SWAPPING SOUNDBOXES

I was surfing the net and found a copy of letter of a 1926 reader of the UK gramophone magazine...
He too was interested in swapping soundboxes .
Very interesting ,he even preferred the columbia soundbox with metal diaphragm and the astra !!!

here s the link

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/Ja ... +them+good.

Many thanks for posting the link! I found this paragraph of particular interest:

"...When a sound-box is inclined to be screamy and harsh, I have often produced marked improvement by inserting a small cube of rubber, about a quarter of an inch long, between the diaphragm and the stylus bar. A piece cut off a rubber bootheel does admirably ; it should be cut of such a size as to be under slight compression when wedged into position just touching the gasket rubber. Sometimes it merely mutes the sound ; but on other boxes it seems to produce a clearer, firmer tone without appreciable loss of volume...."

I tried something like that, years ago. I inserted a small piece of rubber, culled from a rubber binder, between the stylus bar and diaphragm on a Victor #2 sound box. It did, indeed, make the tone more mellow, but also dampened the sound considerably. Eventually, I dispensed with the rubber, and following a friend's suggestion, I substituted silicone in place of the (then available) gaskets which were harder than those used originally. It made for a great improvement--an overall expanded tone, while eliminating the harsh sounding ringing normally hear on some upper register notes.

So anybody know what this guy was referring to when he mentioned 'lifebelts'?