New versus old needles.

[jboger]

I just bought soft, loud, and medium needles on eBay. I note that these are different from those made and used back in the day. My questions is, any difference? That would be, any difference in sound reproduction and wear to the record, or anything else I may be missing. Like to hear what people think.

[Victrolacollector]

There was a thread on this before, click on the link, I also expressed some interest in this subject.


http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ike+childs

[Silvertone]

There were several companies that made the needles back in the day (Victor did not make their own needles), and this may account for the difference that you see. A couple of those companies are still in business today and make needles in the same way. There was an article about one of them in one of the older Sound Box issues.

[jboger]

Thanks for the link. I read through it rather quickly and came away with a sense that some people have a preference for one brand over another but that there was no consensus that any one brand was better than another, or putting it negatively, worse than another. I bought from one of the suppliers mentioned in that thread. People seem to be satisfied with the product.

In response to Silvertone: I made an oversimplifying assumption. I've only seen a few old ones and they looked the same, and so I thought they were all the same. And then I get these new ones and they look different.
Still, I went back to that old thread and I did like the appearance of those needles on the left-hand side of the photo that was posted. I believe they were Chamberlain needles. The taper of the bottom-most one seemed to match the few genuinely old needles that I've seen.

[Edisone]

More of the shank was tapered, in years gone by. Today's Medium & Soft toned needles depend on smaller diameter wire, more than a long taper.

I believe that all American needles are now produced by either Bagshaw or John M. Dean; am I correct? I have been told that Dean's are not very good, but my experience tells me otherwise: I have never had a problem with them at all.