longest tonearm?

[epigramophone]

Other than an EMG/expert, which machines had long tonearms? I've seen an HMV 461 with tone arm that looked to be much longer than what we ordinarily find. The HMV 101 portable has a relatively long arm compared to many others I've seen, but the geometry does not look ideal.

Does anyone have information on this? I'm trying to find something suitable for a project I'm working on, without having to resort to fabricating an arm from scratch or modifying an existing arm.

Gilbert and Novaphonic gramophones have very long tonearms.

The Novaphonic tonearm, made by Taylor's of Huddersfield, resembled the Gilbert "Bugle" and was sold as an accessory.
In this 1931/2 Maxitone catalogue it is pictured bottom right, where it is described as the "Mammoth Arm".

[poodling around]

This ?
I would have to contact the owner to find out the name, it's over in the Australian Facebook forums.

That’s a Gilbert.

They look as though they ought to be good performers with that extra length of tapered tonearm, but I've always found Gilberts rather poor.

Oh, how odd, my floor standing Mahogany Gilbert gramophone sounds superb. (Perhaps you are referring to portables with which I have no experience).

Having said that, my Novaphonic portable rivals HMV 102's.

The tone arms are indeed very effective in my opinion.

[CarlosV]

They look as though they ought to be good performers with that extra length of tapered tonearm, but I've always found Gilberts rather poor.

I agree, Andy, Gilberts are disappointing. I have a floor model with nice unique features, the long curved arm, internal light, the good-looking pearl soundbox, but its reproduction is not the best, although it is very loud, one of the loudest I have.

[poodling around]

They look as though they ought to be good performers with that extra length of tapered tonearm, but I've always found Gilberts rather poor.

I agree, Andy, Gilberts are disappointing. I have a floor model with nice unique features, the long curved arm, internal light, the good-looking pearl soundbox, but its reproduction is not the best, although it is very loud, one of the loudest I have.

Oh. I wonder which model you have ? From what you say probably one of the 'squat' ones, like the number 61. The taller ones do actually sound much better.

[CarlosV]

Oh. I wonder which model you have ? From what you say probably one of the 'squat' ones, like the number 61. The taller ones do actually sound much better.

It is model 56, about 1 meter tall. The horn is not big, but I never saw a Gilbert with a large horn. Even their taller cabinets like model 51 have small horns.

[anchorman]

I guess I should have posed the question - longest tone arm with reasonable geometry/design. The Gilbert style is interesting to look at, but a lot of extra mass that should be underneath the motor board somewhere.

Looking for longer tone arms that have relatively good geometry that would be kind to records.

[CarlosV]

Looking for longer tone arms that have relatively good geometry that would be kind to records.

Ignoring the ones that are very hard to find (Experts, large HMV reentrants), my choice would be the larger Victor machines, like the Credenza or the VV 8-30. Its tone arm is well designed, the only drawback being the pot metal back bracket, but for which you can find modern replacements. The large Columbia (model 810) is also well designed and about the same length as the Victor.

[Watanabehi]

Looking for longer tone arms that have relatively good geometry that would be kind to records.

Ignoring the ones that are very hard to find (Experts, large HMV reentrants), my choice would be the larger Victor machines, like the Credenza or the VV 8-30. Its tone arm is well designed, the only drawback being the pot metal back bracket, but for which you can find modern replacements. The large Columbia (model 810) is also well designed and about the same length as the Victor.

The earliest model of Credenza (two doors) has a tone arm without a pot-metal back bracket.

Hideki

[anchorman]

Did the arm from the 202 get used on any of the smaller machines?

[Inigo]

I own a 194, and I know its arm is larger than those of the 163, 157, 150, 130 etc. I don't know if the 202 had the same arm as the 194 or it was still larger.