Capehart automatic phonographs are a bit modern for this forum however there may be some crossover interest with some of us.
We are exploring the need for producing some replacement parts for the pre-war 16-E changer. The first project will be an exact replacement for the often-broken turn over arm. Like the Victor changer parts we made, the arm will be a fully finished drop in replacement. Please contact us if you’d like to be on the list for updates. If there is enough interest we’ll go ahead with the project.
I restored my M400 a decade ago. It took me nearly a year repairing the mechanics and fully restoring the the electronics. (I am an electronics engineer). It's changer is post serial number 20,000 which has the reputation of being irrepairable. The restoration of mine was a challenge but all the broken parts were all easily reproducable. The benefit of a machine playing a 20 record stack of 78's both sides gentle and effortlessly fully justified the effort and time spent getting the Capehart running again.
The biggest problem is addressing the poor quality diecast parts made from 1942. Wartime restrictions made aluminum unavailable. The pre 1942 bedplates and many parts were made from aluminum. Mine has a bedplate of cast iron (solid but very heavy!) I made my replacements from steel, brass and aluminum. My replacement swing arm I made from steel stock I obtained from our local hardware store.
I must add that the early Astatic B-2 crystal cartridge used in the early 40's machines will be inevitably bad. I have rebuilt these using disc ceramic transducers with the element cut to shape and heavily damped using strips of rubber. Using a frequency sweep record, the response is quite flat from about 50Hz to 6.0kHz with an unobjectional peak at 3.5kHz. The reduced output moving from the Rochelle salt piezo electric element to ceramic required me to construct a one tube (6SJ7 Sharp cutoff pentode) amplifier to bring up the pickup output voltage. There is sufficient compliance and with a sapphire shank stylus to remove the two lead weights added to the reproducer shell. Listening to records from the late 20's and early 30's, the sound is comparible to the Orthophonic Victrola except that the highs are better reproduced on the Capehart. With adjustment of the Bass and Treble controls, later 40's and 50's 78's can be made to sound decent as well.
Good quality replacement parts have sadly been lacking for these amazing devices. I and other Capehart lovers will certainly appreciate this news.
We’ve been making steady progress on the turnover arm project for the 16-E changer. Here are some photos of the first articles received recently. Design verification, machining and testing will follow. They look pretty good by eye but much work is needed before making them available to the collecting community. The first articles were made in both aluminum and stainless steel for testing. Notice the two different web profiles, we’ve encountered examples of both types.
Please send a private email to VictrolaParts@gmail.com if you would like to be on the availability notification list.
![[The Talking Machine Forum - For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings]](/styles/we_universal/theme/images/the_talking_machine_forum.png)
