Oh dear! What have I done!

[Beardyman]

Quick update:
Refurbished the pickup this weekend, all the rubbers were as solid as a rock!
Having searched through the forum I found that the rubber from bicycle valves is ideal. Took a while (3 hours!?!) to dis-assemble & re-align things. Hooked it up to a little IC-amplifier & voila! Signal!
The pickup isn't exactly hi-tech & the playing weight must be around the 50 gram region. The fact an individual can take it apart & replace parts is, in this day and age, remarkable.
A question occurs: Just how much movement should there be?
Despite my best attempts (poor though they are) I think I have it right, the needle can be "seen" to move minutely, I don't expect it to flap around but it seems rather rigid or am I over thinking things?
Nickthedentist:
Yes, it does look completely at home there & fits in rather well. Other half is very pleased with it thus far & is actually hunting round the charity shops for 78's! ANY 78's!

Have a good day one & all.

[Audio1950]

Originally Posted by Beardyman

Other half is very pleased with it thus far & is actually hunting round the charity shops for 78's! ANY 78's!

What a pity you're not nearer, I've got over two thousand I'm desperate to get rid of!

Barry

[PaulR]

Finding the right balance between compliance and damping is very difficult with these magnetic pickups I have found. I have been struggling with the top rubber suspension on a Garrard RC70 for a long time and have yet to get it right. I find that if the rubber is too soft you get distortion and odd higher frequency effects. If it if too hard the volume is reduced. If yours sounds ok and the volume is satisfactory the I think you have got it right.

You are fortunate that your wife is so sopportive!

[Beardyman]

Quick update:
During my week "stay-cation" I managed to see to all the Bakelite modules & the capacitor bank plus a few other bits & pieces. I think the black substance is a high melting point wax rather than tar, whatever it is, it is rather unpleasant! The capacitor bank was another problem all on its own, once removed it highlighted the fact this chassis has been extensively modified to add discrete parts when part of the cap bank has failed. Needless to say, ALL the caps were faulty. A quick go round with the meter also shows that all the resistors are so far out it will have to be a blanket change. Information for the Bakelite modules I found on an American forum with lots of other information regarding Philco sets in general, very useful. I had to remove the transformer to gain enough room to get those modules out. The rather odd & frustrating thing is the capacitor bank has five wires plus ground namely black, white, red, green & black with white trace, mine had two white wires?!? Closer scrutiny (below the wax line of the module) soon identified the green wire! The manufacturers sheet I have doesn't show were these wires go either, they are all referred to as item 32. I'm sure there will be other modifications I'll unearth but right now it all seems to be going well. Have a good day one & all.