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Post by refseries on Sept 21, 2014 3:47:44 GMT -5
Dear Tony J As Tony K says, it is worth trying to service a Model C yourself. A crude test is to see if the gaskets are ok. Do this by sucking on the reproducer neck. If it holds a vacuum, the gaskets are tight. If not, you must renew them. Gaskets can be found at the addresses Tony K lists. You will need a small watchmakers' screwdriver to undo the stylus bar pivot hinge and the end stop, and a means of unscrewing the diaphragm clamping ring. Be careful not to damage the hinge block which holds the weight on. It would be a good idea to get hold of a copy of CLPGS Reference Series No.31 (see www.clpgs.org.uk/reference_series_page.htm), where Mike Field goes into detail with a step by step guide. If you need a new stylus, contact Paul at info@expertstylus.co.uk. These people are most helpful and will provide any stylus you wish. Good luck Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 21, 2014 3:34:07 GMT -5
Dear Tony
I catalogue cylinders but have never heard of German-made Korean language records, and I wonder why they would have made these given the horrors taking place at the time. However if you track them down I would be most interested in details and/or pictures. Good luck with your hunt!
Best regards
Keith
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Post by refseries on Jun 11, 2014 8:24:40 GMT -5
Keith is right. You can never have too much practice, and it is very easy to make an otherwise honest phonograph look like a piece of repro junk. If you are keen to do it, there are two other ways. One is to use very fine gold felt pens, which are paint-filled and fairly permanent. Alternatively good art shops sell lining by Letraset or similar, which can be used provided you spray it with their varnish afterwards. It is hard to put it on straight, but looks better than any freehand work unless you are very, very, good!
Keith
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Post by refseries on Jun 11, 2014 8:17:35 GMT -5
Dear Tony Tim is correct. U-S Everlasting were never part of Indestructible - they remained independent from their founding in August 1908 until their failure in 1913. You can see pictures of their various cylinders in the CLPGS Refereence Series No.6 (see www.clpgs.org.uk/reference_series_page.htm ), including one similar to the UCSB entry. U-S Everlasting cylinders can also be found branded 'Lakeside', on both the cylinder and the box. The Lakeside brand was used by the Montomery Ward mail order company. They also sold Indestructible cylinders in Lakeside boxes, but the brand did not appear on the cylinder. For further information you can look at 'Indestructible and U-S Everlasting Cylinders, by Kurt Nauck and Allan Sutton, which is well worth reading. Hope this helps! Keith
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Post by refseries on Apr 17, 2014 11:31:26 GMT -5
Couple of suggestions. Firstly, make sure the governor weights are the same. I use a cheap electronic letter balance to weigh them, then sand the heavier one(s) down to the weight of the lightest. Secondly, when reassembling the governor, ensure that the springs are all tightened up to the same length. The spring holes are slotted at one end, so I normally hold the weight and spring so that the latter is parallel to the shaft when tightening up the slotted end. This means the springs are the same length and therefore the weights are as balanced as you can get them. Use a light lubricant like sewing machine oil and your Amberola will run like a Swiss watch.
Good luck
Keith
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Post by refseries on Jan 29, 2014 4:38:16 GMT -5
Agreed. I have used mine for two or three years (and watched the price fall like a stone since I bought them!) and found them invaluable when setting up a phonograph but have found one issue with these things. If you make a sleeve to put on thbe madrel with one reflector on it, the tachometer will give a readout of the mandrel rpm. However this will wander quite a lot as the sampling time of the tach is being pushed a bit if it reads one pulse every 2.6 seconds. You will get a better result if you put ten reflectors on the sleeve, ie one every 36 degrees. This should give a reading of 1600 when the speed is right, but as the tach is now getting more samples the reading doesn't wander as much and is easier to use. The same idea can be used for a disc for checking turntables.
