The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Picked up a new project today, a little VV 2-35 in need of some TLC. It's also in need of a crankshaft. I suppose I could make one but I'm hoping somebody here may be a source for that part? The shop I got it in had it listed for $60 but we negotiated ⅓ off that once I showed him the inside. Not bad for $40 and if nothing comes from it I haven't lost a whole lot.

I just hope that, once I find a part, I don't find that it has a broken spring, not exactly the kind of project I was looking for!
It's serial number 11970 so probably early 30's. The orthophonic reproducer seems to be the nicest thing about this machine, too bad it's not swappable, I would try it out on my Consolette.

If anyone has one of these and has any insights into fixing them up I would appreciate it, I'll certainly post my progress in the cleaning and refreshing of this machine here. I won't repaint or recover, I like things to look their age... I just like them clean, working, and lubricated.

Here are some 'before' pics. What would you clean the outside with? Does Gojo work as nicely on this faux leather as it does on wood? And how might one stabilize the decal so as to avoid more loss? Thanks everyone

And it's already beginning to reveal its secrets. You don't know how badly I was hoping all that rattling was a missing crank-shaft

Well all I can say is that it truly pays to completely disassemble a machine. Found the crankshaft!

One thing I'll tell you not to do and that's to try to dissemble the reproducer or sound box. All the parts are press-fitted together, and cannot be taken apart. (These are virtually identical, in design, to the HMV 16 sound box.) Also, a conventional Orthophonic sound box cannot be fitted to the tonearm without substantial modification. Hopefully, the one you have will perform well. If not, the best bet is to hunt down a replacement. I've seen a few come up for sale over the years on eBay, normally included with the tonearm.

While not as full as the larger VV-2-55, which has a standard Orthophonic sound box, the VV2-35 actually sounds pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsolCZ8GXec


OrthoFan

Yeah, it does not look like it was ever meant to come apart or be serviced. I played it last night and it was pretty good but a little raspy on the loud parts. It's hard to know because it may have been the record. When I grabbed I thought I'd grabbed from the 'clean' pile but that wasn't the case. I'll get a decent record and grab a video. Thanks for the recommendation for sure!

Here's a video of the first diagnosis-playing with a medium tone needle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvO1C1S ... nel=AGarso

It seems to have a bit of distortion which may be the soundbox or may be something loose down inside. I imagine those with more experienced ears can pinpoint the issue fairly quickly. I'll have to dive in this weekend...

The distortion seems to come from the soundbox, but it could also come from resonance of the lid. Try playing with a towel or a sheet covering the lid and check if the distortion is gone. I had this problem with one of my VV35s, the record holder was half loose and caused a distortion.

Hopefully Carlos is right, but if it's the sound box, and I suspect it is, there's little you can do. But, given that, you might try removing the sound box from the tonearm, by unscrewing the locking screws, and then shake it to make sure there's nothing loose rattling around inside. If you don't hear anything, then squirt a little WD-40 or put a few drops of Goo Gone into the hole and swish it around so it makes its way to coat the edge of the diaphragm. (That actually helps sometimes.)

Also look to see if the needle-bar pivot joint is okay--I believe they used a twisted flat spring pivot, but do not know for sure since it's been about four decades since I owned a VV-2-35--and also make sure the needle is held firmly by the thumbscrew.

OrthoFan

Well I removed the soundbox and wouldn't you know it? I found the remains of a broken needle still up inside the receptacle. I wondered why I couldn't fit a loud-tone needle in there. I carefully removed the busted needle and gave it another go. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I think it's better:

https://youtu.be/Pp3zbMJrjSc

It seems as though I can gently move the needle-holder into two different positions: out-of-line and in-line. I'm thinking at some point the case was moved around aggressively and the tone arm, with needle still attached, hit against something which broke the needle and dislodged the stylus bar somewhat. At this point it's passable to me, the bari-sax in this one actually sounds pretty darn good. Still a little distortion at the very end where it gets louder but for what it is and for $40 I can't complain. Just looked at your post above, I'll try the goo-gone trick, see what that does.

Oh, one note. Gojo does a great job getting the grunge off the naugahyde but I think it also does a good job of removing the dye. There's no way those paper towels would have come out that black had it just been dirt so I stopped. No noticeable degradation (thank goodness), in fact it's gorgeous but I definitely didn't want to go too far. I'll see how it is in a couple of days when the Gojo dries and evaporates.

Happy Weekend!

If you need to soften rubber gaskets this may help:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-oz-Rubber-So ... SwZXFfIxGQ

I think the #5 and 16 gaskets are felt, though