The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

After much trouble as usual with the cabinet tonight I am setting up the William and Mary Console in my Living room. It sounded very quiet running out of the machine and without the turntable. But tonight its obviously in need of some adjustments and I am lousy at figuring out what they may be.

As soon as I put the turn table on it the the motor started making that somewhat familiar sound of a pulsating sort of rattling I have usually felt was the governor? I have heard some motors do this only when they are nearly wound down. This one did quiet down considerably when I wound it but as it plays and you pick up the arm or put on another selection its back to noisy sounding. Anyone know what to try. If I recall right on my upright Chippendale it made a similar sound and I tried that business in the repair manual of letting it run with the screws loosened on the ends of the governor shaft but it never really made much if any noticeable difference.

Larry

I guess I will have to answer my own question as after quite a bit of toying around with the two screws on the governor shaft ends I was able to return the motor to nearly silent running. At first I had it out of the machine again as the speed control was no longer increasing the speed enough to go 80 revolutions and I needed to see how to increase it. Boy that was simple once I realized how it worked. A small adjustment on the large Hex cap bolt on the linkage to the felt pads and it moved the pads closer or farther away allowing for lots of room to adjust the speed again.. Those screws on the governor shaft were touchy for sure. I found that out of the machine I kept thinking I had it quiet only to find that with the turntable back on it became noisy again. So when I put it in the machine the last time saw that I could adjust the screws from the front of the horn opening area. I just backed off the screw on the end away from the pads and made small adjustment as to how tight it was and to my surprise it started running very well. That is a first I think.
More fun was the adjustment for the 10 inch stop which was also off, as was nearly every other possible adjustment to the machine that someone prior had been able to tinker with.. Now it is at last playing. One thing I have found abit odd is that the sound seems somewhat muted in an odd way. When I compared it to the S 19 still in the room and having the favorable direction to play across, the console still sounded richer due to the horn size and when you stood back the effect was good, even if not as direct as the smaller machine which is better positioned.