45 adaptor drags on GE Portable..

Anyone else having this issue.. My only player at the moment is a GE Solid State portable with four speeds. It uses a rectangular shaped 45 adapter. I have several sets of 45's in albums, several brands.. Some of the Red seals and others will drop perfectly, others hang up and then want to drag on the spindle after they drop. Some others that do drop also drag especially at the beginning of the record. Is this just symptomatic of this record player? Are the holes a tiny bit smaller in some RCA records than others. Only thing I can see that would cause it to drag. Any easy remedy for this without getting the centers out of round? I guess I could use the adaptors, which at this point I don't have? It does seem odd how they use that off shape spindle to hold a round record, the tolerances have to be really close, and evidently they didn't always meet them? I put a bit of WD 40 on the lower part of the spindle attachment where the records have to rotate, don't know yet if that will make much difference but I figure any resistance at that point is bad?

GE really went downhill in the late 1960s. But there is one thing to check first. Is the spindle straight? If the LP spindle is bent, or the 45 spindle is warped, it won't seat correctly.

If the 45 spindle is really rectangular, it may be the wrong one. The GE one was two parallelograms stuck together. There is a picture of it here:

GE 45 spindle

Look quick, it's an eBay item.

Yes the link of the GE you have is the one.. Some of the records seem as though there too tight on the spindle.. the first sets I tried all dropped fine, and still do, but I just got a batch and several of them refuse to drop the records and if it does they want to drag. Some of those that do drop also drag sometimes.. I figured it was too small a center in the record and the odd shape of spindle seems like it would make the record a bit difficult to turn easily. But I guess thats the way it is made.. I still think that probably some of the records were slightly off to the small size on the center hole.

I have an eary 60's Trimline 500 with the same adapter. I find, and this may sound stupid, that the only time my records drag is when I have more than 5 on the spindle. About the third record, they start to slow down at the beginning, then catch. The labels are slipping against each other. It's a case of "the lawn mower won't start... oh there's no gas!" It's a pretty simple answer. This may not be your problem, but it was mine! My spindle adapter has never given me problems. What model do you have? (Trimline, Wildcat?)

I had that trouble with my first record changer, which tracked at 8 grams equiv. I stopped having it when I got my Collaro tracking at 2.25 grams equiv.

I just checked my two automatics I have out and running, and my GE Trimline 500 tracks at 5.5g, while my KLH Model Twenty tracks at 6.5g! I'm surprised; I thought the GE would track heavier... oh well... here's some pictures of 'em.

The GE

The Model Twenty with vintage Sony speakers

Nice looking, just like mine.. I bet the wood speakers have deeper sound? At first I thought the slimline was thin, and maybe it is compared to a large system but I put the speakers on the floor on each side of it and sort of in a corner. It has reasonably sound that way.. At first I played it with the speakers attached, then I noticed a note on it that said to play it with them detached.. It does seem to make a difference?

The KLH sounds reasonable with the Sony speakers... I have it in my music room, mostly to play my 78's on. It has a mono / stereo switch, and a pretty responsive trebble knob. Makes my 78's sound warm and clean. The GE I have in my office, and I trust it to play my older 45's and LP's on. I try not to put anything near mint on it, because it does track heavy, but it plays my 50's 45rpm records very well! My grandmother bought the unit back in the early 60's, and... back then, it WAS slim! It's one of the last decent players GE made... that's just my opinion. I bought a mid 60's version, which oddly enough, was still a Trimline 500, but had some of the trappings of a Wildcat. (That nasty, cheap tonearm!) It was beat, and I salvaged the adaptor, then dumped the player. (Yes, it was that bad!) Overall, the system works well in a small space. I have had it for years, but have never separated the speakers! I think they tell you to separate them just so you'll get the full stereo effect. Have you bought a new stylus for it yet? They are on eBay; I have bought one, and it works perfectly! Oh, and did you ever fix your adaptor problem?

Okay, so I'm having one of those "feeling nice" moments. If you are still having a problem with your adaptor, and can't find any of the plastic, yellow ones... I'll send you some. Do you want them? Just send me an IM with a shipping address, and I'll send off about 10 of 'em to you. I hate it when my stuff doesn't work right, and I have a lot of those yellow 45 adaptors. Just let me know.