The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

"Wyatt's" number is on the website......707-263-5013.

thanks for that gramophone78
the web site is quite graphical, so was difficult for me to navigate, but now i have his number i will get some international credit and won't need to.

djoutrage wrote: I'm really hoping it is the horn/crane that is the problem, not some feed screw issue or other, but while this horn is original it's pretty heavy!

Clean and oil the mechanism and then try the machine without the horn.

Hi Steve,
is there a particular oil i should, or more to the point shouldn't be using? how would I get to the mecanism? do you mean the moter when you say that?
thanks in advance!

the reproducer is not hitting the cylinder as well at the end as at the begining of a lot of records. I just tried moving it to the blank part of a few cylinders, the very end and it does hit, but not very well. Hopefully that makes sense it might even clear something up to someone smarter than me!

As others have said, play it with the horn detached and see of the problem persists before you go buying new this and that.

I am going to try that before doing anything else. I'm quite confident it is the horn but if it isn't it will most likely have to go somewhere to be looked at.
The reason I havn't yet is that i know there's a cylinder i have that actually starts doing this quite early on, so i want to find that and a few others to test it with.
this is a very helpful forum!

hi folks,
i've been away a while, and just got round to testing this without the horn and it is the same.
The problem only happens at the very end of a normal cylinder, sometimes earlier on slitely longer cylinders which makes me think at some point something is preventing the stylus hitting the record, but always when it is so far along the mandril if that makes sense.
Is this a feed screw issue, then?
many thanks for your help!

Hi djoutrage.
I don't know why I didn't remember this earlier, but check the pressure adjustment of your halfnut. I had a Standard ICS machine that had light tracking (and sometimes none at all). It turned out that the halfnut was exerting enough upward pressure to actually lift the front of the reproducer carriage ever so slightly. Why anybody would have tweaked it that much is anybody's guess, but the cure turned out to be backing off the adjustment screw. Good luck with your machine and let us know what happens.
Regards,
Martin

hia,
Do you mean the screw rite next to the horn when you say halfnut? if not could you point out where it is?
Does it need to be tightened rite up or no?
I really enjoy listening to cylinders and this machine is perfect but for this problem.

The half nut adjusting screw is mounted in a bracket below the reproducer carriage arm. On the fireside it is at the back of the machine. It is a small grub screw, probably flush with its mounting. A small screwdriver will allow you to adjust either in or out, which increases or decreases the pressure on the feedscrew. It is easier to adjust if the carriage is taken to the far end. Please see photo. It is the small screw at the bottom of the bracket. The carriage show travel smoothly along the front guide (Where the Edison decal is mounted) Try this without the horn connected. It is still important to make sure the horn is balanced to minimise pressure when playing. Good Luck. Keep trying each alternative until you get the result.