The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My "new" portable gramophone arrived today. I'm not sure who made it; there's a label near the brake that reads "Handel Concert". I bought it because it has a Garrard (no 12) motor and a Thorens reproducer. Being a Hi-Fi enthusiast, I've owned a Thorens TD-160 turntable since the 1980s and recently acquired an old Garrard SP25 Mk III deck to play my 78 discs. The modern cartridge I'm using is an Audio Technica AT3600L which tracks at up to 3.5 grams and I've fitted a special 78 rpm stylus. I also have an old Shure SC35C cartridge (popular with DJs) which tracks at up to 5 grams. This was used by BBC Radio 3 in the late 1970s to reduce LP surface noise.

The reason I'm writing is because I just measured the tracking weight of the portable gramophone (using a digital kitchen weighing scale) and it tracks at 157 grams! Boy did that give me a shock. I thought 5 grams was heavy but 157! No wonder those steel needles wear down after one side (I checked a new needle after playing one side and it definitely showed at least two flats).

My question is this: who would risk playing any valuable gramophone records on a vintage gramophone? Surely if you want to preserve your valuable 78 collection then you need to play these discs on a modern record player with a 78 rpm cartridge.

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

You have posted your inquiry in the section devoted to tech support for this forum - - not tech support for antique phonographs. You will receive more responses if you post this under "Machines" or "Music."

To answer your question - - you're absolutely correct. Valuable records should not be played on vintage equipment for the reasons you cite. Fortunately, only a small fraction of 78 rpm discs or cylinder records can be considered "valuable," and they exist in the many hundreds of thousands (probably millions in the case of 78s), so we collectors can play common records on antique phonographs to our heart's content.

Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls newcomers occasionally encounter is not knowing a valuable record when they see it. This, coupled with the common misconception that steel needles can be used repeatedly, can cause the premature ruin of a valuable record. Thankfully, this seems to be a relatively rare occurrence.

George P.

Thanks George for letting me know the correct forum for this discussion. Your own reply is probably enough for me, so I may not bother posting it on the correct forums unless I have something further to add.

If it's a decent quality machine, if the soundbox/reproducer is in good order (rebuilt, working correctly and supple) and if a new needle of good quality is used every record, groove wear is negligible, virtually nil. I have no problem at all playing a valuable record with a steel needle occasionally, although I mostly use thorn needles which are kinder to almost all records.