Question on gramophone steel needle size for electric pickup

[hotbottle]

I might be about to embark on an ambitious restoration/reconstruction project centre around an electric gramophone deck I have. I call it a gramophone, as opposed to a record player, because it is 78 rpm only, and the arm has a magnetic pickup with a steel gramophone needle in it. The needle is the use-once type, and there is a quick release/replace screw on the front of the pickup head to change it.

My question is whether the steel gramophone needles I see for sale and for auction, will fit it properly. They are probably intended for the old mechanical diaphragm heads. I am hoping the needle size is the same in this electric one, but have nothing for comparison.

[davidw]

Hello..I've got a Garrard 78rpm only deck that takes standard steel needles,so I guess they are all the same..thats unless anyone knows better!! Good luck with it,post a picture or two of your progress. cheers

[Steve Smith]

I have a magnetic gramophone arm which is a retro fit for a wind up gramophone and plugs into the 'gram' input of a radio. It too uses the standard needles as used for acoustic gramophones.


Steve.

[hotbottle]

Originally Posted by davidw

Hello..I've got a Garrard 78rpm only deck that takes standard steel needles,so I guess they are all the same..thats unless anyone knows better!! Good luck with it,post a picture or two of your progress. cheers

Mine's a Garrard too. See the couple of photo's attached...

I haven't applied power yet, nor tested the pickup - some jobs for the weekend.

[chipp1968]

Definately earlier pickups take standard size needles i remember from my time playg with different types years ago . Later ones I dont know ,may have been designed for the semi perminant type . But I suspect any will fit

[wireful3]

As Chipp says I think that early electric pickups used the same needles as the acoustic players and were fixed by a knurled screw on the front.
There was one early Hi Fi electric pickup introduced in the late 40s by I think Connoisseur that used special push fit needles, these had a smaller light-weight head and had no knurled securing screw to fix the needle.

It looks as if you will be O.K. with modern needles

[Mike Phelan]

As others have said, I think that the diameter of all needles is standard; there were also some with sapphire ends that did not have to replaced every time you played a 12" record.

[Paul_RK]

Hello Mike,

By no means standard, at least in the acoustic gramophone days: the various available "tones" were obtained by using different needle diameters, Extra Loud being decidedly on the thick side. My Viva-Tonal Grafonola has two receptacles for fresh needles, currently stocked with two quite different types. Soundboxes were generally able to accommodate any of them, and at least the earlier electrical pickups were similarly versatile.

Paul

[Autochanger]

Originally Posted by wireful3

...........
..... There was one early Hi Fi electric pickup introduced in the late 40s by I think Connoisseur that used special push fit needles, these had a smaller light-weight head and had no knurled securing screw to fix the needle.

It looks as if you will be O.K. with modern needles

Standard steel needles of different thickness for loud, medium and soft tones etc. are for the screw-in pick-ups. There were various "long life" versions, which would play 10 or so sides, usually red or yellow painted shafts (can't remember what the difference was). I doubt fibre or thorn needles (if you could still get hold of some) would be of much use.
The smaller light-weight ones mentioned by John were probably the ones I had to hunt down for a 78rpm changer in my Columbia table-top radiogram, which also fit in the original "Connoisseur" as above (I have a Connoisseur, but have not tested it)
They are called Columbia "99" needles for use with what they then classed as "light-weight pick-ups". I also have some packets (they came in packs of 10) of the same type from HMV, called HMV "Silent stylus" and state they are for use with HMV and Marconiphone Hyper-sensitive pick-ups. Both brands are black with a silver tip and boast being able to play approximately 100 sides of records without deterioration.
They are about half the length, and much thinner than even the soft tone standard screw-in needles more commonly used in other pick-ups.

Roy

[hotbottle]

So much good info - thanks everyone.

As I mentioned in another thread
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=29525
this project is underway. Sanding (and maybe repainting) is on the schedule for today.

[Mike Phelan]

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

Hello Mike,

By no means standard, at least in the acoustic gramophone days: the various available "tones" were obtained by using different needle diameters, Extra Loud being decidedly on the thick side. My Viva-Tonal Grafonola has two receptacles for fresh needles, currently stocked with two quite different types. Soundboxes were generally able to accommodate any of them, and at least the earlier electrical pickups were similarly versatile.

Paul

Thanks, Paul; didn't know that, despite the fact that 'when I were nobbut a lad' we always had a gramophone in the house!