Hope this helps
Keith
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Post by refseries on Nov 19, 2013 5:01:47 GMT -5
Dear Brian On re-examining your picture I would guess that your high frequencies are about 5-6KHz, but even so this is at or above the upper limit of a conventional ball stylus. The use of a ball was a balance of frequency response against wear; too sharp a stylus will wear out a record at first play, while too rounded will severely limit upper end frequencies. The early soft wax cylinders wore quickly, which I guess mitigated in favour of a fairly generous radius. Once the four minute indestructibles appeared, stylus radii reduced, and while Edison’s Amberol stylus was a narrow disc some Columbia styli I have are quite sharp – sorry but I can’t quote sizes. That said one should never use a four minute/indestructible stylus on a two minute wax record, as the recorded track will be ruined at first play. Having said all that a ball stylus will ‘skate’ over higher frequencies in the wax, so these should be recoverable with a suitable stylus, and as long as tracking weights are very low this should be achievable without trashing the record. For normal recording purposes I use styli with original sizes supplied by Expert Stylus, in the interest of protecting the cylinder. However I have modern styli as well and can use these for indestructibles if needs be. You can see my humble efforts on sdrv.ms/18nSKPR, construction details being shown in the pdf. It will be interesting to see what high frequencies can be found, if any. The limit will be the recording process, and as far as I am aware no wax cylinders were electrically recorded. In fact ignoring modern cylinders the only electrically recorded cylinders I have heard of are the very last Edison blue Amberols, the sound quality of which is very good indeed (pity about the content, though...). As wax cylinders or wax masters for indestructible cylinders used cutters driven by either acoustic vibration or by some form of pantograph, the mechanical inertia of the system will put an upper limit on recorded frequency. While I am no physicist I would have thought that your suggested figure of 5KHz is not far off. Having said all that, let me look at my Columbias and see what I can find. Incidentally, the record you mention is quite rare – I produce a cylinder database for the CLPGS and have very few Columbia cylinder titles from continental Europe in the 5xxxx range. Do you have any more? If so, I would be very interested in the numbers/titles/performers. Cheers Keith
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Post by refseries on Nov 14, 2013 15:41:20 GMT -5
Dear Brian
This is very interesting. Let me have a look at some Columbias under my microscope. If I find any of these strange grooves I will record the cylinder and look at the recording on an oscilloscope to see if they show there. Certainly a ball two minute stylus won't pick up anything much over 5KHz.
Keep you posted
Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 13, 2013 7:52:43 GMT -5
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Post by refseries on Sept 13, 2013 7:50:37 GMT -5
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Post by refseries on Sept 13, 2013 7:45:00 GMT -5
Dear Tony
'Echo all over the world' came first. This phrase was dropped in early 1907, when also it went from Gold mould1ed records' to gold moulded record'. I do not know the exact date but the earliest patent for the later box I have found is 23 April 1907. Look in the patents panel of your boxes and it should give you a (very) rough idea of the date.
Hope this helps
Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 11, 2013 9:03:16 GMT -5
Dear Jim You could try opening s public SkyDrive on Hotmail, then publish the address. It's crude, but it works. I have one, which is handy to share drawings, photos, etc (see sdrv.ms/18nSKPR)Hope this helps Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 3, 2013 5:06:02 GMT -5
The vast majority were dubbed fron wax Amberols. Release dates for the wax Amberols at least are in RS6 on www.clpgs.org.uk/reference_series_page.htm if that's any help. There may be recording date information at the Edison memorial site but it's a long way from me! Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 3, 2013 4:55:30 GMT -5
Dear Darry & Debbie There are many lists of blue Amberols about, or you could try a larger list of more manufacturers (see www.clpgs.org.uk/reference_series_page.htm). I completely agree with BillS about avoiding rubbing the surface of a wax cylinder. Years ago I proudly polished the first Sterling wax cylinder I found, rubbed it until it shone like a new pin. I had to rub quite hard, to get rid of all those little grooves... Hmmmmm Keith
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Post by refseries on Sept 3, 2013 4:47:34 GMT -5
Dear Timo
As George says, a bit of alcohol should do the trick. A two minute stylus should look like a ball and not be chipped or have flat spots. Check using a powerful magnifying glass or a watchmakers' eyeglass (obtainable from eBay cheaply). If the playing surface of the ball is damaged it is possible to soften the adhesive using heat and rotate the stylus with fine tweezers, but this is tricky and I have never attempted it. I normally send the bar to Expert Stylus and they put a new sapphire in.
Cheers
Keith
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