Needle depth on a 5A soundbox

[Phono48]

I adventure to say that there must be something firmly stuck into the hole bottom. The needle should be able to pass the screw so you could see only one third of its total length (I'm speaking from memory alone). In fact, if you looked by the opposite side of the needle chuck, you should see the back end of the needle. In this area, the needle chuck is not closed, it is a thick pipe, opened at the back, with the thin plates of the needlebar entering the pipe by two cuts, and soldered to the pipe. In my soundboxes, a too thin needle escapes by the back hole, at the sides of the needlebar, if introduced too far. Maybe your soundbox had an excess of soldering at the back of the chuck...
Anyway, I admit that I should take your photos and compare with my 5a/b soundboxes... but I'm not able to do that just now.

With respect, the soundbox you are describing bears no resemblence to the 5A. There is no hole in the back of the needle chuck, so the back end of the needle can't be seen. I do agree that there must be something stuck in the chuck, despite my failure to find it with a large sewing needle. If there IS something, how the heck do I get it out???

Barry

[Henry]

Magnet?

[Phono48]

Magnet?

Thanks for the suggestion, but tried that!

Barry

[Phono48]

Quick update. Whilst probing with a cocktail stick, I noticed that when I preseed down on the stick, it kept slipping to the sides of the hole. With tha aid of a very strong light, and a friend with better eyesight than mine, we found there is a tiny ball bearing stuck in there! So we know what it is, and we know where it is, but how to get it out remains a problem. Why would anyone pot a ball bearing in there?? I guess we'll never know.

Barry

[nostalgia]

Happy you solved the mystery, Barry.

But why someone put a ball bearing in there, hard to say. Using wild imagination... maybe a past owner was experimenting with needles, or being short of needles, and by using a permanent ball bearing testing how it would be to cut every needle in half to save his needles;) When it did not work, he left everything alone, and sold his/her gramophone. If it was not for this experiment, you maybe would now not have this HMV 57;)
"Another ghost in the machine"

[poodling around]

I have nothing but good news ! (Well, over here anyway !).

Mine did not have a ball bearing in it. I don't know what it was but, it was a very soft metal.

So, I just found a small drill bit for metal and drilled it out. Hardly any vibration and "Hey Presto" ! A normal sized hole - just like my 5b ! Sounding much better than it did before !

[Phono48]

Success! I took the needle bar and attached diaphragm out, propped it up against a block of wood, and held a soldering iron against the needle bar, just above the needle screw. I was rather worried that the heat might undo the soldered joint in the centre of the diaphragm, but luckily it didn't, and after a couple of minutes - plop! out came the ball bearing.

Barry

[nostalgia]

Well done, Barry
Another gramophone/soundbox problem solved !

Well done to you too "poodling around"

I am happy for you both ! Enjoy your new gramophones !

[Inigo]

You should try them soundboxes with triangular bamboo needles... They're great, specially with soft recordings, piano and violin, chamber music and the like, also Opera electrics.
For most other records, soft tone steel needles are also great, delivering powerful volume with no shrill...

[poodling around]

You should try them soundboxes with triangular bamboo needles... They're great, specially with soft recordings, piano and violin, chamber music and the like, also Opera electrics.
For most other records, soft tone steel needles are also great, delivering powerful volume with no shrill...

Great suggestion - and I already do ! I have lots of thick, seasoned bamboo in store to make my oven baked home made needles, in fact I could build a bamboo bridge with all those babies ! Love the soft tone needles too !