Clarke & Smith gramophone conversion

[newlite4]

This was an interesting project involving a fairly shabby Clarke & Smith talking book machine and a spare BSR electronic belt drive turntable.
The Clarke & Smith machine was only £2 at the car boot, I snapped it up because through past ownership I knew that it contained a quality (three valve plus rectifier) amplifier under the cartridge deck.
Initially, I tried to fit an earlier BSR autochanger to the deck, but projections under the chassis prevented this, so I decided to fit the newer turntable instead.
After a cabinet clean-down and Danish Oiling along with the replacement of any rusty fittings, attention was paid to the deck cut-out to allow fitting of the turntable. There were many alterations to do since the original talking book chassis was quite different to the forthcoming BSR.
Next came the electrical alterations. A smoothing choke had to be fitted onto the only spare area of the amplifier chassis, the original choke being the now redundant drive-lock solenoid. A 12 volt DC supply was built to power the turntable motor electronics and was mounted under the turntable to provide some much needed mass. I decided to stick with a ceramic pick-up cartridge and to use the whole amplifier front to back (so as not to waste any part of it). The amplifier input originally would have come from the tape head located within each individual talking book cartridge, so I decided to feed the pick-up signal to the amplifier input via a 1meg resistor with 100pF in parallel.
Finally, the 33/45 preset pots on the BSR control board were adjusted as a strobe disc was spun-up on the turntable and the speeds recalibrated.
On test, the equipment performed really rather well. It is quite a compact unit so is easily portable. I like to imagine that Clarke & Smith might have converted these themselves, they are certainly rugged and loud enough for the school environment.
Neil

[Nickthedentist]

Hi Neil,

Although purists will frown at you, I like this a lot. At least it will get used regularly now.

A 1950s/60s deck would have looked much nicer, but as you said, the dimensions precluded this. The available space looks very tight indeed, so I presume a "quality" deck like a Dual 505 wouldn't have fitted either.

Nick.

[newlite4]

Yes Nick, a seventies BSR deck would have been an ideal fitment, but I think that most of these were autos. The fitted deck must have been one of the last made by BSR. It is at least satisfying to see "Made in England" underneath. This must be one of the latest "All British" gramophones to see the light .
Neil

[rharness]

Looks really useful, I have a lot of records that don't get used, I also have a Clarke & Smith tape recorder which I was going to scrap, so maybe I'll change it to a record player like you have done. Might get used a bit more then.

Thanks for the idea.

[ben]

good use of two otherwise redundant bits of kit, although personally I always hated those later BSRs - very plasticky and the speed controls used to go intermittent. I suppose you could put in a basic single-play 60s deck later if you come across something suitable.

I'm curious about the talking book mech though, any pics of it? was it some kind of 8 track?

[newlite4]

Rharness - go for it, far better that it is made more useful.
The Ben - yes, if I come across anything more suitable, I may refit, the intermittent speed control is a bit of a nuisance.
There is some information about the talking book here on Terry Martinis brilliant site:

http://www.ferrographworld.com/c&s2.html

Neil

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by ben

I always hated those later BSRs

Seconded!

They were the weak point in many an Amstrad tower system... and that's really saying something!