VV 2-55 tonearm bracket repair success

[Yonke1tone7]

This is an amazing forum with a lot of wonderful information. This would be my first post although I've visited the forum many times for both info and inspiration.
I just finished a restoration of my VV 2-55 and wanted to share some success I had with repairing the broken tonearm back bracket. It was damaged in shipping and everything I was seeing and hearing pointed to getting an original replacement as the only solution. Parts dealers were saying reproductions for the 2-55 aren't made as far as they knew.
Then I found some information saying how the later versions used better pot metal that actually could be repaired and strengthened so I gave it a go. During the process I accidentally dropped the bracket and for a split second I thought I was going to watch it shatter in slow motion on the garage floor. Instead, it bounced and rolled under the car!
When I regained consciousness...I proceeded and made a short youtube video of the steps I went through for the fix. I hope it might be of some use to anyone with a similar issue.
Anyway, best wishes to all! Enjoy your machines!

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

[JerryVan]

That is a very neat repair! I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I saw the "bare bones" portion of the repair, but your filling and reshaping are darn near perfect! I honestly would not expect that any repair had been done.

Was the the reproducer that came with the 2-55? As you're probabaly aware, it's the very sought after brass version... and it sounds wonderful. Looking forward to more of your input on the forum.

[Yonke1tone7]

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words! The machine did not come with a reproducer so yes I am using the brass one I have. I do have a pot metal reproducer that was meant for the 2-55 and I rebuilt it as well but it has gained so much weight that I really don't like using it. It also had a painfully twisted and gnarled rocker bar fork which was broken at the solder joint to the spider. Caused by who knows what kind of treatment in the past. I straightened it out as best as I could but I might look at it again to see if I can get it better.

I have a record lathe project in the works which is completely new territory for me but I have some experience doing electric recording and acoustic playback on a tinfoil phonograph I built a while back as an experiment. Here's an example if you'd like to see. I called it the Majestic Talking Machine before I knew there already was a machine with that name. DOH! I think it was when I bought an electric disc motor from the 20s made by the Majestic company.

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

It's fun to play with but of course you can't really preserve the recordings. I need to dust off my Edison B and start recording on wax again!
Thank you for the welcome to the forum!

[Phono-Phan]

Amazing job!!! Great to see the effort in getting this playing again. I like your method of building up on the little brass piece. It should last a long time.

[AZ*]

Nice work on the repair and matching the paint so well. JB Weld can be useful for repairs like this. I used it for an Orthophonic bracket repair on a VV 4-40 decades ago before the Smiths started selling repops. My repair was not as fancy as yours. Yours should last a long time.