The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was working on my first Brunswick ultona reproducer yesterday and ran into a problem. When I tried to very carefully open the Edison side to replace the gaskets, the little string that connects the stylus to the diaphragm just disintegrated with age. My question is, are replacements available or any recommendation on how to build a replacement.
The rest of the reproducer is in fairly good repair, just a very small amount of pot metal swelling. This is to my BR-160 from 1924.

measure how long it needs to be, and measure a piece of silk chord, clean the ends of the hooks out, and open up the crimped ends with an awl or pointed tool (unscrew the hook from the diapragm, so you do not accidently puncuture it.) Put some glue of your choice in each end, and then crimp with some pliers, let dry overnight and you should have a new linkage. I have done a few this way, and it worked.

dbl post

you can also try non waxed Dental floss my friend uses this for these that need a newer connector for restoration repoducers for Ultona.

I don't have a whole lot of the original string to work with, as it disintegrated. How long should it be?

Last night I removed the face plate from my Ultona and let the mica disc dangle from it still attached by the cord. The measurement from the top of the mica disc to the crimp connection that attaches to the stylus bar was almost exactly a ½ inch.