The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

The phono in question dates to the late 1930s/early 1940s.

As the others have said: 1 needle = 1 play. Then it is discarded to prevent record wear. I can't tell you how many people I see re-using needles not knowing they are causing premature wear to their records.

I'm confused. It seems like many people have different ideas on how much time you can you one needle. Just how much more damage would it cause by using it on the second side of a record being played? Should I only do one side?

QuickDog wrote:I'm confused. It seems like many people have different ideas on how much time you can you one needle. Just how much more damage would it cause by using it on the second side of a record being played? Should I only do one side?

1 needle = 1 side of a record. Then discard it.

I think you'll find that's the consensus among collectors and that's what the manufacturers recommended when these machines were new. Needles are cheap and plentiful, so why risk it?

These are not like the electric phonographs that play vinyl that many of us grew up with where you could get many plays from a single cartridge. Play one song, swap the needle, throw it away.

1 needle = 1 side, if it is a very good record you wish to preserve, but 1 needle = 2 sides is just fine for ordinary or worn out records.

BTW- if you play later 30's and 1940's records on this, which would be appropriate for the era, you might want to try some soft tone needles, especially if you play dance band records.

QuickDog wrote:I'm confused. It seems like many people have different ideas on how much time you can you one needle. Just how much more damage would it cause by using it on the second side of a record being played? Should I only do one side?

I said in my post above, "steel needles .. were designed to play one or two sides of a record before changing." In actual practice, though, I only play ONE side of a record with a steel needle before changing, as do many collectors, as noted above.

These two pages do a pretty good job of explaining needle wear --

http://www.hmv-gramophones.eu/technical/needle/

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wardworks/Gramophone/ (This one is more about fiber needles.)

HTH,
Joe

I just got the needles in the mail today and they sound great. But, I used the same needle again on a very worn out record (I used a needle once on the ones that have normal to little wear) and it actually had a less "cracky" sound to it. Is that normal?