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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321271292783? ... 26_rdc%3D1

Has anyone seen one of these with the etching? EMG Fiber Needles.

I might be wrong but this looks very dodgy to me.

chunnybh wrote:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321271292783? ... 26_rdc%3D1

Has anyone seen one of these with the etching? EMG Fiber Needles.

I might be wrong but this looks very dodgy to me.

I thought the same. I asked a trusted knowledgeable friend (you will know who Chunny), and he thought so too...

Astonishing price!

I'm amazed that he couldn't copy the word fibre correctly from the jar.

He did well on this speed tester eBay Item #321271284948 , but it's curious to note he put the completely supurfluous letters EMG in the title of the listing.

I always write fibre but my spell check automatically converts it to the American spelling of fiber.

The pictures here are as evasive as possible and the lid , what you see of it, could be from just about anything.

At £125, I was thinking it was a useful jar with lots of needles and a decent cutter. The desiccator (zinc?) container also looks usable.
The oddest thing about this jar is that it does not have the ground glass lip on the jar. To create an airtight seal, both lid and jar should have a ground glass finish.

At £255....ouch!!!!

OUCH !

I wish I hadn't put a Buy It Now on mine ! It was listed for 4 hours , Ah well !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231122548775? ... _996wt_958

Although replacemant triangular bamboo needles were sold in small jars. they were supplied with the original scissors in a dark brown bakelite box three and a half inches square and two inches deep when my EMG machine was purchased new from EMG. All my needles are now fairly short from being shaved after every side played. Does anyone still make them? You would make an 80 year old lifetime owner very happy.

Ruthrose wrote:Although replacemant triangular bamboo needles were sold in small jars. they were supplied with the original scissors in a dark brown bakelite box three and a half inches square and two inches deep when my EMG machine was purchased new from EMG. All my needles are now fairly short from being shaved after every side played. Does anyone still make them? You would make an 80 year old lifetime owner very happy.

There are several discussions of fibre (bamboo) needles somewhere on the forum, and of people making them, but there is a very good account here by Chris Ward: http://www.wardworks.org.uk/ - he may be able to sell you some, or if he doesn't have any available at present, Rob Girling appears to have some in stock http://www.camcentre.co.uk/fibre-repoin ... p-186.html (which I believe were also sourced from Chris).

Back in the day, they were usually sold in packets (as by EMG and Expert themselves) or small boxes (as by HMV) - the jar you remember was probably a desiccator, in which they would be kept prior to use to keep them dry.

Having just read the most interesting link given by Orchorsol, on the making and possibly doping bambboo needles, I was surprised to see that under various 'recipes' there was no mention of using Chromic Acid.
I have not myself done this for a good many years, as the gramophones have 'till recently been out of use, but I did find that by pickling for a few days in in chromic acid had a decidely beneficial effect, the needle points holding up well in loud passages.It was also easy to judge the state of pickle by the change in colour. The needles were then washed and of course thoroughly dehydrated.
I cannot claim that the idea is original to me, as I remember reading about it many years ago.... but where I have completely forgotten.