The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

An excellent example of lateral thinking! Would never of thought of using the ball from a biro as the stylus point. You've gor excellent results from it too.

S-B-H

I tried the ball point pen method a year or two ago. I wasn't nimble enough to get the ball fastened squarely on the cantilever without making a mess of it in the process, got sticky stuff everywhere, so I gave up.

If I owned a microscope perhaps it'd be easier.

WDC wrote:I have worked with Pathé sapphire records very successfully.

May I ask what's the record you used in your sample? That kettle drum is wild - must have shaken the entire recording horn! Oh, and how many plays do you get from a steel ball contraption?

It was a Dutch center-start, recorded in Amsterdam, all orchestra recording. I gave it to a friend of mine as a present so I don't have it anymore and I forgot to write down the label info.

I have played a few dozens of these Pathé discs and so far no sign of wear to the ball. It's not a big surprise to me as the weight is only a fraction of an acoustic arm, plus the contact surface is much larger than the one of other styli. I expect it to last almost as long as my other 78rpm styli.