The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I noticed this today after playing a record on my Columbia Nonpareil and then the flip side on my Columbia favorite

I’ll try and get clear pictures, but the Nonpareil needle bar seems to be slightly longer? And it’s angled outward, not straight down like the one on my favorite

Any ideas about this?

Also the needle bar on the nonpareil is a different shape than the one on the favorite

The needle bar on your Nonpareil's No. 6 has been bent inward toward the diaphragm. It should be perpendicular to the record surface.

George P.

George says it all. I too believe the needle should run absolutely perpendicular to the record and parallel to the diaphragm.

Huh that’s interesting! It sounds really good as is..... do I need to fix it?

How could it have gotten bent? It was like that when I got it

Yes, you will definitely want to fix this one if you want to use the machine. That angle digging into the groove walls like that is going to ruin your records (not to mention the chance of getting a "dud" in those spear pointed needles, which is why I switched to quiet & medium needles.)

Probably something bumped against it once and bent it inwards. You'll need to take it off the diaphragm & redo that-- If you haven't already rebuilt it now is the time while you are straightening that needle bar. .

I have rebuilt the reproducer but wasn’t sure about the needle bar

Any tips for straightening it? Is there a good thread on this?

In the Welch/Read "From Tinfoil to Stereo" the appendix has an excellent Maxfield write up on the Orthophonic soundbox design. I recall that Maxfield mentioned the armature ratio was modified. Although Maxfield does not explain the reason, I believe reducing the ratio helps the tracking compliance on electrically recorded discs. This especially applies to the first electric discs as they followed a constant velocity equalization curve. That is, the bass groove cut will be more heavily modulated and as frequency rises, the modulation amplitude decreases.

Hence I expect the Columbia soundbox armature ratio depicted here was modified for the same reason.

I posted earlier that I believe the playback of electrically recorded discs on acoustic era soundboxes such as the Victor no.2 and Exhibition may be better reproduced if the stylus (steel needle) is fastened extended in the stylus chuck to roughly replicate the Orthophonic stylus bar ratio.

Governor Flyball wrote:In the Welch/Read "From Tinfoil to Stereo" the appendix has an excellent Maxfield write up on the Orthophonic soundbox design. I recall that Maxfield mentioned the armature ratio was modified. Although Maxfield does not explain the reason, I believe reducing the ratio helps the tracking compliance on electrically recorded discs. This especially applies to the first electric discs as they followed a constant velocity equalization curve. That is, the bass groove cut will be more heavily modulated and as frequency rises, the modulation amplitude decreases.

Hence I expect the Columbia soundbox armature ratio depicted here was modified for the same reason.

I posted earlier that I believe the playback of electrically recorded discs on acoustic era soundboxes such as the Victor no.2 and Exhibition may be better reproduced if the stylus (steel needle) is fastened extended in the stylus chuck to roughly replicate the Orthophonic stylus bar ratio.

That is a really interesting point. Normal electric record sound terrible on a No.6 but they sound pretty nice on this one! Here’s a pretty late electric victor