The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was given a Victor Victrola VV 210. It had a Polk reproducer on it, so I bought a Victor #2 that had been rebuilt and tested. It slides onto the tone arm easily but doesn't lock into place when moved to the playing position. Any thoughts on how to fix this? It moves rather easily on the tone arm.

Remove the #2 and look into the hole where the tone arm would fit. Do you see a small pin in that hole? If so, that's the pin that should engage with the "J" slot in the tone arm. If the pin is missing, (not uncommon), then you'll not be able to index/locate your reproducer correctly. If that's the case, I'd have some questions for the rebuilder who sold it to you.

Here is a picture, taken from an eBay auction of a reproducer the was "Rebuilt & Tested". It shows the pin that you should have, and it also shows a broken suspension spring that no "rebuilt & tested" reproducer should have! Hopefully, you didn't buy from this guy...

Mine has the pin. No broken spring. It's just not tight on the arm. How hard should it be to attach the reproducer and how easy should it be to move once it's seated?

I wonder if yours somehow has the wrong insert. If I remember correctly, it has the same outer diameters as used on the Orthophonic reproducers but there are two different inside diameters. The smaller inserts could be used to retrofit an Orthophonic reproducer to an older machine.
If your Polk reproducer appears to be in reasonably good condition, I have a good spare Victor No.2 I would be happy to swap with you for the Polk.
If that sounds good to you, PM me your shipping address and I'll send you the No.2 to try. If it doesn't work, you can ship it back to me but if it solves your issue, you can ship the Polk to me instead (I happen to have a Polk-Phone in my collection).

Appreciate the info and offer. The seller is sending me a different insert. We'll see what happens with that.