The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Say I wanted to mod my C-150 for long play. Say I cannot afford the equipment to do it. Now say that my father has connections to several machine shops. Do y'all think it would be terribly expensive or difficult to get a long-play mechanism attachment copied? If it turns out not to be, then the only remaining hurdle would be to convince another collector to temporarily donate an original part for the copy to be modeled from.

I think it would be cheaper to buy original parts or a whole machine, than to pay a shop to tool up and replicate them. Then there is the matter of finding an LP reproducer with intact diamond.

If I were you, I wouldn't waste time experimenting with it. Most of the LP music is dreadfully boring, and lacking in sound quality. I installed an attachment once, and used it once. I then let it sit for five years and then sold the kit to someone else. Historically, it's interesting, but it's just not that much to write home about practically.

Best,

Garret

Okay then, I won't worry about it. Are there any other nifty ways to mod a C-150, besides adding a second spring which I've already done?

winsleydale wrote:Okay then, I won't worry about it. Are there any other nifty ways to mod a C-150, besides adding a second spring which I've already done?

Small-block Chevy ?

De Soto Frank wrote:

winsleydale wrote:Okay then, I won't worry about it. Are there any other nifty ways to mod a C-150, besides adding a second spring which I've already done?

Small-block Chevy ?

lol

You could give your C-150 a Dance or Edisonic reproducer, that would also be a upgrade that was available.
-Tom

LP is great fun, but mainly as an exercise.

You get satisfaction from finding and installing the gearing conversion and getting it to work, and from demonstrating it to interested parties who would never experience it otherwise. (In that regard, let me extend an open invitation to Forum members to drop by for such a demo, should they find themselves in the SF Bay Area.)

The records are so valuable now that it's scary to play them, and the content is mostly awful anyway.

While playing you have to make sure nobody walks heavily, and heaven help you if there's a spring thump - record will skip and likely get a new ding at that spot that will skip thereafter.

Custom fabbing the conversion, rather than finding original LP components, is an exercise in throwing away one's cash. May I suggest that you instead create a Five-Year Plan for collectivizing Michigan's farms or perhaps increasing its steel production, and submitting it to the Politburo for consideration by the Party General Secretary? After all, Comrade, what is the true value of bland dinner music, albeit played at extended length but at meek volumes, when measured against the potential agricultural or industrial triumph of the Michigander Proletariat?



P.S. The only other way I'd upgrade your C-150 after adding the 2nd spring barrel and Edisonic reproducer would be to add a Motrola auto-winder. There's nothing more to be done other than increase the horn size, which is prevented by the cabinet's geometry. The Duncan electric auto-stop would work but would be an incorrect application and preclude use of the Edisonic reproducer without electric connectivity/insulation modifications, plus they are not much more than a novelty in practical application.

I don't do collectivism, and I don't do electricity (seriously, I can't remember the last time I bought an electrical device - even this computer was a gift). So, I guess that the dance reproducer or Edisonic is the last step.