Looking for info on maintaining a Birch 700 phonograph

[GlennM]

Hi All,

I just came into possession of an antique Birch 700 phonograph. This is literally the first phonograph/record player I have ever owned (not even a modern one), so to say I am new and ignorant might be an understatement. I've wanted one of these old ones for a long time as I inherited very old albums (pre 1950s) but never had the means to play them.

I'm looking for as much detailed info about using and maintaining this machine. I was able to find some images online from an instruction booklet. But it is written for someone already familiar with using phonographs, and there is nothing about maintenance. For example, it says things like "don't wind it too much", and "the spring motor should be oiled twice a year". But for a newbie, these terms are a little too vague for my liking. I'd really love a very detailed breakdown of using and maintaining this device so I can be sure I am taking proper care of it, and my old records. I found a small handful of videos on YouTube showing very simple use but they were only to hear music, not operational. Also, there was nothing I have found about using the automatic stop system on this model.

As a side note - I was shocked to learn I should replace the needle after every use! There are a bunch of needles in a box but they look old to me. So I just bought some Chamberlain needles online of various tones. I'll be tossing these old ones out.

Some questions on albums -

• All of the albums I have are old, stiff. Not flexible like modern vinyl. But do I need to worry about albums maybe being an even older version that is not playable on the Birch? In other words, did they make albums for older victrolas that won't play on a more modern Birch?
  I noticed a lot of the albums I have do not mention a speed on them - like 78 rpm (or 33, or 45). Do I just assume they are all 78 if they are pre 1950s?

Any help, guidance, or pointing to great resources would be very welcome.

Thanks,
Glenn

[JerryVan]

Glenn,

Not exactly the information you're seeking, but for clarity and correctness, "albums" are the books that "records" are stored in. The term album was used to describe records in more recent times, when those records contained multiple tracks/songs, making each record a defacto "album", or collection of songs. Think of it this way, you put photos in a photo album. You would never call an individual photo an "album". Same with records.

Welcome to this hobby. It's gonna be fun!

(BTW, my wife calls them albums too. She also calls my phonographs "stereos." I think she's purposely messing with me, which I've decided is fun.)

[JerryVan]

As to care & maintenance, once these machines are in good condition, they are relatively maintenance free, at least for relatively long periods of time, (possibly years). The caveat being, "once they're in good condition." Since you're unsure of whether or not your phonograph is in good shape, perhaps you could show us some pictures of it, or even a video of it playing?

As for winding, there should never be a need to wind it up all the way. That can be abusive and hard on old mainsprings. Eventually, you'll get the knack of how far to wind it in order to play a complete record side. It's okay to wind while playing.

As to what records, the Birch machines were sold very late in the 78 RPM era. They should be suited to play just about any 78 record. However, if a certain record plays with excessive distortion, or if you can see changes in the record grooves as the play progresses, it may not be a good choice of record for your machine.

One last note. You'll notice I use the word "machine." In a general sense, most phonograph collectors refer to their, phonographs, gramophones, graphophones, etc., as "machines."

[drh]

Welcome to the forum and to--OK, machine--ownership!

To answer another of your questions, in all probability, the records--for convenience, I'm going to refer to them as 78s from here on, but see below--are made of a shellac formulation, not vinyl like an LP. There were some vinyl 78s very late in the format's lifetime, but the overwhelming majority were shellac mixed with assorted stiffeners, binders, and abrasives, the last to shape a needle tip to the groove as the record played to minimize wear. That's why you need to change the steel needle after every play--once used, it's fitted to a particular record's groove. it will do damage to a record with a different groove shape, and playing the same record again will grind it down too far for good reproduction.

The shellac material of 78s is less likely to scratch and more likely to break than the vinyl of an LP. It's a brittle material, so don't try to bend it and don't drop it! Try to handle a record by the outer edge and keep your fingers off the playing surface as much as you can.

