[Phono-L] Capehart

Tue Jul 14 14:12:29 PDT 2009

Greg: I was waiting for you to address tracking angle. I can't put my finger on it just now, but I recall seeing some mighty goofy tracking angles on some record players. There can be little doubt that the designers of a lot of phonographs had little or no idea what tracking angle is, or if so, what to do about it. A couple of years ago, someone got hold of some Victor field service bulletins, and they told of a product campaign to correct tracking angles, and they gave serial numbers of the Electrolas that needed correction. My Victor 9-18 was in one of those groups. I looked at it, and it appears to be OK now, so possibly, it was retrofitted. One can just imagine what those 5 pound magnetic pickup heads would do to a record! 

Oh, now one comes up. The RCA Ejector changer. As far as I know, they were all the same, and the tracking error on my RCA 381 is pretty crumby. Unless they changed the pickup arm length, they were bad from beginning to end. 

> [Original Message]
> From: Greg Bogantz <gbogantz1 at charter.net>
> To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
> Date: 7/14/2009 3:25:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Capehart
>
>     Jim,  you might get more response on your Capehart questions by posting 
> to the Electrola list.  Electrola is dedicated to owners of just the kind of 
> early electric phonographs that you own:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electrola/
>
>     But I can answer some of your questions.  Yes, the early magnetic 
> pickups do exhibit considerable "needle talk" compared with modern pickups. 
> But if your pickup has not been rebuilt, it CERTAINLY needs to be.  If it is 
> not rebuilt, the rubber suspension parts have hardened and the lack of 
> compliance with ruin your records in just one play!
>
>     Yes, you need to find something other than common steel needles for use 
> with record changers.  The Victor Tungstone needles (and similar tungsten 
> wire needles from other manufacturers) were the best choice for changers of 
> this vintage.  The electric record players of the mid 1930s up to WWII were 
> notorious for inducing massive record wear, mostly due to the poor 
> characteristics of the electric pickups and the improper needles used with 
> them.  In spite of the preponderance of the sapphire so-called "permanent" 
> needles often found with these machines, these needles are the WRONG choice. 
> These early pickups are much too low compliance and track at too high a 
> force to use a hard jewel-tipped needle correctly.  I recommend using 
> tunsten wire needles for ALL of these record players if you want to preserve 
> your records.  Unfortunately, nobody makes these needles any longer, so you 
> are faced with the choice of using steel needles and changing them with ever 
> one or two plays (which negates the advantages of owning a record changer), 
> buying tungsten wire needles when you can find them, or making your own 
> needles.  Since I am a record changer collector and have a number of these 
> old electric players, I make my own tungsten needles.  I'm not geared up to 
> make them in quantity, so it's a tedious process.  But they are worth the 
> effort if you really want to use these players.
>
>     The circuit diagrams for nearly every early consumer electronic product 
> and quite a lot of mechanical repair information concerning the Capehart 
> (and other early) record changers can be found in the Rider's Perpetual 
> Troubleshooting (PPT) Manuals.  These manuals were the mainstay of radio 
> repair shops during this period up to WWII when that information business 
> was taken over by Howard W. Sams.  (Sams is the place to look for info on 
> most postwar electronics, but they didn't publish anything on prewar 
> models.)  You can find the individual PPT manuals offered on eBay (there 
> were 23 HUGE volumes in total), but the simplest and cheapest source of this 
> information is to buy the scanned and digitized PPT manual collections 
> complete on CD or DVD.  These are also offered by several sellers on eBay 
> and can usually be had for $10 or less for the ENTIRE collection.  Another 
> good source of early record changer info is the Rider's book titled 
> "Automatic Record Changers and Recorders".  This was a single volume 
> published in 1941.  These also appear often on eBay.
>
> Greg Bogantz
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <jimcip at earthlink.net>
> To: <Phono-L at oldcrank.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 1:11 PM
> Subject: [Phono-L] Capehart
>
>
> > After many years, my 1937 Capehart 404G (serial number 10627E) is now 
> > functioning & sounds great & is fun to watch as it changes
> > records.   I have noticed quite a bit of "needle noise" in the magnetic 
> > pickup when the volume is turned down even though the pickup
> > has been restored.   Is this endemic to a properly performing Capehart as 
> > I suspect because all the doors to the record playing
> > compartment are sealed with rubber gaskets, presumable to contain 
> > mechanical noise or does the pickup need further work?   Also,
> > where can one obtain needles for playing large numbers of 78s without 
> > being changed in the Capehart or Orthophonic Victrola 1050?
> > I have Mr. Baumbach's excellent book on the Capeharts without which the 
> > repairman who usually works on 1950s & 1960s hifi gear
> > would have been completely at sea in working on the Capehart changer but 
> > would like to obtain copies of the owner's manual &
> > schematics of the tuner & amplifiers.
> > 
> > Jim Cartwright
> > 
> > Immortal Performances
> >
> >
> > jimcip at earthlink.net
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org 
>
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