What is the correct needle orientation?

My background is in very hi-end modern turntables and I have spend hours
on setting the perfect azimuth, tilt etc of my £1000+ cartridges.

I recently bought a grammophone, the venerable HMV 101.
I was extremely pleasantly surprised and excited with the sound it produces,
but reading all those warnings that I should throw away the needle after each 4minute play,
i am worried that the needle is a vicious instrument of death that will
ruin for ever my 80 year old shellac!

The main concern I have now is that, when I see the needle from the face,
it is not straight 90 degrees in the groove, because is clamped sideways by that tiny retaining screw.

This can't be good as it pushes more against the right wall of the record groove.

Have i put it wrong or it is designed to tilt so????

When the needle is seen from the angle in your illustration, it should be straight up and down, as indicated in this illustration:


(FROM -- http://www.nipperhead.com/old/vic4sb01.htm )

Check to make sure that there isn't some debris or something that prevents the needle from lying flat against the area opposite the thumbscrew.

The sound box, itself, should be situated so that needles is angled about 55 degrees to the surface of the record -- similar to the sound box illustrated on this page -- http://www.nipperhead.com/old/vicsprng06.htm

There was a recent post about an HMV 101 that you may want to look over, since it contains information about restoration tips, etc. -- viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2505&start=0

BTW, a good condition steel needle should do minimum damage to a shellac record, circa mid-1930s or before, if the sound box has been properly rebuilt. I've got several records that I've played well over 100 times each, and they sound as good now as they did when I first got them. I always discard the needle after playing one side of one record, regardless of whether it is a 10" or 12" record. Along this line, it's a good idea to clean any newly acquired record prior to playing it. I use a damp cotton cloth, moistened with sudsy water, to clean the surface, and then I pat the record dry using a dry cotton cloth. (Make sure when cleaning a record, you don't get any water on the label.) Before playing, I also let each record dry over night.

HTH,
JDS

Unscrew the needle screw a little farther than you have, and then push the needle in farther.

You might find that the problem is also with the needle itself. I have discovered the same problem with certain SOFT TONE needles (the thinnest type) when the thumb screw has been tightened up, the needle leans inwards. Thicker needles do not seem to have this problem in the HMV soundboxes but you will get an increase in volume. I found the worst culprit was the HMV 5a soundbox with some very fine soft tone needles I've got. The needle leans exactly the same as your diagram.

<<Along this line, it's a good idea to clean any newly acquired record prior to playing it. I use a damp cotton cloth, moistened with sudsy water, to clean the surface, and then I pat the record dry using a dry cotton cloth.>>

I wash a few of mine with mild soap and water while going around the record with a fine-bristled, soft dish-washing brush, then make sure are dried quickly and completely... am I being too hard on the record? I haven't noticed any damage, and the washed-off water is slightly brown with dirt and scum. I figured the bristles are plastic so wouldn't hurt records made to play with steel needles, and they would get way down into the grooves where a lot of the debris and dirt is. These are junky records already so I'm not talking pristine condition by any means.

As far as tungsten needles go, I have a copy of an old patent for a tungsten stylus where the inventor recommended that tungsten needles be played at the highest angle possible, or practical. He basically said 90 degrees would be ideal but that it could cause the needle to chatter up and down on the groove, and that anything above 80 degrees that didn't result in that would be desireable. He stated that at much lower angles than that, such as for steel needles, the tungsten wire tip would become ellyptical and would start to bridge over the higher frequency notes' detail in the grooves.

I've been using tungsten needles on one of my Victrolas and have set my soundbox angle higher for those, maybe 75-80 degrees. Plus I feel like this makes it less likely for the tungsten wire to bend over from the weight of the soundbox, especially if it's inadvertantly set down on the record too hard or hits ruts, cracks or gouges in the record. But pretty sure Victrola didn't tell customers to change their soundbox angle at all when switching between steel and Tungstones.

frenchmarky wrote:<<Along this line, it's a good idea to clean any newly acquired record prior to playing it. I use a damp cotton cloth, moistened with sudsy water, to clean the surface, and then I pat the record dry using a dry cotton cloth.>>

I wash a few of mine with mild soap and water while going around the record with a fine-bristled, soft dish-washing brush, then make sure are dried quickly and completely... am I being too hard on the record?

Some collectors I've know over the years used a "baby hair brush" to dry-brush their 78 records. They normally set the record on the turntable and run the brush over it while it spins. A baby hair brush is super soft, if you've never seen one, and feels like velvet.

Others I've known have wet-cleaned particularly soiled records using an ultra-soft toothbrush, so I don't think there's any harm in using a soft brush designed for dish washing. One disclaimer, though. Never apply a water based cleaner to an Edison diamond disc record. These should only be cleaned with denatured alcohol -- http://www.lagparty.org/~wyatt/ddcleaning.html

Yes I figured that since the grooves can handle a steel needle with 3 or 4 ounces on top of it, toothbrushes and other soft brushes would be like nothing to them, especially with the water and soap as a lubricant. I wash them with mild liquid dish soap and water quickly, and quickly dry with a towel and then air-dry them before playing again. None of my records are valuable or pristine but they don't need additional damage from dirt in the grooves, if I can help it.