

Thanks for that extra photo - looks cool. I will try this on one of mine.

[CarlosV]

You're welcome. For the price that the ebay seller is asking, you can buy a box of springs and a spool of thin wire, and try the one that fits best to the particular tone arm. I use wire with the plastic isolation to avoid scratching the tone arm.

I had tried before with a counterweight off ebay, which consisted of a curved flat rod that you fix one end under the base of the tone arm and the other end sits under the soundbox. It worked, but it is too sensitive to the gap between soundbox and record, and became problematic with thorns, as the needle shortens with the successive sharpenings, and the counterforce would change too much and make the needle skip. Coil springs are more compliant and I don't have such problem with them.

[JerryVan]

I was always of the impression that these arms are brass and not pot metal. Could the flange be a soldered-on piece? Is it possible that the solder joint has cracked, allowing the flange to skew and causing the arm to droop? If that's the case, it should be very repairable.

The arm is pot metal, unfortunately. I have model 132a, similar to the 156a but without the lateral record storage extension. The photos below show the gap between the tone arm and the turntable, which is quite higher than the one shown in the pictures above. The soundbox I use is a Meltrope, I found it has better performance than the original Columbia. A very nice-sounding machine, with its large bifurcated horn.

Carlos,

Pot metal... darn. Guess I learned a new thing today. Thanks.

[nostalgia]

Tonearm made of pot metal, that was not what we hoped for.
I probably will meet the same problem with the tonearm on my 156A. I will start removing the tonearm tomorrow myself too, to see what is wrong. I would not be surprised if I will see exactly the same as on your machine.