How Do You Rebuild Birch Reproducers?

[Oceangoer1]

Does anyone have any tips on how to rebuild these Birch reproducers? They are the ones that come on those cheap, mass produced portables of the 1930's and 1940's. The one in the video below actually sounds pretty good, so I know it can be done.

Also, what would be a suitable replacement diaphragm for these? I have one with a busted diaphragm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjGnxPuylU

[GrafonolaG50]

There is a reproducer almost identical to the one in the video in "The Compleat Talking Machine" on pages 49 and 50.

[winsleydale]

I would be interested in seing how this is done, as well. I gave one to my brother so he can play electric 78s on his little Silvertone brick (which I also gave him), and while it sounds okay, the diaphragm is all bent. Unfortunately, it looks to be retained by a ring that was riveted in place.

[AllWoundUp]

I have an RCA Victor portable with (I'm pretty sure) the same reproducer which I rebuilt some years ago. I ground off the rivet heads to take it apart, then drilled them out, tapped the holes & used small screws to reassemble. I replaced the munched diaphragm with a metal one I got from Phonographs.org and used white rubber tubing (for a victor reproducer) for diaphragm gaskets. Sounds pretty good. I'm at work now but I'll post some photos tonight. I might even have an extra diaphragm in my parts collection, I'll look & let you know.

[Curt A]

This may sound crazy, but a suitable diaphragm can be made out of a soda can. Use scissors to cut open a can and then cut a piece large enough for your reproducer. Place the curled side up and use double stick tape to hold it flat on a piece of cardboard. Use a craft circle cutter with x-acto type blades to cut the exact diameter... attach the needle bar to the center and use Victor gasket tubing. It provides a nice replacement for nothing and the best part is that you are re-cycling...

[AllWoundUp]

Found the record player, it turns out i rebuilt 2 similar reproducers, here they are:

And here are some diaphragms, top one is the original, the other 2 are ones i bought from phonographs.org. They are bigger than the original, the ones I used i cut down to size w/the scissors on a swiss army knife.

Here's a video of the silver one playing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyA3t4TmBSg

[Oceangoer1]

So I tried the soda can diaphragm ( can't beat free! ) and I used new gasket tubing, sealed each connection to the diaphragm with beeswax. I adapted it to my Orthophonic tonearm to test it, and it produced decent sound.

Now. I am not sure how tight the needler pivots are supposed to be, but I just tightened them enough to reduce the bad side-to-side movement. Not really expecting anything big from those as they are really simple and kinda crappy at holding the needle bar.

Also, the little piece of rubber that is supposed to act as a flange crumbled, so I just wrapped my tonearm in teflon tape to act as a flange.

I am noticing it is nearly wrecking my records as it plays, but I have a lot of broken records that I use for testing purposes.

Is there anything else I need to do to get better handling of records? I'm not so much worried about sound quality as I am worried about it not damaging records.

[a12548]

Connor,
Florida Clay has one for sale..good price if you want to just go that route.
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =9&t=24770