Phonoland

I have an RCA Victor Victrola New Vista console. Plays great but have a question about the needle cartridge area.
As far as I can tell from research, there should be some sort of foam or brush piece sticking out the front bottom of the tone arm in front of the needle? The cartridge seems secure. It pivots at the rear but has no resistance when pressed up into the tone arm. The piece of plastic where the object is missing seems to touch the record because of this and causes unwanted noise.
Where or how can I get this piece or what can I use to make one myself and what is the length it should stick out?
Is there anything wrong with my cartridge or is that how they are?
See open square hole in pic below and cartridge at rest and pressed in.

Click on pics to enlarge.

The white cartridge retainer seems to be missing its pad.
It's a tiny tiny square of felt-like material embedded in the square hole/recess.
This pad rides quietly ON the record, and allows the pivoting stylus/cartridge to float of its own weight/pressure to track the grooves.
The pad is also designed to remove dust a few grooves ahead of the stylus as the record revolves.

Sounds like a wear item. Any idea if there are replacement parts out there for this or should I maybe try cramming some felt in the hole?

Kryptosmaster wrote:Sounds like a wear item. Any idea if there are replacement parts out there for this or should I maybe try cramming some felt in the hole?

Such design-specific parts from 40+ year old products are no longer made.
Impossible to find any old stock.
Best to use some ingenuity.
The retainer is friction-fitted into a notch and can be removed, using care to avoid damage to the cartridge. (wrap some tape under it and up the sides of the headshell)
Simply pull the retainer downward from the notch.
The original pad just barely protruded past the retainer, maybe a millimeter.

Phillips had a similar pad on some of is changers in the 70s, with the same kind of pickup arrangement (except that the weight of the pickup and its pivot provided the stylus force). The pad reminded me of the Miracle brush, with little bristles set at an angle. And a spring applied a huge antiskating force (compared to normal).

The Magnavox Micro-Mini W712 is one of these. Here is a photo:



Felt is not a good idea, because it would disintegrate into the record grooves. The "neucro" part of velcro might be just about right, but I don't know how abrasive it is.

Someone owning the above changer might be able to tell us more.