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Jerry, you beat me to it!

In case more images will be any help, here are those I just took. Click images twice to enlarge.

George P.

Many thanks to Jerry and Georges for their wonderfull pics and advices and, by the way, to all members! This forum is an invaluable ressource for all phonographs collectors.

Now, I understand how is working the reproducer and I assume that the needle bar is soldered to the center of a coated metal (rather than mica) diaphragm.

phonodesbois wrote:Many thanks to Jerry and Georges for their wonderfull pics and advices and, by the way, to all members! This forum is an invaluable ressource for all phonographs collectors.

Now, I understand how is working the reproducer and I assume that the needle bar is soldered to the center of a coated metal (rather than mica) diaphragm.

No, the needle bar is not soldered to the diaphragm. It simply pushes against the little metal disc in the center of it. No physical attachment.

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What Jerry said.

Note that the one-piece spring/knife-edge pushes against the needle bar with very slight pressure. This creates the connection between the needle bar and the diaphragm, and keeps the diaphragm in place.

On my example, I have installed a tiny piece of rubber tubing as insulation to prevent buzzing during play. I don't know if this was originally done, but I find it improves the reproduction.

George P.

Now, the obvious question is: where can our new friend in France get a complete needle bar, gasket and mica to complete his reproducer? This is new to me, since I have never owned one of these later model machines...

Is the button at the center of the diaphragm an aluminum rivet? There appears to be a very narrow slit in the backside of the needle bar in the area where the needle is located. Does it serve a purpose? Or, is it a clue to how the needle bar was manufactured? Since it appears that I'm going to have to duplicate one of these for my Yankee Prince--just wondering.

Thanks, Wm.

5Orient5 wrote:Is the button at the center of the diaphragm an aluminum rivet?

Yes. At least it appears to be aluminum.

5Orient5 wrote:There appears to be a very narrow slit in the backside of the needle bar in the area where the needle is located. Does it serve a purpose?

As far as I can tell, it serves no purpose. If I were fabricating a duplicate, I'd simply drill an appropriate-size hole in a brass block.

Good luck - -

George P.

Replicating an item that was mass produced on specialized machinery can be a challenge. However, with patience and a bit of luck, not to mention sharp files, it should be possible to make a close facsimile. We shall see.

Thanks again, Wm.

Good luck on making these pieces.

I think the slit in the back of the needle bar is from manufacturing; the piece appears to have been stamped out from a solid chunk of brass & then folded over. You obviously would not be doing that to make a one-off piece.

At the Johnson Victrola Museum (I got to go there a month or so ago--it is lovely. They could stand to have some of our guys drop in and fix the 9-55 and the Auxetophone) they had on the wall a bunch of pieces representing the manufacture process of an Orthophonic soundbox. The Orthophonic is a lot more complicated than an Aretino reproducer, but it still has a needle bar folded out of a single piece of metal.

Will this machine play regular 78s? I always thought the adaptor was an integral part of the turntable but I do not know Aretino phonographs; there was one of them in a collection that I got to see but other than that they are something of a mystery to me.

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:Good luck on making these pieces.

At the Johnson Victrola Museum (I got to go there a month or so ago--it is lovely. They could stand to have some of our guys drop in and fix the 9-55 and the Auxetophone) they had on the wall a bunch of pieces representing the manufacture process of an Orthophonic soundbox. The Orthophonic is a lot more complicated than an Aretino reproducer, but it still has a needle bar folded out of a single piece of metal.

Yes, I thought that was you. The people working there told me of your visit and how impressed they were by your knowledge. I DID repair their Auxetophone motor in the past, but now the compressor is broken and that is beyond my skills. I definitely don't want to try and learn on such a rare machine. Similar for the 9-55, beyond my skills and they are not even looking to fix it. They only have a few demonstration machines, the rest are for display only. But yes, it is an amazing place to visit. I've been helping them for years and always take the time to just hang out and marvel at the machines.

Andreas