Newcomb mv30 conversion

Good on ya mate! I am glad you got it working but I'm at a loss to understand how the old cart and needle now works where the new ones didn't. I wouldn't trust an old stylus.

Well, MattTech:

I think that's what the board is about...a little guidance from folks with more knowledge other than giving a general, vague answer like "take it somewhere and get it serviced." If you're such a wealth of knowledge, then share it. I'm not paying a $100 for someone to come to my house and install a $5.00 needle.

I'm not trying to bash you, but don't look down your nose at us tinkerers and hobbyists...We've accomplished alot in our own right, too. Techs nowadays are not like back in the old days. This is a disposable society, and it's easy to swap out one faulty circuit board and plug in a new one. You don't hear alot about folks still working at the component level these days.

As far as these old recordplayers go, I don't mind throwing on some old beat-up LP's or 45's while I'm out in the garage doing what ever. I have alot of duplicates, so no great loss there and the pops and crackles are rather nostalgic and bring back memories. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

MattTech wrote: I'm an experienced and highly qualified technician in the field of servicing/electronics, and my customers admire the fact that I'm able to guide them towards the proper results

MattTech wrote: "Anyone remember doing jumping jacks to that "Chicken Fat" song they played in the gym by Forrest Preston?"

The guy who sang "Chicken Fat" was ROBERT Preston, not "Forrest"-maybe ROBERT had a relative by that name, I don't know. But ROBERT Preston was well know for playing Prof. Harold Hill in "The Music Man" on the Broadway stage & later on film in the 1962 movie version, which also had Shirley Jones, Ronny Howard, Charles Lane, Buddy Hackett, et al in the cast. Robert Preston was also in the 1982 film "Victor Victoria" with Julie Andrews.

I have two Newcombs, an EDT-28 I bought brand new in 1980 & an EDT-15 I got for $20 in a Brazil, Indiana antique mall in 2001. Both are adequate for early Lps(1948-1958 period) & both are very useful in playing 78 records without issue. I have two Motorola portable "hi-fi" phonographs, a mono 1958 "Hi Fi in Fiberglass" unit & a 1959 "Golden Voice" stereophonic unit with swing-out speakers containing the midrange & tweeters. Both have "adjustable" tracking pressure(by that little metal spring) of 6-8 grams, which was pretty standard for those ceramic cartridges. The early "clamshell" Columbia Lp players, made by Philco, tracked at 10 grams. Not until the early 1960s did you see tracking pressure of around 2 grams, which Zenith for one used to boast of with their "Micro Touch" tonearms.

When you think of acoustic Victrolas & the like that tracked around 120-140 grams(!!!) on the 78s made for them some 80-115 years ago, it's amazing that ANY records exist that are in reasonable to pretty good playing condition to our 21st century ears. And I have a 1926 Victor Credenza Orthophonic Victrola that I use with some of my 78s, without incident. It's all in the care & maintainence of these old machines, really. Having said all this, I agree with the other folks about Newcombs not being suitable for high quality playback. Putting Lps on them made after the early 1960s is really not a good idea. Even late 1950s Lps with lots of dynamic range(for vinyl, anyways) are a stretch. But these "classroom" type record players have their place-they are fun & convenient to use. Certainly more portable than the Motorolas I mentioned, which the stereo unit weighs about 45 pounds! So yes, educate yourself about the various eras of phono equipment, but don't condemn the entry-level machines out of context for their appropriate use. What you get when you use them is a "vintage listening experience", not high fidelity playback.