The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I agree about C & H (and related) styli, turn them and you're all set.

Sean

OrthoSean wrote:I agree about C & H (and related) styli, turn them and you're all set.

Sean

Just have to make sure they haven't been turned already

That's what the loupe is for!

Sean

This is an interesting topic!

I had both my C and my H reproducers worked
on by John Nagy back in about 1982.

He did a very professional job on both of them. I have since that time, examined both
of those styli under various types of
microscopes many times to check them periodically.

John turned both of them. Under 400x magnification and bright light, the old worn
surface on both can clearly be seen.

They were turned 120 degrees. That provides
(3) brand new working surfaces for each
original stylus. I cannot detect any
noticable wear on surface #2 of either of
of these reproducers.

It's fun to study Edison sapphire styli
under a microscope. Use the highest magnification you can find. I took them in
to a jeweler's one time and he let me use his
60x stereo diamond grading microscope. You
can't see as much detail at 60x as at 400x,
but at least 60x gives you a semi-decent look.

Chuck

I am new to the forums here but have a question if anyone can help me please. I am replacing a stylus for a two minute cylinder phonograph. I have been told that the ball on the end of a ballpoint pen is about the right size. Does anyone know about this?
I just need to know if the size is about right. Thank you, Dave

It's best to have a good stylus installed on your reproducer. I'm not sure if a ball point pen ball will fit, but I wouldn't take a chance. You'll ruin your record and possibly ruin the reproducer. It's best to send it off somewhere to have it done. PM me, and I will give you contacts or you can look at the links section on this forum.
Harvey Kravitz

Somewhere I learned that the DD stylus had a 3 mil radius. If that is true, then it is the same radius of the earlier 78 rpm record stylus's. Occasionally, on Ebay, those 78 rpm stylus's appear NOS. If only someone could develop a method of installing those on a DD needle bar.

startgroove wrote:Somewhere I learned that the DD stylus had a 3 mil radius. If that is true, then it is the same radius of the earlier 78 rpm record stylus's. Occasionally, on Ebay, those 78 rpm stylus's appear NOS. If only someone could develop a method of installing those on a DD needle bar.

I suspect the stylus profiles may be different, even if the radii are the same. Although I have not studied a 78rpm stylus under a microscope, I have examined the DD stylus in detail. The DD stylus looks like a cone whose tip is a perfect hemisphere, rather than a point. The tips of 78rpm stylii are probably more pointed or elliptical.

As an experiment I used a medium ball point pen ball as a 2 minute stylus. It appears to be the same MM as a regular 2 minute stylus. I just left the ball in the original short metal ball point mounting, removed the long plastic ink cartridge, removed the ink from the end with alcohol, and mounted it on my own homemade PVC floating Columbia Q reproducer. The interesting phenomena about this arrangement is that the ball rotates in its mounting yet not nearly as fast however as it cannot keep up with the travel of the cylinder record but ensures that no one side of the ball will wear more than the rest. It is also self-cleaning. It has incredible sound and will probably last as long or longer than a glass or even a sapphire stylus. The purists on here will probably have a little problem with my discovery but it is great for a "poor mans" reproducer.Actually this discovery was posted by another man on here several years ago so he gets the credit. In any case try it, It works very well. Dave