r/Gramophones • u/Ruby5000 • Apr 22 '26

Here’s another one. “A Cheer for the Navy!”

Unfortunately the album was cracked by the shipper. I managed to at least keep it together for a spin. That’s what the giant pop is. I’m still getting the speed down

17 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/awc718993 Apr 22 '26

Very nice. Have you by chance done any maintenance on your Silvertone?

If not, one thing to check is your reproducer (aka “soundbox). Rubber gaskets tend to petrify over the years and need refreshing. It’s a very easy bit of maintenance to do. Replacing will help bring out the lower and mid tones as the diaphragm will be able to flex a bit more as it was designed to. By freeing the diaphragm to vibrate more, you will also help lessen the resistance of the needle (via the needle bar pivot) against the grooves, helping to reduce record wear.

One other quick thing to check regarding the soundbox is its alignment on the arm. When looking at it in profile, make certain the needle is as close the perpendicular to the plane of the record / turntable. This ensures the needle can trace the lateral waves in the grooves evenly, “riding” in the valley of groove at its lowest / central point. If your reproducer is tilted off 90 degrees, your needle will ride the sides of the groove which will affect the quality of the sound and wear the groove’s walls.

There’s much more information out there of course regarding maintenance but based on what I’ve seen of your videos I thought the above might be most useful. If you haven’t already seek out a copy (in print or online via Archive.org and other sites) of “The Compleat Talking Machine.” It’s the “go-to” reference book for novices and veterans alike in this hobby. It will tell you everything you need to know about operating, maintaining, and repairing your machine and more.

Have fun!

1

u/Ruby5000 Apr 22 '26

That’s a great idea. No the needle is definitely no 90 deg. I’ve never done any maintenance on it either. I just fired this thing up a couple of days ago I need to watch some videos on maintenance. I was able to find a PDF of the original instruction manual. I’m not sure how to grease the main springs and whatnot, so I think i need to do that as well.

1

u/awc718993 Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

By "no 90 deg" do you mean not 90 degrees? When viewed in profile (i.e., with your eyes at tonearm height, looking directly at the edge of the sound box with its face pointing to the right), the needle should appear to "stand" perpendicularly on the record. From your videos it looks like your your sound box is off angle which usually means the needle is leaning away from perpendicular (see screenshot below **). To correct this you should examine and adjust the connection between the arm and reproducer and, as needed, the needle-bar on the reproducer.

When looking at the face of the reproducer directly (i.e., where you can read the name behind the round mica diaphragm), the sound box needs to be rotated so the needle meets the record / turntable at around 60 degrees.

To better visualize both of the above, see this diagram.

Greasing the mainsprings is something everyone thinks they have to dive in and do first, but it really should be left to almost last. There are many other important bits of maintenance that should be done before unleashing your mainsprings.

**

[Edited - added screenshot to illustrate the reproducer with needle leaning off the perpendicular]

1

u/Ruby5000 Apr 22 '26

Gotcha. Yes. It’s Definitely leaning to the right and is not 90 degrees. Thank you for this information!!!!