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I wonder if you can use standard gramophone needles instead of using the HMV Silent Stylus with an electric 78 player ?

I also wonder, does anyone know when the HMV 2102 electric portable was made and any other information about it ?

Thank you very much for any help you can give.

poodling around wrote:I wonder if you can use standard gramophone needles instead of using the HMV Silent Stylus with an electric 78 player ?

I also wonder, does anyone know when the HMV 2102 electric portable was made and any other information about it ?

Thank you very much for any help you can give.

You might get away with extra Soft tone needles but you would need tho change them frequently

soundgen wrote:

poodling around wrote:I wonder if you can use standard gramophone needles instead of using the HMV Silent Stylus with an electric 78 player ?

I also wonder, does anyone know when the HMV 2102 electric portable was made and any other information about it ?

Thank you very much for any help you can give.

You might get away with extra Soft tone needles but you would need tho change them frequently

Thank you Very much Soundgen - your advice is really appreciated.

Having acquired, by some long-forgotten accident, a few packets of Silent Styli, I once tried the exact opposite, namely to use one of these in an ordinary acoustic machine (H.M.V. 109 fitted with a later 5B sound-box). I did not hope for much success; for one thing these needles are so short that I had to position it in such a way that it was only just secured by the thumbscrew, and for another they are so thin that I expected no more than a tiny thread of tone, like that of a standard soft-tone needle. In fact the experiment worked remarkably well; the tone was similar in volume to that of my normal Songster Pick-Up needles, which are similar in gauge to standard 'medium tone' needles, but there was a significant reduction in surface noise and a slight but perceptible improvement in bass response. The only drawback was that the point lasted only for about twenty sides rather than the advertised 100.

Oliver Mundy.

Menophanes wrote:Having acquired, by some long-forgotten accident, a few packets of Silent Styli, I once tried the exact opposite, namely to use one of these in an ordinary acoustic machine (H.M.V. 109 fitted with a later 5B sound-box). I did not hope for much success; for one thing these needles are so short that I had to position it in such a way that it was only just secured by the thumbscrew, and for another they are so thin that I expected no more than a tiny thread of tone, like that of a standard soft-tone needle. In fact the experiment worked remarkably well; the tone was similar in volume to that of my normal Songster Pick-Up needles, which are similar in gauge to standard 'medium tone' needles, but there was a significant reduction in surface noise and a slight but perceptible improvement in bass response. The only drawback was that the point lasted only for about twenty sides rather than the advertised 100.

Oliver Mundy.

That is interesting.

I actually found a spare unopened one in the gramophone I think.

That is not a "Silent Stylus". For one thing, it's sapphire tipped, whereas Silent Stylus are steel. It's also much too big, and as it says top right, for LPs. Silent Styli were 78 only.

A Silent Stylus is very similar to a standard soft tone needle, but it is much shorter, and the top two thirds are painted black.

Phono48 wrote:That is not a "Silent Stylus". For one thing, it's sapphire tipped, whereas Silent Stylus are steel. It's also much too big.

A Silent Stylus is very similar to a standard soft tone needle, but it is much shorter, and the top two thirds are painted black.

Yes, that is exactly the kind I have. They come in packets of 10.

Oliver Mundy.

Thanks - great information and appreciated.

Hi.

I also have an electric machine that uses Silent Stylus. I was fortunate enough quite a few years ago to buy about 50 boxes containing 12 packs per box of the Silent Stylus. You really should use the correct stylus for the pickup.

Cheers Marcel