[emeritus]

I remember trying to play a 7" 45 on my late granddad's portable 78 player. It completely ruined it, generating spirals of black plastic. I have noticed that some 78 wind-ups have a tone arm that pivots in one dimension only, with only a few inches at the needle end being verticaly compliant. In ours, the entire tone arm pivoted, and so might have exerted a higher force on the records.