Aeolian Vocalian

[Lah Ca]

7. Brake Pad
.....
Does anyone have any suggestions for materials, adhesives, and techniques?

Thanks.

Mine suffered from the same problem. I ended gluing with contact glue a small leather disc. It works fine.

Thank you. I may go to a thrift store and see if I can find a pair of leather soled shoes to cut up. I could use a plug cutter on my drill press to cut several round pieces from up in the arch area where the soles seldom wear. There is also a shoe repair shop a few blocks away which might be a cheaper and easier option.

Or I could go to a pool hall and see if I can buy a cue tip to try adapting. If I use a Brunswick cue tip, I wonder if if would improve the sound and performance of my machine.

My machine is 100 years old now, probably more, and hasn't had any issues except three:
The pot metal tonearm is broken, and the back support too. I've managed to get a new complete assembly from Canada (Angelo Raffin) with which I'll replaced mine, as it is much better made and the metal is thicker and very solid with no issues. Pity it is nickel plated, so I'll have to make it look golden.

My arm is intact except for some plating. I am very careful with it.

I wonder what your new arm would look like if you carefully dismantled it all, cleaned it thoroughly, and took the pieces to a jeweller for gilding with gold leaf.

The graduola wire cloth sleeve is peeled at some parts, so it doesn't work properly, for the cloth serves the purpose of fixing the outer wire while you push the inner wire, working in tension. Works like the bike brake wire.
I had covered it with black electrical tape, but this falls off with time, leaving a sticky residue. I have to glue black cloth strips or something that looks similar and corrects the issue.

My Graduola is still working perfectly, but the cloth sleeve is fraying a bit next to the control and next to where it connects to the linkage inside, the two places it probably receives the most stress. I am slightly worried about this, but any serious problem is a ways off, yet.

The lid stay retainer at the motorboard was long time broken. I can manage to support the free end so it works. I also acquired a new lid support, but the end father to the lid is of another type, and it cannot be attached to my lid, as it was made for a pagoda lid, and its suitably inclined. I need to make a wooden wedge or something so I can attach it to my lid.

Yes. The brace for keeping the lids on A-V machines seems to be a point of weakness. In my search for information about my machine, I have seen a number of these broken. I should look for a spare for mine.

The soundbox is very good, and the square conical horn is big, and it sounds great even with electrical recordings, except for that ringing resonance of this type of horns.

I think so, too. My soundbox could probably be improved with a rebuild, but it is working quite well enough at present. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I don't have a problem with the horn, per se, because I have the machine in a fairly small room, and it is way too loud if I use anything but extra-soft or soft-tone needles. If I use a medium or loud tone needle, I can hear the machine loudly everywhere in the house. The resonances don't seem to be a problem at lower volumes or when listening from other rooms. There was a lovely sound box that came up on EBay not too long ago. It needed a rebuild, but it had pretty much all its plating intact - very nice looking. I thought about buying it, but the cost would have been more than I paid for my whole machine.

If your horn has wolf-tones at particular pitches, you could try experimenting with Blu Tack putty, the soft reusable adhesive for putting up posters and such. Try sticking a big piece or two on the horn and test and experiment with moving them around. Blu Tack can be be quite effective at damping some types of wolf-tones. I use it on a seasonally problematic acoustic guitar.

About the platter... at these slow speeds, I don't think perfect balancing is needed...

You are probably right. My old AR turntable and my Ariston RD11 (basically a Linn LP12) had heavy flywheel platters and both were balanced. You could see the machining done to balance them. But here there were probably two concerns, flywheel speed control on a belt drive turntable and rumble reduction from the bearings, Generally level and balanced is good for turntables. But a talking machine is direct drive and is already quite mechanically noisy. And the greatest mechanical noise is that generated by sound box which is why you don't really hear the other noise once the lid is down.

[gramophoneshane]

I believe the lid stay for AV machines were supplied by Thorens. As was the soundbox.
At least they were with the UK built machines.
The motors were also by Thorens, although they are often stamped "Aeolian Vocalion - Swiss Made"
Whether this is true of the American made machines I'm not sure as I've never encounted one here.

[Inigo]

Thanks for the blue peg tip. I must try that. Up to now, I use a soft small sofa cushion inserted in the middle of the horn, and it kills the wolf somehow, so listening it's more pleasant.
The soundbox I couldn't imagine that it was Thorens made... It's original in that the back piece seems to be made of Bakelite or some black resin material, although the holes for the screws seem to be brass... Would they be metal inserts in the black material? Anyway, it sounds beautifully, similar to HMV no.4. in fact, they use the same mica size.
The new tonearm seems better made than my original, which has too thin metal neck in the set screw area, and no doubt that was the fault to make it break. The new one is noticeably thicker in that part, so maybe it's a later improvement.
To get the old golden finish to match the rest of the machines is a challenge. A jeweller no doubt would make it well... but the cost could be prohibitive! Maybe a good golden painting, adequately waxed or lacquered to match that old golden appearance would be much cheaper. We'll see.... Arts and crafts stores surely shall have what I need at a lesser cost.

[Lah Ca]

To get the old golden finish to match the rest of the machines is a challenge. A jeweller no doubt would make it well... but the cost could be prohibitive! Maybe a good golden painting, adequately waxed or lacquered to match that old golden appearance would be much cheaper. We'll see.... Arts and crafts stores surely shall have what I need at a lesser cost.

