Phonoland

Hey all,

Just got some more records and again a bunch of these metal Webster Adaptors.. I for the life of me can't figure out how to get these things out of the centers. Any tips. The first ones I just finally bent the records and forced them out, but I don't want to wreck these records and that system seemed to damage the vinyl a bit..

Is there a reason why you can't just leave them in place?

The first records I received with them they didn't want to drop on the spindle.. But I see the ones I have now are working properly. But I still want to know how they got them in and how you get them out? Surely they were made to remove if you wanted to?

I have a package of six of them, but I can't seem to find them now. They disappeared when I moved.

But I was able to put them in and take them out without flexing the record any more than is necessary with other spiders. I seem to remember that one tab was shorter than the others, and you inserted that last and took it out first.

The ones that don't work probably have casting burrs in the center holes. I had to clean out mine.

I've always had to bend a 45rpm to get them out. Metal adapters that are hard to use and impossibly detrimental to the record... Who thought that was a good idea? Oh yeah, Webster-Chicago! I hate 'em. Trust me, if you get 'em out, don't ever use them again!

We didn't have flexible plastics able to work as spiders when the 45 first came out. It was the only way Webster could get 45s to work with their 1949 changers. I have one (Webster 356-2).

Three or four years later, the plastic spider appeared, and the metal one made a fast exit.

If you want to blame someone, blame RCA for changing the spindle hole size. Their plan was to make a record that required consumers to buy RCA players. But Webster outsmarted them without violating their patents.

When the 45rpm came out around '49, there were flexible plastics available, due to war research. Why didn't Webster go with that? I mean, c'mon! It was a bad idea any way you look at it! And I don't blane RCA at all... Columbia did the same thing with 33 1/3! I would have hated to have been a consumer around that time! (Do I buy a RCA 45 player... or do I get a Columbia long player...?) I would love to see your Webster... I've never seen one. Can you put a picture up?

The plastics were available but expensive in 1949.

There is a photo of a Webster very similar to mine (and in better shape) on my record changer page 2.

http://geocities.com/midimagic@sbcgloba ... c356-1.jpg

The 4-page set is here:

http://geocities.com/midimagic@sbcgloba ... angers.htm

The Webster 356 has the following oddities:

- A clip-on shelf extension to hold up a stack of 7" records
- An adjustment on the shelf extension for the difference in thickness between a 7" 33 and a 7" 45.
- A knob on the rest post which moves the post. Moving the post changes the setdown point from 10" to 7" when the shelf is in the 10" position.
- The arm returns to rest for the last 10" or 12" record, but repeats the last 7" record.

Very nice! The Webster looks cool! Is it fun to play with? I also liked the "Dual 1000," it looks so evil! I started collecting in the early 90's, so moth of these tables and consoles were out of my price range, or off the market all together.... It's nice to see these. I've always wondered what the RCA "Magic Brain" system looked like, after seeing ads for it on RCA sleeves of the period. Nice links! (I liked the Improved Ortho changer, as well!) Do you have any links to pictures of Heath Kits?

The Glaser-Steers GS-77 pictured is exactly the same as the Heathkit AP-3, except for the color. I have one of each, and they are mechanically identical, except that the AP-3 doesn't work (the power switch was weak on these, and the idler wheels are shot). I made one good one out of them.

sentjourn wrote:Is there a reason why you can't just leave them in place?

They've been known to increase warpage in the record. That's been my experience. Every time I find one still in a 45 hole, the record surface has a little bit of a wave to it. I think it has to do with the heat-conducting properties of the metal insert. Even if the records weren't exposed to the sun, over the course of time, temperature fluctuations cause the adapter to absorb heat, and...instant vinyl roller-coaster for your stylus.

I have some still in the records, and have not noticed any warpage trouble. Improper storage is a more likely cause.

I once bought a very warped 45 rpm record to use as a tracking test standard.

But there were several years I didn't use it, and so it was stored with my other records (vertically and closely spaced). When I went to get it to make another test, I was chagrined to learn that proper storage had removed the warp.

It was bound to happen, one of those adaptors refused to come out of a columbia record from a set and it cracked the record in half trying to manuver the thing out.. The others in the same set didn't have them.. I wondered if the Columbia record composition is a bit less forgiving than the Victor red vinyl.. Seems like it may have been more brittle.

I have some Columbia records from the early 1950s made of filled vinyllite instead of pure vinyl. They are not flexible like pure vinyl.

And every Royale, Essex, and Pickwick record I have is filled vinyllite.