The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

You folks will know: I was surfing the net the other night and ran across a picture of a Model N Edison reproducer on ebay that had a tiny coiled spring running from the sylus bar up to the diaphragm. The spring surrounded the link. I felt like Aaron Slick from Punkin' Crick because I had never heard of such a thing but it struck me a good idea to attenuate the buzz inherent in these types. Did they ALL have this? Have I been dreaming all these years? I always pride myself that I know my Edison stuff but this was a new one on me.

Jim (from Punkin' Crick)

Edison tried the spring trick on several reproducers along the way - you'll see springs on some model K and L, among others. The idea, presumably, was to keep the link taught to reduce rattling and buzzing. But the spring itself can easily cause buzzing and "ringing" if not fitted exactly right, so the fix was probably worse than the original problem. Later Edison reproducer designs omitted the spring once again.

Thanks Greg. Now my busy little fingers want to experiment with a couple of my reproducers. I've been mucking in this vein, because a lot ...or most...of the buzz inherent in these reproducers comes from play in the stylus mounting and the metal link to the diaphragm.