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I have to replace the felt on my (sorry... once again...) recently acquired HMV 163. Despite having a cabinet - to my greatest luck and surprise - without the slightest ghost of woodworms, the felt has been literally eaten out by moths.

Twenty years ago or such, replacing a felt would mean to purchase some felt remnant and then cut to size. Honestly I never managed to do a good job with that, excepting perhaps the occasional external horn machine or Victrola where the excess could be trimmed at the outer edge by using the turntable itself as a template. In any case I don't have good memories of this work: once I almost cut a pair of my fingers by trying to use a worn 12'' record as template. Most of all, I hate to see poorly trimmed or mis-centered felts wobbling left and right when the turntable is spinning.

I've seen that recently some pre-cut replacements have become available. This sir in US seems to offer pre-cut felts of any custom size, in a nice assortment of colours (quite oddly, he doesn't mention the word "gramophone" in the title of his ad):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Cut-Rep ... PFiU7W07pA

Did any of you ever tried these replacements? Are they really well round and well centered?

Any similar product available in Europe, perhaps?

Hmmm ... coincidentally, I JUST bought one from Walt Sommers for my "new" 31a, hopefully arriving tomorrow. I'll post about it when I get it. This orange color seems a pretty good match for what's left of mine (which I presume is original). I'm guessing our machines have some similar hardware.

(I have a lot of little gripes and grumbles to vent about regarding this machine but at least now she'll LOOK a bit better.)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Victor-Victrol ... %7Ciid%3A1

Thanks for your message, I'm looking forward to your review of this product!

SteveM wrote:(I have a lot of little gripes and grumbles to vent about regarding this machine but at least now she'll LOOK a bit better.)

Steve... if you remember, at the risk of being tedious and meddlesome, I tried to refrain you in every way from your idea of selling your TERRIFIC pair of twin BIs and buy... that thing! As other fellows also tried to tell you, that's a cheap late machine made with leftover parts for an underdeveloped (no offense intended) country which will never even remotely reach the quality of your BIs. As unbelievable as it seems, you had an outstanding setup that I was (very positively!) envious of, but now all of a sudden mine setup surpass yours manyfolds. How could this happen?

If you still have the chance to have your BIs back, grab'em and carry them back home is (once again, and for the very last time, I promise) my advice.

A turntable with a true ninety degree edge can be easily trimmed with a whetstone. ( a abrasive block to sharpen knives) I would imagine your HMV turntable to have such an edge.

1- cut your felt slightly oversized.
2- cut a hole for the spindle.
3- glue the felt to the turntable. Use white glue or spray glue. Turn the turntable upside down and put a little weight on it. Dry overnight.
4- With the whetstone at a 45 degree angle make a firn motion down and across the edge of the turntable. Continue with that down motion around the turntable.

This will work on any turntable with a ninety degree edge. It's easy and you can replicate a perfect factory edge. I have never damaged any plating. Yes, the scraping sound is not pleasant but it's over quickly. Try it on a spare turntable. Sorry, but this method will not work on turntables with a rounded edge.

Jerry B.

Jerry B. wrote:A turntable with a true ninety degree edge can be easily trimmed with a whetstone. ( a abrasive block to sharpen knives) I would imagine your HMV turntable to have such an edge.

Unfortunately, the 163 is equipped with the rounded edge turntable similar to those found on Victor Orthophonic Victrolas.

Marco Gilardetti wrote:Thanks for your message, I'm looking forward to your review of this product!

SteveM wrote:(I have a lot of little gripes and grumbles to vent about regarding this machine but at least now she'll LOOK a bit better.)

Steve... if you remember, at the risk of being tedious and meddlesome, I tried to refrain you in every way from your idea of selling your TERRIFIC pair of twin BIs and buy... that thing! As other fellows also tried to tell you, that's a cheap late machine made with leftover parts for an underdeveloped (no offense intended) country which will never even remotely reach the quality of your BIs. As unbelievable as it seems, you had an outstanding setup that I was (very positively!) envious of, but now all of a sudden mine setup surpass yours manyfolds. How could this happen?

If you still have the chance to have your BIs back, grab'em and carry them back home is (once again, and for the very last time, I promise) my advice.

Thank you Marco! I welcome every bit of your advice, of course, and I certainly heeded it. The BIs are still safe here with me. I certainly appreciate their quality and beauty now. I'm so grateful to you!

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I have to replace the felt on my (sorry... once again...) recently acquired HMV 163. Despite having a cabinet - to my greatest luck and surprise - without the slightest ghost of woodworms, the felt has been literally eaten out by moths.

Twenty years ago or such, replacing a felt would mean to purchase some felt remnant and then cut to size. Honestly I never managed to do a good job with that, excepting perhaps the occasional external horn machine or Victrola where the excess could be trimmed at the outer edge by using the turntable itself as a template. In any case I don't have good memories of this work: once I almost cut a pair of my fingers by trying to use a worn 12'' record as template. Most of all, I hate to see poorly trimmed or mis-centered felts wobbling left and right when the turntable is spinning.

I've seen that recently some pre-cut replacements have become available. This sir in US seems to offer pre-cut felts of any custom size, in a nice assortment of colours (quite oddly, he doesn't mention the word "gramophone" in the title of his ad):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Cut-Rep ... PFiU7W07pA

Did any of you ever tried these replacements? Are they really well round and well centered?

Any similar product available in Europe, perhaps?

I have not bought felt from this seller, but I have bought from Walt Sommers (cyber_tigger) more than once with great results.

I assume the one seller doesn't use the word "gramophone" in his listing because he is in the USA and selling primarily to Americans. Americans use the word "phonograph" in all cases. We do not ever use "gramophone".

Jerry B. wrote:A turntable with a true ninety degree edge can be easily trimmed with a whetstone. ( a abrasive block to sharpen knives)

Thank you very much for the tip Jerry, I didn't know about it! Although - as alerady pointed out by AZ - it doesn't apply to HMV 163 turntables, I'll definitely save it for another day!

SteveM wrote:The BIs are still safe here with me. I certainly appreciate their quality and beauty now. I'm so grateful to you!

That's reasssuring news, Steve! I'm looking forward to see again pictures from one of your shows with those stunning BIs in action!

52089 wrote:I have not bought felt from this seller, but I have bought from Walt Sommers (cyber_tigger) more than once with great results.

Thank you, I'll keep this name in mind as well, even though he doesn't seem to sell the type of dark brown felt with which HMV 163 were equipped. Reassuring news is, however, that these pre-cut felts seem to be of satisfactory quality and... "roundness"!