EMG Mark Xa (Export) - Rebuild, Conservation and EMG list

[Jozwolf]

Congratulations on such an absolutely beautiful horn on that gramophone. That has to be the best preserved one I've seen (in an admittedly limited experience of EMG gramophones.)
I do hear some pitch flutter right enough, presumably caused by the turntable?
However the reproduction - wonderful! And thanks for going to the bother of uploading all that and sharing with us!
Very enjoyable - I like the audience sounds prior to the beginning too!
Séamus

Hi Séamus,

Well as a result of a wonderful email conversation with Graham Rankin I now have fixed the wobble in the turntable. So the problem of flutter is I think somewhat reduced. (The mechanism could probably do with a lube but that comes next.) I have re-recorded the record and spliced the result into the original video. So if you look again at the video you should hear less flutter. I would be interested to know your impressions.

All the best,

Jim

[epigramophone]

[quote="JozwolfIf you could provide a photo of it that would be extremely nice!

Will do, when time permits! Please feel free to remind me.

Meanwhile, did anyone else notice the astonishing record price achieved by an EMG sound box yesterday?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181990293328?ru ... 630wt_1220[/quote]

It appears that the same individual who paid this high price has just bought THREE Davey Rollright thorn sharpeners, all from one UK eBay seller. The prices realised were :

Boxed.................£98.00
Unboxed...............£38.05
Unboxed with damage...£32.00

Is this buyer a dealer? If not, why would they want or need THREE Rollrights when most people would be content with one? I hope this is not a sign of EMG/Expert prices moving out of reach of the average enthusiast, whatever the "average" may be.

[CarlosV]

Is this buyer a dealer? If not, why would they want or need THREE Rollrights when most people would be content with one? I hope this is not a sign of EMG/Expert prices moving out of reach of the average enthusiast, whatever the "average" may be.

My guess is that a dealer would not pay such prices - the risk of losing money is too high. It could be a collector like me, I have a number of sharpeners including two of these rollrights, not that I collect sharpeners but I like to have them handy when I play records, so I keep one inside each gramophone I play more often (and some thorns).

As to EMG-branded prices, they have been out of whack since quite some time, not so much the gramophones, because their pachydermic horns are not for everyone's eyes, but everything else around them like parts, soundboxes, record ledgers, sharpeners etc. Even glass jars with the three letters sand-blasted on them commanded ridiculous prices recently(EMG sold them to keep needles dry, but frankly those jars could easily be reproduced today, and probably are).

[chunnybh]

Hello Jim,
Excellent work on the horn, well done.
I missed this post altogether as I've been away from computers for a few months.
I assume by now you have had the Collaro D30 motor serviced and running true. I've had great results with simple cleaning and replacing the rubber mounts. A good upgrade is the Garrard Super Motor or even the super quiet Simpsons Electric Turntable (Very popular is OZ so may be easier to find locally).

Chunny

[Jozwolf]

Hello Jim,
Excellent work on the horn, well done.
I missed this post altogether as I've been away from computers for a few months.
I assume by now you have had the Collaro D30 motor serviced and running true. I've had great results with simple cleaning and replacing the rubber mounts. A good upgrade is the Garrard Super Motor or even the super quiet Simpsons Electric Turntable (Very popular is OZ so may be easier to find locally).

Chunny

Thanks Chunny. Sorry also for a delayed response - I have been away too. The motor seems to be running pretty well now that I managed to get the turntable on it properly. I have now a copy of "Goodbye France" by Nora Bayes. I will record it with the new setup so you can compare with your machine playing the same thing. I will let you know when I have got it done.

All the best,

Jim