The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a bent thumb screw on my Victor and when I went to unscrew it all the way it kinda got hard to unscrew at the very end so I stopped.
I screwed it back in and left it. The threads aren't crossed cause when I went to my other victors it was the same thing, easy to unscrew till the very end. I am assuming that when the needle is in and the thumb screw seats it there is a small amount of threads exposed between the reproducer and the needle and it's just dirt??? I don't want to snap it off.

I suppose if they tightened it on the needle with some force the end may have mushroomed slightly.I'd leave it in unless you need to remove it for some reason.

Since you report that all of your needle screws behave similarly, my guess is that those needle screws were staked at the factory, i.e., the end threads buggered up, to prevent removal (and loss?) of the screw, although the screw on my Exhibition/XI comes out all the way without any resistance at all. When I have a soft-tone needle chucked in the holder, I can see maybe one turn of thread on the outer part of the shaft, and about four turns on the shaft end next the needle; for medium and loud needles, more or less would show, of course.

rizbone wrote:I suppose if they tightened it on the needle with some force the end may have mushroomed slightly.I'd leave it in unless you need to remove it for some reason.

Something this simple and I never gave it a thought.... I'll leave well enuff alone...
Thank You!!