Sterling Adaptor plays Pathé records on Diamond Disc Player

[CDBPDX]

Just brought home an Edison H-19 Diamond Disc player with a Sterling adaptor to play Pathé records. Watch in action on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf9FWO0s-WU

Only problem is, the adaptor is stuck in the horn. Tried a couple things, still frozen solid. Oh, well, at least I can play Pathé records. Has some funky kind of diamond(?) stylus.

CDB

[Phototone]

That adapter is not just for Pathé records, it will in fact play common lateral 78's, by swiveling around the soundbox, but it may be stuck. Be sure to use a steel or fibre needle for regular 78's.

[pughphonos]

Hi CDB. Is this the first Edison you've owned? I'm fairly new here and don't know you. If it is your first Edison, you might not know how to change reproducers. There's a rotating collar at the end of the tube that leads up from the horn; it needs to be gripped and twisted to the right as far as it will go; the reproducer should then slide out (when pulled) with no problems.

If that's not the issue and the reproducer is still stuck, well, that's the darndest thing. Never heard of that problem before. As long as you grip the back of the reproducer firmly with one hand and the top of the horn assembly with the other, you'd be ok to apply a fair amount of pressure.

Ralph

[VintageTechnologies]

I have a simliar type Edison adapter, but mine is a Fletcher brand and is made of pot metal. As you might guess, the pot metal swelled enough that I had to sand the adapter to fit completely into the horn. Assuming that you already know to rotate the locking collar on the Diamond Disc horn to release the reproducer, it is reasonable to suppose your adapter has also swollen. I'd start with some penetrating oil to loosen it.

Use a good loupe or microscope to examine the stylus. You will commonly find two kinds: 1) More often, a large ball sapphire, or 2) possibly a smaller pointed diamond stylus. Use only the ball stylus or you risk cutting the Pathé records. The pointed diamond stylus was really meant to play Edison discs on other machines and would not be correct to use in your adapter.

[CDBPDX]

The adaptor swivels smoothly to play either Pathé or lateral records. It plays lateral records very nicely with the installation of a regular steel needle.

The adaptor is firmly stuck in the horn. The horn collar moves slightly back and forth against the 'peg' that secures the adaptor in the horn, but the adaptor is stuck solid. 3 days of application of WD-40 inside and out has had no effect so far. Tried freezing, that didn't work either.

Last time I tried heating in a similar situation. It worked, but also melted the lead out of the pot metal - a real mess.

What's next?

CDB

[OrthoSean]

You're better off using penetrating oil. WD-40 really isn't any good for stuff like this. Let it sit, be patient, work slowly. It will come off eventually. Sterling adapters are my favorite of all the DD adapters I've seen / own / used. They sound very good (comparable to a Victrola #2 soundbox) when rebuilt and most of them have better pot metal than the Kent ones and some others.

Sean

[VintageTechnologies]

I wonder if there is any chance of removing that locking pin, even to the point of scarring it to remove it? Is it soldered or brazed in place? The pin in my Fletcher adapter was simply press-fit in and came out pretty easily. You could easily make another pin if that one got buggered by the pliers. Sometimes you have to break eggs to make an omelet. With the pin removed, you could have more chance of twisting or yanking out the adapter irrespective of the horn's collar, once the penetrating oil has done its job.

[CDBPDX]

The locking pin is a wee rod that goes through the shank from one side to the other and sticks out on one end. Hate to break that off. I got some Liquid Wrench, give that a few days to do it's work and see what happens. I'm hoping for the best!

A little bit of searching found the last Sterling adaptor that sold on eBay sold for $285. That alone would more than cover the purchase price of all 3 machines. Gonna try to keep it as original as I can. 'Twould be a pity to break it.

CDB

[Edisone]

A little bit of searching found the last Sterling adaptor that sold on eBay sold for $285.

CDB

$35 to $50 would be enough, despite what Ebay people in a bidding frenzy pay. It's even more common to get such an adaptor with an Edison, for no extra charge.

ps- Something called "PB BLASTER" has worked nicely for me, in a couple of Phono and Auto circumstances. It is stinky, be warned !

[FellowCollector]

ps- Something called "PB BLASTER" has worked nicely for me, in a couple of Phono and Auto circumstances. It is stinky, be warned !

You've got that right. Recently I was trying get a really stubborn turntable off a common VV-VI and reached for my PB Blaster and squirted just a teeny tiny bit around the turntable spindle. We have a good sized home and I was in a room well away from the main entrance door when I used it. My wife was away for a few hours so I figured I'd be OK using that little bit of it. Wrong! As soon as she walked in: "GREAT! What is that horrible SMELL! It's giving me a HEADACHE. THANKS A LOT! Why couldn't you do that OUTSIDE...". Oh boy....never again will I use that stuff in the house.

Speaking of playing Pathé verticals, I have a lot of them and with all of the phonographs I have in the collection I still don't have a means to play them with a period machine - at least I don't think I do anyway. I have quite a number of oddball reproducers here including a couple of the VICSONIA reproducers in their original boxes but I've never tried using them! Anyone out there have any luck with the VICSONIA reproducer to play Pathé vertical records? My apprehension is that I don't want to risk ruining any of the Pathé records I have as they're all really nice condition.

Here is one I would love to hear: