The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I haven't tried it but playing Pathé's on my Brunswick which uses a much different set up from the reproducer that Pathé used made me wonder what would happen if you put a Pathé stylus in a regular tone arm? Has anyone tired this and if so did it work? I am trying to figure in my head what might be different enough in the designs not to work?

Larry

Humm. Interesting question. As I remember, the Pathé stylus is ball shaped, rather than sharp like a steel needle, and I think Pathé record groves are both wider and more shallow, so I am guessing it would not work well for a regular 78, but have never tried it.

Clay

Only if you have a machine where the soundbox can be rotated to a lateral position.
If you put it into a machine with the soundbox in the lateral position and play a Pathé disc it will track and you'll get a sound but not much more. If you play a lateral record with a Pathé stylus you will get very little sound and it won't track the grooves properly.

Yes I would be for Pathé records not vertical types. But I am still not sure why the vibration is picked up differently. I wondered that due to the fact that the brunswick has the diaphragm flat to the record where the Pathé has it upright. I guess its necessary for the stylus bar to be in the middle with the wide portion of the diaphragm centered to the direction of the record? Seems odd that the vibration wouldn't pick up either way?

Larry

I think the difference between the Pathé and Brunswick soundboxes has to do with the design of the Brunswick arm. You only have to rotate the soundbox 90 degrees to go from a lateral to a vertical setup.

As long as the stylus bar is vibrating in the right plane, it doesn't matter whether the diaphragm is parallel or perpendicular to the record surface.

Bill

Pathé were aware that some owners would want to play their discs on a conventional machine, and produced this :