The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:02 am**

Steve wrote:You have no idea how much I'm kicking myself over the Pugh gramophone! If only I had the space for that....arghhh!

Steve,

That’s the problem with collecting these machines (as opposed to say collecting coins or mp3s). At the moment, I have 63,704 mp3s¹, not counting all of the the .zip archives that I’ve gotten and not uncompressed (mostly Japanese pop). With everything else in my apartment, there’s no way I could fit 63,705 records in it. And with that many phonographs...I’d need a very big warehouse. Although, if enough of them were unique types, it’d be a great museum collection.

Steve wrote:One response which is missing would be "rebuild reproducer and lightly dust the case". That would possibly most accurately describe what I do to MOST machines I get (but not all). I ALWAYS rebuild any soundboxes as a matter of course because getting the best sound out of each machine is what is most important to me. There have been a few exceptions where I couldn't do this with cast soundboxes which are sealed etc but otherwise, they all get rebuilt.

This is a really good point, and one on which I’d agree with Steve. If you’re collecting the machines to be able to play records on them, as I imagine that most of our members are, doing simple things like replacing gaskets (because the rubber tends to harden with age) is important and is not very difficult. Like Steve commented as I was writing this²:

Steve wrote:There would be no satisfaction in owning anything for me.

And in a lot of cases, to be in optimal working condition, I don’t think that a lot of these machines take a lot of work, unless you buy ‘parts’ machines or ones that have been sorely neglected.

And actually, that gives me another (entirely separate) poll idea...

But from my limited experience, it’s amazing how much difference a soundbox rebuild can do.

— MordEth

[hr][/hr]
¹ If anyone running Mac OS X is interested in seeing this, open Terminal and run:

Code: Select all

mdfind "kMDItemContentTypeTree == 'public.audio'" | grep [Mm][Pp]3$ | wc -l

On Linux, one can use:

Code: Select all

find -name "*.[Mm][Pp]3" | wc -l

(‘mdfind’ is faster than ‘find’, even with passing it through ‘grep’, but is not available on Linux—it’s the command-line Spotlight tool.)

² If you click ‘Preview’ while you are composing a post, the forum will show you any replies that were made to a thread while you were writing.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:26 am**

I've gone one better than simply rebuilding old soundboxes; I've rebuilt soundboxes that previous (usually short-term owners or dealers) owners have already rebuilt!

The soundbox is the heart of the machine. Without it functioning as well as possible, you are compromising the rest of the machine. No horn system can put back what the soundbox has already "lost" in terms of information pressed into the record. The soundbox should be very sensitive and maintained at this level for maximum compliance and performance at all times.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:44 am**

Steve wrote:I've gone one better than simply rebuilding old soundboxes; I've rebuilt soundboxes that previous (usually short-term owners or dealers) owners have already rebuilt!

The soundbox is the heart of the machine. Without it functioning as well as possible, you are compromising the rest of the machine. No horn system can put back what the soundbox has already "lost" in terms of information pressed into the record. The soundbox should be very sensitive and maintained at this level for maximum compliance and performance at all times.

I couldn't agree with you more, Steve! There have been many times I've done exactly as you. I've even re-done past rebuilds of my own even and have a few more of my own "past" jobs to do again, including a few Exhibitions I did years ago that I want to replace micas on, these I believe still have originals in them.

Sean

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:48 am**

OrthoSean wrote:I want to replace micas on, these I believe still have originals in them.

That's interesting, Sean. Are you saying that as a matter of course, all micas should be replaced? I have many soundboxes with "visually" perfect original diaphragms. They have a nice crisp ring to them if you tap the edge on a hard surface. I do not replace these but should I be doing so?

Steve

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:54 am**

It depends...I know my Victor III came with a really nice mica in the Exhibition, it plays nicely and sounds pretty good, BUT it has developed a small crack in it over the years (my fault, I'm sure), so I'd like to replace it. If it looks nice and clean and sounds good, I leave them.

Sean

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:33 am**

My last half dozen or so machines were "barn fresh" so generally, I have no choice but to do some serious work.

For me, bring the machine back from the dead is half the fun.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:09 am**

saxymojo wrote:Hi David
There were 3 votes, I think the 3rd may have been Shane, if I know him as well as I think I do, he is like me and does the lot.
Who voted just wipe it over with furniture polish

Regards Marcel

No, wasn't me.
I've been working on a couple machines all night & only just sat down at the computer.
There must have been another crazy spring changer present

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:01 pm**

Steve wrote:If the motor runs quietly and smoothly and holds a constant pitch, why pull it down unnecessarily?
Steve

The first thing I do with a new machine, regardless of condition is pull down the motor. You don't know if the motor was done last week or 80 yrs ago in most cases. I think reconditionong the motor is just as important as reconditioning the soundbox, and just as nessecary.
Even though a motor is running well & silent, chances are there will be dirt & dust in the teeth of the gears, and simply oiling the motor might make it sound a bit quieter or run a bit smoother, but you might as well be adding a cutting compound to the brass & steel gears.In my mind, it's a bit like adding fresh milk to sour milk. It might taste ok at first, but it's going to go off pretty quickly

While I too like my machines to sound their best, I also like to know that everything is CLEAN & lubricated.
Pulling the motor down & cleaning it also gives you a chance to inspect the gears & bearings for wear etc.
Even if you're not a mainspring kind of guy, it's always a good idea to clean & lube everything else.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:23 pm**

Hi Shane
These are my thoughts exactly, at least when I have done it I know that every thing is oiled/greased and running well.

Hi Steve
You are right about having every machine running well, every machine I have works and works well. When friends come to visit and I show them my machines I always ask, is there any machine in particular you would like to listen too, I know that the machine they choose will perform the way it should.

Regards Marcel

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