Help with Portable Regal Phonograph hand crank

Today I bought a regal phonograph. Everything is great on it except for when I put the needle on the record. I wind it up and it turns beautiful, but when I put the needle on it, it slowly comes to a stop like the needle is weighing it down. What do I need to do to? Is there anything I can do? Anything helps!

Hi Anna:

There are any number of reasons for this. Here are some of the common ones:

1--Not turning the crank enough. For most models, it takes at least about 20 turns of the crank to build up enough tension in the mainspring to play a record. In the case of my Paillard portable phonograph, it takes 45.

2--If the spring is fully wound, the motor may be in need of a rebuilding or cleaning and re-greasing. (That would include the mainspring or mainsprings.)

3--If the motor HAS been serviced recently, it's possible that the reproducer (AKA "sound box") is "frozen" and needs a rebuilding.

4--The wrong type of record is being played. These acoustic models were designed to play shellac based 78s produced from the early 1900s until about the 1940s. I've seen a YouTube video where a person is trying to play a vinyl rock-n-roll 78 from the late 1950s, and another one where the clueless individual was actually trying to play a 33 1/3 vinyl LP. In both cases, the turntables slowed down to a halt.

5--The needle is shot. If using a steel needle--either new production or new old stock--it should be changed and discarded after playing no more than one or two sides of a standard 10-inch 78 record.

6--The record is shot. Depending on condition, a worn out record will often slow down or stop the turntable.


Joe