[78-L] changing steel needle to sapphire

[Michael Biel]

I agree with Royal.  The seller does not say he modified the arm.  He
says the crystal cartridge was rebuilt -- the crystals usually are
broken by this time -- and that he fitted it with a sapphire stylus. 
They were available on either straight shank or shanks bent at an angle.
 Back in the 40s there was controversy as to whether to use these
jeweled styli because they might be too hard and wear out the shellac if
the arm is heavy.  Remember, the idea is to have the record wear the
soft steel rather than have the needle wear the record.  NEVER USE A
JEWEL POINT IN AN ACOUSTICAL MACHINE OR AN EARLY HORSESHOE MAGNET
ELECTRICAL ARM.  It probably is OK in this machine.  They talked about
one or one and a half ounces back then as being light enough.  Broadcast
arms were 2 ounces and they had permanent jewelled styli.  

By the time of the introduction of microgroove and vinyl, the cartridges
used were about 7 or 8 grams which is about a half ounce I believe. 
That's about the upper limit for microgroove,  and perhaps even
widegroove vinyl.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [78-L] changing steel needle to sapphire
From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, June 05, 2009 5:59 pm
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>

There were some styli made in the 1940s and 1950s with a sapphire tip,
for 78 play, which were designed to fit the kind of cartridge such as
would normally be found in an arm like that one (which is a Shure
Glider, and the cartridge is held in the arm by two small screws on a
1/2" mounting centre; the thumbscrew for holding the needle in the
cartridge comes through the opening in the front of the arm)--no
modification required.

(When I was little I saw the custom-made add-on phono attachment that
permitted playing 78s through a Philco console radio my grandparents
had bought in the late 1930s. Its tonearm was the identical item, and
I remember Dad telling me it 'used the same kind of needles that the
wind-up record players did, and you had to change them after every or
every other record.'.

Unless that statement meant a more modern cartridge was mounted in the
arm?

On 6/5/09, Mike Mc Cormick <tooelemountains at comcast.net> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm thinking a little bit about bidding on a little1948 Garod 78rpm
> record player/AM radio on Ebay.
> <javascript:;>
> Restored Garod Radio/Phonograph Americana
> <http://cgi.ebay.com/Restored-Garod-Radio-Phonograph-Americana_W0QQitemZ150349136649QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item230181c309&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50>
>
>
> The seller has modified the tonearm to use sapphire needles instead of
> steel.
>
> My question is whether this type of modification was done fairly often
> by owners of such players back 1940s?
>
> Or was such modifications extremely rare way back then?
>
> Thanks, Mike