"Can I assume all these records play at 78 RPM?" That's a can of worms. That's a fairly safe (but not perfect) assumption for any made after around 1930 or so and safer all the way to "near certainty" as you go on from the mid-'30s up to the end of the 78 era, around 1948-50. Before 1930 +/-, though, I like to say the one speed you can be confident a record *won't* play is 78 RPM. A bit of an exaggeration, but not much. In that earlier period, Victor, for instance, claimed its records all played at 78, but in fact many or most were recorded at around 75-76.5. Columbia and a fair number of other labels claimed 80, but you can't truly rely on it; Pathé claimed 80 for its records with paper labels, a very helpful "90 to 100 RPM" for its earlier etched-label ones (which played from the label out instead of the rim in); and so on. A probably needless caution: you probably don't have any Pathé records of that vintage, but if you do, don't play them with steel needles on your Birch. They were recorded with a "vertical cut," meaning the groove is modulated (wiggles) up and down rather than side-to-side ("lateral cut"), which was the universal format by the time your Birch was made and hence what it was designed to play. Moreover, they take a special stylus, and playing them with steel needles will destroy them. The same holds true for Edison's diamond discs, easily recognized as being a full ¼" thick. Some later Pathé records do play with steel needles, though; if you happen to have any from this maker, post pictures of the labels, and members here can tell you what you've got.

My apologies for going down something of a rabbit hole there, probably much more than you need to know at this early stage, but that's part of the fun of collecting old records and playback devices (yay! another alternative to "machines"!). You're dealing with a world that existed for better than a half century, during which time a wide variety of manufacturers came up with amazing variations on "this is the right way to do it" or "this is what I need to do to dodge that other guy's patents." It's an endless source of surprises and fascinating quirks. Again, welcome, and enjoy the voyage of discovery!

[drh]

Here's a maintenance tip. I found a picture of a Birch 700 online:

The part that I've circled in red, which collectors in the United States will generally call the "reproducer" and those in England the "sound box," usually needs restoration to sound its best. The way these things work is that they have a diaphragm supported by elastic (in those days, usually rubber) gaskets and caused to vibrate by the needle through a link with a thumbscrew. Over time, the gaskets will have hardened, causing the diaphragm to buzz rather than play cleanly, and the lubrication of the pivots for the needle bar (the link) will have dried out, too. Putting in new gaskets and otherwise tuning the thing up can make an unimaginable difference in how it will sound. You can find videos on YouTube explaining how to do it yourself, but I'd enthusiastically recommend contacting Wyatt Markus, who is a forum member, and hiring him to do the overhaul. It's not terribly expensive, and he has a magic touch with these things.

[edit] Oh, by the way, the record shown on that Birch has a label marking it as from the early period I mentioned in my previous post. A rule of thumb: if a Victor record credits the Victor Talking Machine Co., it's pre-1930, and playback speed is open to question. If it mentions RCA, it's post-1930, and it *probably* plays at 78.

You probably should have the motor serviced as well. It's a spring device, like a wind-up clock movement. After all these years, it's doubtless covered in old grease and oil that has congealed and that will cause undue wear to the gears. Here are pictures of a few such motors; they're all much earlier, heavier, and more powerful than what will be in the Birch, but they will give you an idea of the variety of designs you can encounter in old machines.

Monarch Jr 4.JPG (76.66 KiB) Viewed 206 times

[/attachment]

[GlennM]

Glenn,

Not exactly the information you're seeking, but for clarity and correctness, "albums" are the books that "records" are stored in. The term album was used to describe records in more recent times, when those records contained multiple tracks/songs, making each record a defacto "album", or collection of songs. Think of it this way, you put photos in a photo album. You would never call an individual photo an "album". Same with records.

Welcome to this hobby. It's gonna be fun!

(BTW, my wife calls them albums too. She also calls my phonographs "stereos." I think she's purposely messing with me, which I've decided is fun.)

Ha! Thanks for the good laugh.

For the record (no pun intended), I have a mix of records (solo records), and albums - "books" with collections of records. Most of what I have are actually the albums - anywhere from 3 to 10+ records in the album. Yes, I did use the term album loosely before so you were right to correct me.

I'll try to keep the terms straight going forward.

[GlennM]

As to care & maintenance, once these machines are in good condition, they are relatively maintenance free, at least for relatively long periods of time, (possibly years). The caveat being, "once they're in good condition." Since you're unsure of whether or not your phonograph is in good shape, perhaps you could show us some pictures of it, or even a video of it playing?

