Unknown Victor Horseshoe Magnet Reproducer

[rlb955]

I purchased some reproducers the other day and this was in the box. Can anybody tell me anything about it? I have several Electrolas and have never seen one like this.

[PeterF]

That is indeed unusual! Does it have some means of securing a steel needle, or is there something else going on?

[rlb955]

It is missing the thumbscrew. It goes thru the added brass piece on the front. I wondered if it could be a prototype.

[PeterF]

Would you mind posting additional pictures to show how a thumbscrew might fit? The added parts on both sides look identical from the shots so far. Can you get the cover off without disturbing the odd extra bits? Looks like it's possible.

[De Soto Frank]

Might this be an early electrical pick-up that just clamps on the U-tube of a regular Victrola arm, and then the wires go off to the amplifier ?

The text on the backside reads:

Supplied to the Victor Talking Machine Co. by the Radio Corporation of America, which suggests it is pre-acquisition...

[rlb955]

I couldn't get a picture of the hole for the thumbscrew but it goes thru the bottom of the added brass piece. I removed the magnet to show 2 brass screws with jam nuts used for some kind of adjustment.

[rlb955]

Here is a photo of the tonearm connection.

[PeterF]

Might those thin "crosses inside of circles" be springs that take the place of rubber bushings?

[rlb955]

Yes there are no rubber bushings.

[Phototone]

Just a wild guess, but could this be a model intended for Tropical climates, where the rubber damping would be prone to quick deterioration? Outside of the unique spring damping system, that looks like a standard magnetic pick up used on Victors first electric machines, that adapted a standard Orthophonic tone-arm to electric pick-up. The spring loaded contacts that mate with this pickup are just inside the tone arm and the wires run thru the tonearm, otherwise the tonearm is identical to an acoustic Orthophonic Victrola.