Concert Reproducer too high causing skipping

[danohallaron]

I just checked the diameter of my Concert and Grand cylinders. I took a length of belting material about 18 inches long and wrapped it around the cylinder and let the ends of the belting pass each other. If you mark where the start of one end passes the other end, you can now lay the belt against a rule and get the circumference of the cylinder. (convert fractions to decimals) Dividing the circumference by pi (3.141) will give the diameter of the cylinder. The distance from the center of the record to where the stylus will contact the record will be one half that amount. The Edison records that I measured (maybe 6) were all 5 inches OD or slightly more. The Columbia Grand cylinders that I tested (maybe 5) were up to an eighth of a inch smaller (4-⅞") OD. So the Columbia record surface is 1/16" lower from the reproducer. When I play the Edison records on an Edison machine, the stylus has the usual mid range of travel. When I tried the smallest OD Columbia cylinder on the Edison machine, it did play but the stylus barely touched the wax surface. Other records may be even smaller.
Even Edison machines must have some manufacturing tolerances and the problem might show up on one machine and not another but again, the stylus barely reached the wax of the Columbia cylinder.
Dan Z.

Very interesting. I have noticed some variation and maybe that would explain that. It doesn't explain why my one Concert plays them all and the other doesn't. But this leads me to believe I would be better with Edison wax....especially given the high cost.