1949 Capehart flipover changer Model 115P2 "Modern" video

[Kirkwood]

Beautiful Capehart, Bob, and a very well-produced video to boot. Thanks for showing us the various features and how they operate, and I have to admit---wonderful sound! I have several friends in the area with Capeharts, most are earlier versions but no less fascinating. This looks much like one I saw for sale in the DC region a while back----if this is it, my hat's off to you and to Chuck for a superb restoration job. Fine music selection for the demonstration too!

[phonogfp]

Bob,
I just watched your video, and my wife - lured by Ella - came over to see. We watched the whole thing (which isn't such an accomplishment on my part, but to get my wife to watch anything phonographic for over 30 seconds is an extraordinary feat). I remarked, "You know, I wouldn't look twice at that if I saw it at a house sale!" And my wife replied, "And you'd miss something pretty cool!" Believe me - that's high praise.

Bob, you should be making videos! Congratulations on a wonderful machine, a beautiful restoration, and an impressive video.

George P.

[gramophone78]

Bob,
I too think the video is fantastic. Although not my collecting field, I must also say I'm surprised to see the same grill used on this Capehart as my 1948 Zenith port-hole TV. We call it the "basket weave" grill. the blonde color cabinet (like yours) was for the "hipsters" or up and coming of the day. Brown walnut was the traditional color in ones home at the time. My Zenith was advertised as the "Manhattan".

[antique1973]

Awesome Capehart! Thanks for the cool video.

[wjw]

That is one fine machine in a first-rate presentation. I wish I could do that- lazy dummy that I am.
I had a Capehart of that size a long time ago. Red mahogany with fold-down radio rather than a swing open door. No tuning eye and AM-FM only. The changer (which was mounted on snazzy black wood, rolling out of the cabinet onto the open down-swung door) was simple, using a spindle that squeezed an elastic band to hold the stack of records while the bottom one was released. I'm surprised the amazing changer in your machine was still offered so late in the game. Thanks muchly for showing us!














fabulous machine

[barnettrp21122]

Thanks for all the comments above! This machine was found on Craigslist, of all places, but was out in Milwaukee. A couple had bought it from a doctor's estate sale, brought it home, and decided it was too much a project, I guess. I had it shipped via blanket freight back to Maryland. Chuck did all the electonic restoring, and was most patient with my questions and expectations.
The biggest problem with the player (which has two motors-one for the turntable and another for the changer mechanism) was that the changer motor mounts crumbled to bits when removed, and I had to devise a way to redo those. Another problem was removing a giant oil stain from the carpet...dripped out from an over-filled gearbox. I used nearly a whole bottle of Goo-Gone!
Bob

Gramophone78-That is one cool tv set! Imagine both of these units in someones's beach house back in the day!
B.

[gramophone78]

Bob,

Yes the two together would look great. You would have seen them in a very posh up scale condo in Manhattan.... . A young doctor or designer maybe??.

[Wolfe]

I'm impressed by that beautiful tone arm design! Given the offset "S", and the mounting point of the arm at that remove from the tt, gives a tracking radius that would seem to very closely approach straight-line, in effect. Amazing!

That was the cherry on the sundae for me as well. Advanced design for that era, not spied again for at least another decade.

[gregbogantz]

Nice Capehart, Bob. It's funny - I've been talking about the Capehart 16-E and 41-E changers and the great consoles they were put into here on the TMF for quite some time. I never got much of a rise out of any of my comments, so I guess it took your video to wake people up. Even though there are plenty of YouTube examples out there to be seen.

Are you certain that this is a 1949 model? The reason I ask is that the 41-E2 changer came out in 1949 and played both 78s and 33s. I don't know for sure, but I had expected the E2 to have replaced the earlier 78-only 41-E model. But maybe they offered both of them for a while in the same model years. The E2 had interchangeable tonearms, rather than changeable styli within a single cartridge as was commonly done with other multi-speed players. When you changed the tonearm, a mechanical selector was also triggered which changed the platter speed - one tonearm for 78s, the other one for 33-1/3rpm.

I believe this feature was unique to Capeharts. The Capehart P-77 (78 and 33rpm) and P-777 (3-speeds) drop changers also featured interchangeable tonearms. These were based on the earlier P-70 series of 78rpm changers. As wjw mentioned, these changers used the "umbrella" type stack spindle where the records were supported solely by the record spindle - there was no record stack stabilizer arm. This type of spindle was commonly seen in 1970s era Dual, PE, and later Technics changers, and most people thought this idea originated with these european models. Nope. Capehart was doing it starting in 1947 in the P-70 series changers.

The cartridge used in your Capehart was one of the first of the GE variable reluctance (VR) pickups which were introduced just after WWII. Close observers may have noticed in your video that the still picture of the 41-E changer in the catalog photo has a different looking pickup head. Yes, the first of the 41-Es had the Pfanstiehl variable resistance pickup which was housed in a clear lucite headshell as you see in this photo. This pickup proved unreliable, so Capehart switched to the GE VR design. In fact, they made a retrofit kit available to previous buyers so that they could change their older pickups to the newer GE style.

Capehart did not supply these GE pickups with diamond styli - they were osmium tips, softer than sapphire. So they wear out pretty fast. So you may want to check yours often for wear. The original stylus on these GE VRs was not user-replaceable. You were supposed to replace the entire pickup head and cartridge (it plugs into the end of the tonearm, just like modern designs). Try finding one of those these days. In the Capeharts that I have, I have replaced the original GE VR with a newer cartridge. You can pretty easily replace the original with a later GE RPX model which will fit into the same headshell and which DOES have replaceable styli and for which you could get diamonds. But it's hard to find them these days. I put the yet newer GE VR-II carts in both my P-777 tonearms which also uses user-replaceable styli and which track at less force than the earlier VRs. If you look around, you can find diamonds for these. But the sapphires are still quite common (Pfanstiehl still makes them).

Anyway, the N and P series Capeharts like yours were the last of the really good Capeharts. Later models were cheapened considerably, and the 41-E changers were abandoned and replaced with VM changers. Pretty much like every other US manufacturer did. Except for Zenith who continued to make their own changers into the early 1960s.

[barnettrp21122]

Thanks, Greg, for your information. I base the year of manufacture on the chart in the Robert Baumbach book, which lists P series units as being made in 1949. I have the supplemental service sheets for the 41 E2 changer (with the switchable tonearms), but there's no date on it. The Baumbach book mentions that the E2 was made available for an extra 80 dollars, and dealers were told that existing 41E inventory could be retrofitted at the factory. So I guess maybe it was up to the buyer to decide to spring for the added features or not. According to the book all 41-style changers had stopped being made by approximately January 1950.
This machine came with the original GE VR pickup, but I have fitted it with a later GE RPX model, just as you have suggested above.
Thanks again!
Bob