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Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 8:39 pm
by gunnarthefeisty
Which online sellers of steel needles have slightly rounded tips, like NOS ones, instead of the incredibly sharp ones you often find nowadays?
Thanks,
Gunnar Anderson
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 9:05 pm
by VanEpsFan1914
Good question Gunnar. I'm picky about my needles so I like using Chamberlain ones, but have had good luck with Bry-O-Phonics.
What I find helpful with these is to take & do a trick from the original Victrola owner's manuals. I put on the record, start up my talking-machine, and let that new needle wear down a second or two in the last grooves at the end of the record. If it didn't have a round tip going in, it did coming out.
What are some older brands which had round tips when found NOS?
I've also tried making bamboo needles, or using the sharp thorns well-dried from a honey locust tree. Those work well.
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 10:49 pm
by gunnarthefeisty
VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 9:05 pm
Good question Gunnar. I'm picky about my needles so I like using Chamberlain ones, but have had good luck with Bry-O-Phonics.
What I find helpful with these is to take & do a trick from the original Victrola owner's manuals. I put on the record, start up my talking-machine, and let that new needle wear down a second or two in the last grooves at the end of the record. If it didn't have a round tip going in, it did coming out.
What are some older brands which had round tips when found NOS?
I've also tried making bamboo needles, or using the sharp thorns well-dried from a honey locust tree. Those work well.
I don't know if they're super duper round, but the Songster needles I have aren't precisely to a point like some newer ones I've bought.
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:58 am
by AZ*
The topic of steel needles has been discussed many, many, many times on this forum. I suggest you use the search function and read the countless posts. Everyone has an opinion about the "best" needles. At one time last year, VanEpsFan1914 was investigating having some manufactured, but I haven't read any more about it recently. See:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=47792
I still recommend Mike Child's needles. Excellent quality and reasonably priced. Mike is TMF member
soundgen.
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 5:18 am
by epigramophone
VanEpsFan1914 wrote: Sat Oct 30, 2021 9:05 pm
Good question Gunnar. I'm picky about my needles so I like using Chamberlain ones, but have had good luck with Bry-O-Phonics.
What I find helpful with these is to take & do a trick from the original Victrola owner's manuals. I put on the record, start up my talking-machine, and let that new needle wear down a second or two in the last grooves at the end of the record. If it didn't have a round tip going in, it did coming out.
What are some older brands which had round tips when found NOS?
I've also tried making bamboo needles, or using the sharp thorns well-dried from a honey locust tree. Those work well.
It was the failure of owners to "run in" new needles which resulted in the rough start to many records.
Like many others on this forum, I recommend and use Soundgen's needles as the best substitute for NOS ones.
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:34 pm
by shoshani
AZ* wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:58 am
I still recommend Mike Child's needles. Excellent quality and reasonably priced. Mike is TMF member
soundgen.
Seconded. I buy soundgen's Extra Soft needles quite literally by the thousand. It's all I ever use.
Re: Steel needles with rounded tips
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 3:12 pm
by Inigo
I'm also a fan of his soft tone needles.