The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just another (of many) gimmicky gizmo's offered to a Victrola or Pathé owner of the day. The motto should have been 'Stop That Sound'... .
Has anyone tried one..?. I one-der how it sounds.. .

It might work on my cat if I threw it at her. I love all the gimmicks and gizmos of the talking machine age. Thanks for sharing.

From the looks of things, is this a thingie that fits into the needle chuck, then isolates it via a rubber bushing which connects to a separate second needle chuck for the actual needle?

PeterF wrote:From the looks of things, is this a thingie that fits into the needle chuck, then isolates it via a rubber bushing which connects to a separate second needle chuck for the actual needle?

That's about the size of it. Just can't see it improving sound and what on Earth does this have to do with scratching a record or the prevention of..??. Your still using a common steel needle. Ah, the claims that were made back then....snake oil!!..

I think the idea was that the rubber dampening would remove the surface noise (scratch). It really should work, although record wear will be greatly accelerated. Of course, along with the hiss, you'll lose some of the frequencies of the actual recording as well.

benjaminh wrote:I think the idea was that the rubber dampening would remove the surface noise (scratch). It really should work, although record wear will be greatly accelerated. Of course, along with the hiss, you'll lose some of the frequencies of the actual recording as well.

Why should it accelerate record wear? It should have the effect of making the movement of the needle more compliant, therefore putting less stress on the record groove. As you say, it would also limit frequency response.

I've done a similar thing from time to time. I break the eraser end off a pencil and push it over the end of the needle, allowing the needle tip to protrude. It filters the "hiss" out, (and probably some frequencies too), but can sound fairly nice sometimes.

I think this may be slightly different. I think that the rubber is actually the only connection between the needle bar and the actual needle, so the dampening may be quite a bit more. Of course I am just assuming based on the pictures.
Andreas

Jerry, my thought was just that record wear would be accelerated due to the fact that record grooves have to move a much larger, and heavier, object back and forth, as well as the angle of the needle in relation to the record being changed. Just what I assumed, I definetely could be mistaken.

Thats a nice gizmo. Thanks for sharing. I notice that the address of the company is 3018 E. 91st. St. in Chicago, that would be over in South Chicago, which is not far from me.

When I googled the address here is what I found. I wonder if the building is gone, or one of these may be the building.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3018+ ... -87.550374