The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Ever since, I started to collect 78's. The bulk of of my collection, has been "Victor" records. Oh sure I have a few other labels, but they have been mostly the victor label. Also, being fairly close to New Jersey, kind of helps too. The one thing I have noticed, with collecting 78's, I have never had a single problem with the victor records. Where as, I have with other labels. I have put a record say Puritan on, and it would stop the machine, and then I would lift off the reproducer, and the turntable would start to spin again. My explaination for this would be, ground in dirt in the grooves. I have not encountered this problem with any of my victor records. At least not yet? (fingers crossed).

Anyone else have this problem? I know distilled water, and some mild dish soap might help. I also heard, useing a cheap face peal would do the tirck as well.

Paul

The reason could be dirt in the grooves, but also the weight of the record itself. I noticed that my Columbia portable can easily play 2 sides of a Victor record on 1 wind, but with heavier records (Columbia, Imperial, Harmony) I have to rewind after one side. If cleaning doesn´t help maybe a smaller stylus can reduce the friction (soft tone instead of medium). One collector showed me another trick: he rubbed some Pledge (furniture polish) on the record. But I´m not going to do that. I spend a lot of time to clean my records, so I´m not gonna put sticky stuff on them again!

Thank You Bart!

Paul

bart1927 wrote:One collector showed me another trick: he rubbed some Pledge (furniture polish) on the record. But I´m not going to do that.

I am by no means an expert, but I think I would be very hesitant to do this to any record—there have got to be better ways to clean them than furniture polish, especially since it would leave a residue on the record itself.

I’ve seen Pledge (linked to their site) used on enough furniture, and I think there are better products for that purpose, as well.

Does anyone have any better cleaning tips that Edisonfan (and other collectors) might take use?

— MordEth

Paul's observations are correct. I've had a Victrolita (aka Victrola 1-1) for a number of years. It's a "problem" machine in that the motor lacks power, and after having three different phonograph service people go through it, the thing still doesn't work worth a darn. Strangely, I have noticed that it plays most Victor records just fine, especially batwing labels. Throw another brand of record on it, and it will grind to a halt in about 3 rotations. I wonder if Victor used a less friction-inducing surface versus other brands.

My guess is that the surface of the Victors and some other eras of the others were harder. I think those Banner Columbia's and perhaps even early victors were prone to dragging when they became somewhat worn. I have Columbia's I have mention in the old group that stop the machines, even with a good spring. The needle is cutting into the record due to something either wear or humidity effecting the surfaces. There was some sense that wasn't the case, but I am reasonably sure it is. I recently found a rather early blues type orthophonic out here and it looked quite dull. When I tried it on the Credenza it also came to a halt. In fact it even stopped my electric turntable! So it has to be the record surface. Dirt I am not sure is the issue.

So it's the records themselsves, that are causeing the machine to slow down? Larry

Paul

Could be the records. Cheaper discs like Puritan, Cameo, Banner, Grey Gull, were pressed in a cheaper grade of shellac which doesn't stand up as well. They weren't really intended to- you bought a cheap record to get the latest dance tune.

That would explain why two of my Zon-O-Phone records, slowed down the machine.

If your machine is playing other records without issue then the record is the only variable you have. Now an then a record will do this, most are noticeably dull (worn). Others seem to be due to as mentioned poor quality surface ingredients that just are too porous and place a drag on the needle. I find it worse with soft tone needles that are very thin and can easily dig in so to speak. Often a loud tone needle will play some records that a soft won't, but then some just won't.