The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Guys, If you have a C or H reproducer that needs a stylus, all you have to do is move it. If you look close, they are in the shape of a door knob. After many years, they get a flat spot on them. Therefore, just take tweezers, heat it up a little and turn the stylus to an unused spot. Be very careful, they are small. I use a set of jewelers lens when I work on these things. This is a trick of the trade that the phonograph repairers don't want you to know. I have personally seen one guy do this and charge his friend for a new stylus?

I haven't personally done this, but a watch repairman friend has. For Diamond Disc reproducers he uses a small diamond Dremel wheel and repoints the stylus by hand. I have seen him take a DD reproducer that was scarring a disc and repoint it where it was like new. Obviously he uses a magnifying headband like watchmakers to see what he is doing. Don't put the wheel in the Dremel, just use it as a hand tool. The wheels are available through Harbor Freight and work well for other uses, as well...

[quote][I have seen him take a DD reproducer that was scarring a disc and repoint it where it was like new. Obviously he uses a magnifying headband like watchmakers to see what he is doing.quote]

I've never heard of this method. Has anybody else had experience with this? With the recent batch of issues with the British company's stylus, I'm just curious.

I'd like to see that guy's re-pointed DD needles under a good microscope. I have examined quite a number of Edison stylii, from new to worn under a stereo microscope more powerful than what a gemologist uses, and I know precisely how they ought to look. Am I to believe a guy can grind a precision stylus to original specifications free-hand using nothing but a Dremel and magnifying headband? I hate to sound sceptical, but frankly, I really am. As many of us know from other threads, even a company called Expert Stylus has had problems grinding them right, and I should hope they have better tools than that. Evaluating a stylus by whether it visibly cuts a record after a couple of plays is too crude a diagnostic.

I agree. I haven't got any DD styli from you know where that turned ou to be any good. I'd love to know how someone could possibly grind an old stylus into a "good" new one?

I did have an Edison H reproducer on my Edison Standard model F that stopped working. I think I played too many Blue Amberols with it. I gave the H reproducer to a guy in our club and all he did was turn it around to a good side. Now it works again! On the Diamond disc machines I tend to agree with the above comments. I know some guys replace the Edison diamonds with a good one from an Ultona reproducer. What do you think of that?

marcapra wrote:I know some guys replace the Edison diamonds with a good one from an Ultona reproducer. What do you think of that?

That should be okay. I own several Brunswicks and think they were well made, and I don't expect their diamonds to be an exception (even though I have never put one of those under the microscope - yet).

Although I have played some Edisons on a Brunswick, I would not make a regular habit of that or play my best records. Granted that the Brunswick diamonds are good, nevertheless the Edison record grooves alone must propel the Brunswick tonearm and massive head, unlike the gear-fed Edison. That has to cause more lateral groove wear than the Edison reproducer. Just exactly how much faster a record would wear, I can't say.

OrthoSean wrote:I agree. I haven't got any DD styli from you know where that turned ou to be any good. I'd love to know how someone could possibly grind an old stylus into a "good" new one?

The answer is; they can't.

"The answer is: they can't"

Like I explained previously, I have not done this, but I have watched another collector/watchmaker do this successfully. Was it perfect or "as new" as viewed under a stereo microscope - I doubt it, but it works. In other words, instead of a damaged stylus that chews up records, this was made useful enough to play DD's without any black residue or scarring. Would I use it on an expensive rare copy? No. But, for the most part the DD's that you might want to play using this method are probably ones that you would not want to play using your best stylus, either. I would venture to say that the majority of original stylii that have not been replaced are probably no better if they have been used constantly for the past 90 years...

I don't know how you could this with a DD reproducer. But it works on all the others. I have done it many times.