Orthophonic Dilemma

[winsleydale]

Okay, guys, I have good news and I have bad news. And neutral news, leaning towards negative.

First, the good news: I successfully removed the back of my OSB, yay! Nothing broke!

Now for the neutral-leaning-negative news: My soldering iron tip is too fat to fit through the gaps in the case to melt the solder between the needle bar and the diaphragm spider, what do?

Bad news time: My other OSB has a stuck spanner ring that is cracked anyway. Assuming I can ever free it, is there anywhere to get a replacement, or should I just hold off until I can get a repro from Shenandoah Restorations? (Already removed the ball bearings, and not a fan of buying more pot metal, and original brass OSBs are wayyy too expensive)

Second bit of technically neutral news, but definite bias toward negative: I am a stupid idiot and I took apart both of my only two OSBs that I have at the same time, so no electric discs for me...

[Victrolaboy]

Ryan,
Don't buy stuff from Shenandoah restorations. Everything is way way over priced. Rin Sitko sells new OSB spanner rings for $10. To remove a stuck spanner ring put penetrating oil on it and let it sit over night. DO NOT USE WD-40! I made a little tool for removing the spamber ring out of two nails in a piece of wood the correct distance apart.

As for your soldering iron get a new tip that is longer. Before you try to remove the back unsolder the needle bar from spider. One time I didn't do this and when I uncrewed the back it ripped the diaphragm out with it.

[PeterF]

Ah. So the struggle continues, Comrade Dinswalely!

I shall endeavor to find you a workable substitute for your orthophonic soundbox, during the coming weekend's trip to the flea market in the Little Moscow district of San Francisco.

I've not seen any for many years, but there may be examples of the fabled OrthSovSonic reproducer, the melodious-but-workmanlike Trotsky-Tonal soundbox, or even the highly elusive and super rare Stalinotrope tonearm assembly.

All of these are, of course, Soviet-era knockoffs of western technologies, produced as part of the 1927-1932 Uluchsheniye Muzyka i Razvlecheniya Kachestvo Rabotnika (Worker's Music and Entertainment Quality Improvement) Five-Year Plan, or UMRKR. As many of us know, the UMRKR was conceived as a means of rapidly converting the proletariat from acoustic to electric reproduction, thus maintaining parity with developments in the West. It was at first a huge success, with all production quotas met, on time. Distribution of the resulting gramophones was swift and effective, even during the depths of the harsh Russian winter, because as General Secretary Stalin had proclaimed:

Музыкальная жажда рабочих должно быть гасили!
(The musical thirst of the workers must be quenched!)

Sadly, the General Secretary soon learned that none of the phonographs had been supplied with cranks, nor had any cranks been designed or produced. This, combined with the subsequent discovery of potato-filled spring barrels and burlap reproducer diaphragms led to the Great Phono Pogrom of 1928. The UMRKR was terminated (along with all members of the UMRKR Central Committee) in early 1928, when the spring thaw enabled gravediggers to ply their craft more efficiently.

Components of UMRKR production have survived, however, and they do turn up every so often. You will be the first to know, should any appear!

[winsleydale]

Peter...


It is time I came clean with you.

Ich bin ein Kundschafter für den Deutschewirtschaftlichenwohlstandallianz. Die Kommunisten sind eine grosse Feind des Deutsches Volk, und auch das West. Aber denke ich, dass wir Freunden sein koennen, durch unsere gemeinsames Interesse mit Grammofone und Schellackplatten. Ich habe nur ein Grundsatz: Du musst aus den Sowjetunion flüchten! Komm doch mit, nach Deutschland. Oder schon besser, zu den Vereinigten Staaten. Die Fesseln des Kommunismus andauern nur noch kurze Zeit! Freie dich!

Auch, danke schön für den Angebot. Es freut mich.

[PeterF]

Yikes! Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Panic in Detroit"!

[winsleydale]

This forum needs a 'like' button.

[De Soto Frank]

Comment about OSBs and "stuck" spanner rings -

Before attempting dis-assembly of an OSB, take a close look at the back-plate, just inside the spanner ring: examine the back-plate "shoulder" ( raised part with all the lettering cast-into it) - if you see what looks like radial or circumferential crackles in the back-plate, right near the edge, chances are the back-plate shoulder has expanded outwards, and is jamming the spanner-ring against the outer cover.

A night in the freezer might relive this; I have had some OSBs in this condition where the ring would move a bit, then jam... sometimes a few degrees, sometimes a half-turn or more... the larger problem is that when that back-plate shoulder crackles and expands, the movement is greatest at the outer surface of the back-plate, creating a "wedge "profile: so the further you turn the spanner ring out, the tighter it jams on the now-expanded shoulder.

Often the spanner ring breaks into smaller and smaller bits during process. Once you're at this point, it's pretty much a matter of trying to remove the pieces of spanner-ring w/o damaging the surrounding parts.


If the crackling and expansion get bad enough, the spanner ring cracks in one or more places, and sometimes the outer cover splits along the edge too.

I'm glad to hear that Ron Sitko has replacement spanner-rings... I need to get a few.

[JerryVan]

Guys, I've been doing this for almost 40 years but I don't what you're talking about when you say "OSB". From the context, I guess it means an Orthophonic reproducer, but what do the letters OSB stand for?

[phonogfp]

"Orthophonic Sound Box."

George P.

[Mr Grumpy]

Sheesh Jerry, get with times brother.
We been callin' em OSBs for decades now.


(Totally not serious - I only learned this recently)