Needles and nails

Share your phonograph repair & restoration techniques here
MATTROSE94
Victor O
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:40 am
Personal Text: ARSC Discography Committee Chairperson and early recorded sound enthusiast based in Central NJ

Re: Needles and nails

Post by MATTROSE94 »

My grandfather used to use nails for phonograph needles back when he was boy in the early 1930s during the height of the Great Depression. He ended up trashing many records that way, including many rare prewar country 78s and a couple of rare prewar blues 78s.

User avatar
Inigo
Victor VI
Posts: 3753
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:51 am
Personal Text: Keep'em well oiled
Location: Madrid, Spain
Contact:

Re: Needles and nails

Post by Inigo »

I've used them too, when young, having any needle supply... I developed an industry for grinding and polishing used needles, which I did while playing 78s in my only Diana portable, the only machine I had from 1984 to 1995. I tried polished nails too, but I didn't like them, I found them harsh on the records. So the best thing I found was to grind and polish by hand the used steel needles. And still I have many of those records (the first 500 in my collection) and they are in good shape. I preferred the Dog-and-baby needles, they were very soft and kind to the records, and their points were very thin, so they could be reused many times; polishing them is easy with a soft rounded siliceous stone which has at least one plane surface. It's the best for soft grinding and polishing needles. I inserted the needle in an interchangeable lead pen, and using this as a handle, proceeded along with the task. As the needles were thinner than the pen claws, I used an intermediate plastic pipe, taken from an electrical wire. I still use the same tools for polishing round bamboo needles.
Inigo

Post Reply