Gold leaf is not expensive as it so very, very thin. It can be found in art supply shops - it is sometimes used in paintings - Klimt paintings for example. It requires some skill to apply it to curved surfaces, but basically it is a lay it on and press and rub process. Being gold it does not tarnish, and it is easily repairable if it wears off. You won't know the cost until you ask a jeweller.

[Lah Ca]

a pagoda lid

Thanks for the vocabulary lesson.

[Lah Ca]

I believe the lid stay for AV machines were supplied by Thorens. As was the soundbox.
At least they were with the UK built machines.
The motors were also by Thorens, although they are often stamped "Aeolian Vocalion - Swiss Made"
Whether this is true of the American made machines I'm not sure as I've never encounted one here.

I am quite certain that my A-V machine is American-made, although perhaps of Canadian assembly.

And yes, the base plate of the motor is stamped, "Aeolian Vocalion - Swiss Made."

Thanks for the tip on the lid stay. I suspect finding Thorens parts in North America will be as challenging as finding A-V parts.

[BillH_NJ]

To get the old golden finish to match the rest of the machines is a challenge. A jeweller no doubt would make it well... but the cost could be prohibitive! Maybe a good golden painting, adequately waxed or lacquered to match that old golden appearance would be much cheaper. We'll see.... Arts and crafts stores surely shall have what I need at a lesser cost.

Gold leaf is not expensive as it so very, very thin. It can be found in art supply shops - it is sometimes used in paintings - Klimt paintings for example. It requires some skill to apply it to curved surfaces, but basically it is a lay it on and press and rub process. Being gold it does not tarnish, and it is easily repairable if it wears off. You won't know the cost until you ask a jeweller.

I have used gold leaf to create the decorative bands on the lid and case of my harpsichord, but I am not sure how well you could make it match the gold finish in this case. It is not too difficult to apply—let a thin layer of gold size dry until it is tacky and then just burnish the leaf onto the size.

[Inigo]

Sounds as a very thin and delicate work... I could end with the gold leaf stuck in my hands! Such a difficult shape of the AV Tonearm parts.... That small Z elbow, the screw holes, the back bracket.... Aaaayyyy....!
I'll go to the Arts& Crafts store nand see what they say to me...

[Lah Ca]

The Arm

I suppose I should document the arm. I didn't take pictures when I had if off the machine because I was working with oil and grease, so I will have describe what is there.

The base of the tonearm is fixed to the motor board. It forms the convex ball part of a loose ball and socket/cup joint with the arm. The cup at the base of the tonearm sits loosely on the ball. The tonearm is held in position by an arm that comes up from the base. There is an adjustable pointed pin that goes down into receptacle socket on top of the tonearm. The pin is held in place by a set screw. (If you are ever working on one of these machines, be sure to remove the pin and set it aside even if it seems to be stuck in place. It can easily fall into the opening of the horn where it could be very difficult to recover if not caught by the grid in the horn opening.) The arm moves laterally on the ball and pin. With the pin in place very firmly there is still a bit of vertical movement of the arm on the ball. By design or by wear? Who knows? It was quite loose with a lot of vertical travel when I took it apart. I lubricated the ball and cup and pin and socket with a good synthetic grease. I moves laterally effortlessly now, not that it was stiff before. I experimented with pin settings, as tight as I could get it to as loose as it was when I took it apart. Neither setting made any difference to the ease of horizontal movement, but I think it sounds better with it fairly loose with a bit more vertical play.

Along the arm, up from the base and over the curve, there is another loose ball and cup joint held together by a laterally placed machine screw which forms the axis for most of the arm's horizontal movement. There is a flange which limits downward movement. My arm was quite grubby here and was thus a little stiff. I cleaned it up without dismantling it and lubricated it with the synthetic grease. It moves effortlessly now.

The next point of articulation in the arm is where the lateral portion of the arm bends downward form a joint with the elbow tube that allows the soundbox/reproducer to pivot laterally for playing vertically cut recordings. Bearing in mind Inigo's dire warnings about this joint, I only cleaned it up externally and lubricated it lightly with a good quality oil. There is spring loaded ball in this joint with two ball sockets that indicate and lock the positions for vertical and horizontal play.

The final point of articulation on the arm is where the elbow tube meets the soundbox. The joint allows the soundbox to rotate up and down, up for changing needles, down for play. There is a spring loaded ball and a socket that indicates and locks the play position. I did nothing with this joint either other than give it a drop of oil.

[Lah Ca]

The Finish

Here it is ready for the show room floor.

Gibson guitar polish helped clean the grime of ages off the machine (and inadvertently exposed some long ago and very well done surface repairs on the top), all without stripping finish or stain. It also brought out the richness of the colour, heightening dark and light contrasts, and improved the definition of the figure in the oak.

With the grime gone, the 100-year-old plus varnish was a little rough. I think that the machine did not receive the best of care for a long while and was stored somewhere subject to wide temperature and humidity changes. On one side the finish is more badly checked - perhaps this side was exposed to direct sunlight.

After cleaning, I polished it up with a number of light coats of palm wax which will help preserve the varnish. The wax has brought a bit more showroom gloss to the wood, something closer to A-V's advertised piano finish anyways, It also makes it easier to dust. I will reassess in a few days after the wax has fully hardened and may add another light coat or more.