HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Hi,
I am engaged in research regarding a 45 rpm record player that were produced here in the UK in the early 50's by EMI under the HMV label. These players had a large center pillar so the 45 discs had to have the hole punched out to fit it. These were produced in the USA under the RCA brand and I believe that they were sent over to the UK in parts and assembled here.
I would like to know if there were any adverts around 1952 regarding these small players in any of the usual UK radio magazines.
Mike

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

A bit like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzKJ3...ayer_embedded#!

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Interesting...I have always wondered if HMV sold an equivelent model to the RCA large spindle 45 players so common in USA. I can't say I've ever seen an HMV like this- either real or in advertising, here in Australia, where we seem to have had a normal sized spindle right from the onset of the microgroove era, with a small flat black plastic adaptor being provided with turntables starting in the mid 60s.
I'd be very interested in seeing any original advertising or machines manufactured/marketed in UK using this format myself. Particularly by HMV.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

I've never seen the record player in question, but I do know thatearly HMV(and maybe other EMI Labels)45rpm records were issued with the large center hole - I have HMV7R141
(Ride of the Valkyries)which was made that way, and released in the early 1950s

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Wasn't large centre hole used mainly for jukeboxes? Adaptors were often supplied with record players so that ex jukebox singles could be played.

ISTR the 45's themselves usually came with knockouts in the centre so they could be converted to large hole.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

AFAIK EMI at any rate didn't produce 45s with the 'knock-out centres until the mid 1950s.
The one I mentioned in post # 4 is a classical record, unlikely to have been put in a jukebox, and was made with the large centre hole, so I assume that all of HMVs early 45s were so made, presumably because they distributed the RCA 45rpm only record player in the UK. Can anyone confirm this?

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

In the early/mid 80s i remember finding one in a junk shop in chippenham.It was too modern to interest me enough to purchase it with my small amount of savings unfortunately .I remember the 45 single records with it were classical .
Im sure at the time i also remember seeing some adverts in books that were in our /My parents ,attic.They are still there so i cant access them .But they would have been things like guide to radiolympia or festival of britain or similar ,where there were lots of electrical items advertised.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Is this the item?

I have 2 of them, one branded RCA victor and the other Decca. both American machines, one came direct from the US the other I purchased in Holland.

restoration projects for the last 15 years, now that I've dug them out perhaps work will start!. They were never cheap, I recall that they cost me over £100 each then, so I ought to get them going and while spares can still be sourced in the US.

45's were introduced in the USA around 1949 and always had the large centre hole. They were quickly taken on board by the jukebox industry, Seeburg producing, I believe, the first 45 player. The large hole assisting in location of the disc in the mechanism. In later years 7in 33rpm discs were available in the US with a small centre hole and the mechanism would use the different centre hole diameter to actuate automatic speed change.

Alan

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

I have a unit similar to these - however mine is a deck only (as in no built in amplifier) to connect to a radio pick-up terminal. It is an auto-changer and plays 45s with the large spindle. Mine is by HMV. I have been unable to find any info on it at all. I will post a picture later when i get home.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

The one i remember was an HMV and was small I dont remember a lid .It was the one that I remember in the adverts .

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Hi,
Yes the pictures are similar to the one in question but it did not have an amplifier but was plugged into the rear of the radio set. I would be very interested in any old adverts or similar.
Mike.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Hi,
I have now uploaded a picture.
Not very good quality as it was from a photostat,but gives the general idea of the little beauty !!
You might be able to make out the "little nipper" HMV badge on the front.
RCA also used this trade-mark and I believe there was some form of a link between the two companies.
Mike.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Well, just for Mike, here is a picture of my unit!

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

That unit uses the RCA RP168 deck, the service manual for which is on the following page on my website.

http://oldtech.net/TT.html

alanomt-
The manual for the RP-190 deck used in your 2 units is on the same page.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Brian

Thanks for the info, with that I should be able to sort the mechs.

do you have a contact for parts for these, especially the rubber faced cam and the stepped idler?

Alan

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Thanks for that Brian. Hopefully i can sort the mechanics out on mine too. Mine does all manner of weird things - in fact everything but play a disc. Also does anyone know of a source for the stylus?

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Hi,
There are loads of spares for these players but all in the USA. Look on US Ebay in the collectors section under RCA phonographs. The idler wheels go bad on these early ones and I make my own out of brass and turn a groove in the edge and insert a thick o- ring to drive the turntable. The cartridges can be repaired but it is a tricky eye straining job to do and probably a lot quicker to buy one of the new cartridges that they sell on US Ebay for these 45 players.
The later ones have the rubber faced cams and these again are available from the same sources.
The actual mechanisms just go on and on and spare parts are rarely needed there but careful adjustment is needed to make them change records correctly. I have found all the service info for these on the web.
Mike.

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

They sound pretty disastrous as far as reliability is concerned. I'm not too good at mechanical repairs so i doubt i'll be getting this one fixed any time soon. Looks like it might be headed to the big scrap pile in the sky. :(

Re: HMV 45 rpm record player
 

Thank you both for the pictures. I cant say I've seen anything like them here in Australia.
I'm guessing the HMV version had a very short production run, making them fairly rare?