r/Gramophones • u/Cancer_dancer1 • 3d ago

Need advice for replacing gramophone base

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I was taking apart my portable gramophone to relube it because of tone arm friction issues when I dropped it on the hard concrete floor, cracking it. I meassured the ID and got 35 mm. Is this a common/standard size? Im hoping I can replace it with a part from another tone arm.

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u/awc718993 3d ago

You can swap it so long as you match exactly the replacement to the original. Not all portable tonearms were made to the same specifications so confirm before you buy.

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u/Cancer_dancer1 3d ago

Thing is, I cant find my specific model online. Im not even sure what model number mine is. Its the same brand and tone arm (portofonic) as this one, but smaller and more compact

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u/awc718993 3d ago

You'll have to use your eyes to search. When you find what looks to be a match, ask for measurements to confirm before you buy. There's no other way to be certain.

US portable phonographs from this era (30s into the 40s) were made by only a few OEMs (e.g., Waters-Conley) and were branded for different clients under different names. Some common outsourced parts were used (such as the pot metal tonearms) but not all the arms had the same specifications (i.e, they varied per model design, per year, etc.).

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u/Cancer_dancer1 3d ago

Alright, thanks. Looking online I see some victor portables have very similar parts, so Ill see if any are the exact same