The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

As much as we shake our heads at YouTube videos of people misplaying machines: such as playing an Edison Diamond disc with a steel needle, or putting the tonearm on the wrong side of the record, I’m sure many of us more seasoned collectors did such things with our machines when we were starting out.

I’m willing to admit, when I first started I didn’t always change the needles after one play, and I ruined an early Jazz Pathé disc by trying to play with a steel needle. And I tried to play 1940s era 78s.

And admit it: some of you tried to play LPs and 45 RPM records on your first acoustic machines. (Yes I know some acoustic kids record players had a 45 setting)

So what are some rookie mistakes you unknowingly made when you first started in the hobby?

Played a vinyl 78 on a Victrola.
Accidentally turned mainsprings loose by removing the governor when the machine was still partially wound up.
Messed up the decals on an Edison bedplate.
Believed there was space for "just one more."
Put wax cylinders on a cold machine.
Played a 78 with the wrong end of a steel needle.
Purchased records just because they were there.
Assumed no one else was interested in the phonograph hobby.
Left the auto brake on a Victrola set too far over, causing damage at the end of the record
Set the Victrola tonearm down on the wood instead of rolling it back up
Used the crank on the Victrola as a coat-hook.
Left screws too loose on governors.
Spent way too long browsing the TMF (Wait, I still do that)
But the biggest rookie mistake was hauling it home without taking the tone arm off, which probably contributed to a dent or two.

I got into this stuff at 16 and had never so much as seen a Victrola outside of one VV-IX, and a 210 in an antiques mall. So my XIV ended up as a test platform. Somehow it survived & still sounds and looks good.

Yep, I did the Edison Diamond disc on a Victrola and remember thinking Edison's records sound terrible.
Also spent about an hour trying to sharpen steel needles by placing them in an electric drill and spinning the point on a sharpening stone. Fortunately my wife got on-line and found I could buy new ones for about $5 per hundred. Which is a good thing because the whole electric drill thing was not working.
The worst part is I am new enough to this hobby that I am probably making rookie mistakes as we speak...

Buying the first one.

When I got my first cylinder machine, I broke a cylinder immediately. I assumed you put the record on the mandrel while still in its box so that you didn't get your fingers all over the record. I was wrong...

Frisco The Beagle wrote:Yep, I did the Edison Diamond disc on a Victrola and remember thinking Edison's records sound terrible.

I didn’t play with a steel needle but I thought the same when I got my first Edison and Pathé discs in 2010 so with my electric turntable!

Didn’t some people think Edison’s discs were the oldest flat disc records made?

VanEpsFan1914 wrote:Accidentally turned mainsprings loose by removing the governor when the machine was still partially wound up.

Count me in on this one, too. It took a lot of time to carefully file the damaged gear teeth afterwards. I also recall playing records with the same steel needle until the sound quality deteriorated.

I played an Edison Diamond Disc with a steel needle.
I put a crappy vinyl on one of my phonographs just to see what would happen. The result was sad but at the same time entertaining
I broke an original Edison needle for a Brunswick Ultona reproducer when It slipped out of my hand and hit the platter
I took my first motor apart while it was still wound up. The noise was completely terrifying


THE BIGGEST one as I am sure some people here remember. Was busting the casting to my Edison Home when I was trying to get the Mandrel out

sigh... the list hopefully wont be getting any longer

Buying records and cylinders based on the titles... without listening to them first and discovering that titles can be misleading... thinking they were rare and hard to find...
Paying wa-a-ay too much for Vogue records in the days before eBay... thinking they were rare and hard to find...

When I got my first wind-up, I was told to turn the needle a quarter turn after each record "to save needles, as they're hard to come by." I thought I was hot stuff for my ability to rotate needles 90 degrees so quickly between records, and demonstrating for others "the way to do it".