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Another newbie question after searching for the answers (admittedly not in exhaustive fashion.) Well, two questions actually. My new VV-90's No.2 Reproducer has a factory misaligned 'needle holder' -- not sure what this part is called. If you look at the picture you will see that the thread on the thumbscrew intersects the triangular-shaped needle bore off axis. The result is that the screw hits the wall instead of coming down directly over the opposing angle. The upshot is that a 'loud' needle can be held in place but a 'medium' and a 'soft' needle fall out, since their respective diameters are too small. I say this was a factory problem and not a prior owner 'cross-threading' problem b/c the thumbscrew turns very smoothly w/o any slop from mis-threading. However it happened, this leads me to two questions for the Forum:

1) Does a 'loud' needle produce more record wear than a 'soft' needle? I've been told that the abrasive in the shellac wears the needle instead of vice-versa but I still suspect there must be 'some' degradation due to playing, even if it is just abraded 'needle' shavings piling up at a different rate.

2) Whatever this 'needle holder' is really called, does anyone have a good one I could buy? Even if 'loud' and 'soft' needles result in the same record degradation I don't like the idea of only being able to play records on 'loud.'

Your thoughts will be appreciated.

John

The triangle hole in the needlebar was designed for bamboo needles and obviously thicker steel needles... I am not certain about this, but I think that newly made soft tone needles are slightly smaller than the equivalent needles of the period. The use of loud tone steel needles shouldn't affect the wear on your records, since they were made to withstand steel needles. The soft tone equivalent of the period were bamboo needles and thorn needles...

John3313 wrote: 2) Whatever this 'needle holder' is really called,

Needle chuck.

I no longer have a No. 2 sound box to compare it to, just an Exhibition and an Orthophonic, and in both cases, the triangle hole is positioned like this:
...so that the screw tip goes right to the corner when tightening the thumbscrew.

I used to have a couple of No. 2 sound boxes and used new production soft tone needles all the time, until the new production medium tone needles finally became available, and never had an issue clamping the needle tightly. I also never noticed any more wear than a loud tone needle produces over time, which has been minimal since I only use a fresh needle to play one side of one record, making sure the sound boxes have been properly overhauled with fresh gaskets, etc..

You can probably find a replacement needle bar assembly from a variety of suppliers, or from one of the members by posting a Wanted add in the Yankee Trader section of this forum.

OrthoFan

OrthoFan wrote:

You can probably find a replacement needle bar assembly from a variety of suppliers, or from one of the members by posting a Wanted add in the Yankee Trader section of this forum.

OrthoFan

Unfortunately, needle bars for a No. 2 seem to be in short supply. I could use several of them, if I could get them. Ron Sitko does sell a nice reproduction needle bar, with the thumbscrew and balance springs as a kit. He does not sell the needle bar by itself.

Looks like you could file the first few threads a little allowing the screw to travel deeper before it jams?

-bill

Could it be that the original thumbscrew broke off and that someone tapped a larger hole for a larger thumbscrew, which is a common repair approach I think? The thumbscrew in the picture looks to be a bit thick, besides being a bit off angle.

Yes, Ron Sitko sells complete needle bar assemblies for Exhibition and #2 reproducers for $25 if I remember correctly.

Andreas

I took a picture of mine just now [never had an issue with holding soft tone needles] and dimensions and angle look the same to my eye but as you can see it screws in much deeper ... maybe a short replacement screw or perhaps a thread issue?

Thanks for all the great advice and info. OK, I think it looks like a 'low risk' option to trim back the first few threads to see if that allows enough tip travel to seat the soft needle.

Happily, filing down the first couple of threads worked to the point where 'medium' needles now fit as well. I'll probably quit while I'm ahead rather than risk more tinkering with that tiny screw.