The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Messing around with my fireside I was trying to reduce the gear noise, I found that putting a thin layer of PVA glue over the gears teeth, keeping it running so the gears don't stick together and it has completely reduced the noise of the gears!, you may want to try it!

Keeping it running forever, or ... ?

No offense, but that sounds like a pretty bad idea...

I used peanut butter on the gears one time... the only problem came when I got hungry and tried to lick the gears... my tongue still hurts!

Interesting, and easy to undo if it doesn't work. I suppose the glue leaves a thin film of rubber-like compound on the gears, which absorbs noise. Heavier oil might work, too.

I'd think it would leave a flat spot where the gears come to rest, which would cause a Thunk in the playback.

Stick to grease.

Modern gears are commonly coated to reduce friction and the build-up of unwanted deposits.

Google PTFE coating gears.

Modern gears also commonly avoid the simple straight-cut gears you will find in many places on your phonograph. If produced more recently, helical teeth would have been used instead.


I think it is always interesting to experiment, as long as you do not damage the phonograph, and it can always be returned to its original condition. Remember though that, apart from problems due to wear and poor adjustment, the gear noise from the non-coated non-helical gears on your phonograph is authentic.

It could be said to be authentically cheap-and-nasty for many of them!

Well, unless you don't try it with one of the early rawhide gears it should worth a trial. Sounds to me pretty much like a clever idea instead of a bad one.

A friend of mine once recommended an additive for cars that loose oil pressure. It does work but will last for a prolonged time. This would be a final question for me, how long will the glue last?

It does work well, however I imagine this is only a temporary solution, I think the glue fills the gaps between the gears that has been worn away over the years however this will probably wear away quickly aswell however, I don't know how long yet because I currently don't have a working reproducer so the fireside has been out of action for a while!

Which gears? Motor or upper feed gears? I have found that with motor gears, returning them as clearly as possible to original alignment, unless there is damage rather than normal wear, is key to a more silent running machine. I recently rebuilt my Triumph D2. In this machine, all gears, except for the one that runs directly off the spring barrel, are setscrewed to their shafts, and the shafts run in laterally adjustable bushings all of which gives a wide range of adjustment. Having dismantled and cleaned EVERYTHING, I started reassembly with a cleaner slate than I had anticipated. I spent several hours over several weeks tweaking gear position, shaft position and endplay to get the gear train to run as freely and quietly as possible and that time spent was well worth it in terms of performance.
I used white lithium grease on all gear teeth except for the fine-toothed governor gears. On those I used a lighter weight grease containing PTFE. It is intended for use in model train drive gears and is sold in train and model stores. It seems to give better results than either white lithium grease or oil in that particular location. I have also used this grease on the upper gear train of my Standard D with good results.

Jim