As for winding, there should never be a need to wind it up all the way. That can be abusive and hard on old mainsprings. Eventually, you'll get the knack of how far to wind it in order to play a complete record side. It's okay to wind while playing.

As to what records, the Birch machines were sold very late in the 78 RPM era. They should be suited to play just about any 78 record. However, if a certain record plays with excessive distortion, or if you can see changes in the record grooves as the play progresses, it may not be a good choice of record for your machine.

One last note. You'll notice I use the word "machine." In a general sense, most phonograph collectors refer to their, phonographs, gramophones, graphophones, etc., as "machines."

I have not yet played it - I want to wait until I have new needles. When the person gave it to me they did show me a video of it playing, so I know it works. I can create one once it is running though.

[GlennM]

Welcome to the forum and to--OK, machine--ownership!

To answer another of your questions, in all probability, the records--for convenience, I'm going to refer to them as 78s from here on, but see below--are made of a shellac formulation, not vinyl like an LP. There were some vinyl 78s very late in the format's lifetime, but the overwhelming majority were shellac mixed with assorted stiffeners, binders, and abrasives, the last to shape a needle tip to the groove as the record played to minimize wear. That's why you need to change the steel needle after every play--once used, it's fitted to a particular record's groove. it will do damage to a record with a different groove shape, and playing the same record again will grind it down too far for good reproduction.

The shellac material of 78s is less likely to scratch and more likely to break than the vinyl of an LP. It's a brittle material, so don't try to bend it and don't drop it! Try to handle a record by the outer edge and keep your fingers off the playing surface as much as you can.

"Can I assume all these records play at 78 RPM?" That's a can of worms. That's a fairly safe (but not perfect) assumption for any made after around 1930 or so and safer all the way to "near certainty" as you go on from the mid-'30s up to the end of the 78 era, around 1948-50. Before 1930 +/-, though, I like to say the one speed you can be confident a record *won't* play is 78 RPM. A bit of an exaggeration, but not much. In that earlier period, Victor, for instance, claimed its records all played at 78, but in fact many or most were recorded at around 75-76.5. Columbia and a fair number of other labels claimed 80, but you can't truly rely on it; Pathé claimed 80 for its records with paper labels, a very helpful "90 to 100 RPM" for its earlier etched-label ones (which played from the label out instead of the rim in); and so on. A probably needless caution: you probably don't have any Pathé records of that vintage, but if you do, don't play them with steel needles on your Birch. They were recorded with a "vertical cut," meaning the groove is modulated (wiggles) up and down rather than side-to-side ("lateral cut"), which was the universal format by the time your Birch was made and hence what it was designed to play. Moreover, they take a special stylus, and playing them with steel needles will destroy them. The same holds true for Edison's diamond discs, easily recognized as being a full ¼" thick. Some later Pathé records do play with steel needles, though; if you happen to have any from this maker, post pictures of the labels, and members here can tell you what you've got.

My apologies for going down something of a rabbit hole there, probably much more than you need to know at this early stage, but that's part of the fun of collecting old records and playback devices (yay! another alternative to "machines"!). You're dealing with a world that existed for better than a half century, during which time a wide variety of manufacturers came up with amazing variations on "this is the right way to do it" or "this is what I need to do to dodge that other guy's patents." It's an endless source of surprises and fascinating quirks. Again, welcome, and enjoy the voyage of discovery!

No - this was very helpful. About 99% of the records I have are stiff/thick. Sadly, a few records are broken in the albums. Oddly, there are 1 or 2 records in the boxes that are newer flexible records. I've assumed those would not be playable on the same machine as the stiff records.

I am unsure on any Pathé records but will look in the boxes again.

[drh]

Hi again, if your records are in albums, here's an important point to bear in mind. Be careful as you turn the pages and make sure each record is rolled as far as it can go to the outside edge, away from the hinge. With time, the glue holding the hinges together tends to loosen, allowing the record to roll into the crease where you turn the page. If it does, you can, and probably will, snap off a half-moon shaped bit of the record when you flip the page.

I actually store my own records in albums, but some, or many, collectors prefer to store their records in single paper or cardboard covers. In my opinion there's something to be said for both methods, but whichever you choose you must be aware of its potential pitfalls.

[GlennM]

...

Wow! This is fabulous! Thanks so much!