The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was wondering if you have some tricks for a poor man's speed calibration. I don't want to buy a fancy strobe light just to set the speed needle on my VIII.

Two things I thought of are:

1) Just set it to where it sounds good and call that 78 rpm.

2) Paint a white dot on the side of the platter, and count how many times it goes around in ten seconds. At 78rpm, it should go around exactly 13 times in 10 seconds. Adjust and repeat.

I will probably try method 2 unless there is something even better. It may be hard to watch the dot and the stopwatch at the same time.

I use a strobe label that is calibrated to work with AC current and a normal incandescent light bulb. You don't need to buy anything, such a label can be printed right off the computer for free.
-This one only works with 60Hz AC power such as used in the US, there are others that work with 50Hz.

Here you go:
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=16798

The lazy man's speed calculator:

Find a CD or a Youtube video of a record you own.

Set your machine until yours sounds like the video.

Just put a 10 inch record on the turntable, place a slip of paper under the edge so that it sticks out a bit, count how many times it goes around in one minute. Works fine for me.

I am glad I asked. I had a strobe light all this time and I never even knew it!

I would not recommend setting your speed from a Youtube video. I've seen too many clips where the speed makes everyone sound like Mickey Mouse! Here's what I do:

I select a record of a singer whose voice I already know very well, like Bing Crosby or Arthur Godfrey. then I adjust the speed until Bing sounds just like Bing!
Don't choose an instrumental record. An instrumental record can sound fine at a faster speed and can fool you. That's the easiest way in my book.

I purchased one of these a month or two ago based on a thread here. I love it. Not expensive, works well, and now all my machines are calibrated properly. I only have about 10 machines, but it was very easy to determine the rpm and adjust them.

http://www.amazon.com/AGPtek%C2%AE-Prof ... tachometer

They can also be found on eBay. I can't remember if I got it from eBay or Amazon, but I paid about $14 for it with shipping. Well worth it.

Matt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsCV66xCdOA
I FOUND THIS ON EBAY FOR 5.00 AND I USE IT ALL THE TIME FOR CYLINDERS it tell your speed and RPM's.

KEVAN