Fifty year old phono cartridges

VTF is set for 3.04, (which should be perfect) and I mentioned, the cart body is REALLY close to the record, too much for comfort.

 

Guy.......I now have at least 2 NOS EVG styli that have the "hardening" problem. What could I put on the rubber parts to try and soften them up? Dumb question, but would a tiny dab of WD40 work.....or a drop of the oil thats used for turntable bearings?

 

It might. It might also cause some glued things to come apart. Please try the other two and let me know. PM coming.

 

For petrified rubber idler wheels, some people soak them for 24+ hours in brake fluid. Some say it works, some say it's not worth it. Even if it works somewhat, some fluid apparently oozes out for a few days before it stabilizes. I have never (yet) tried this.

There's a thing called "Rubber Renue", it is available on the Big A and there are some videos. I have not used this either.

 

I have some 'Rubber Renew'. I can't get past the fumes. And with about 200 styli to choose from.....I ain't gonna worry about it. LOL.

 

My Garrard Lab 80 arrived yesterday with a Pickering V15 AT1 cartridge installed. '1' ? The earliest that I remembered was the '3' models. LOL. The Pickering that I have is circa 1965 verified with the 1965 Allied Radio catalog. I will order a 604-DET and a 605-DET E'*VG styli from Gary. I could look for NOS OEM but most of what is out there are for playing 78's and/or are conicals. I do have another thread on here about finding OEM styli. A word of warning....if the package does not state 'Manufactured by Shure, Pickering', etc you are getting an aftermarket stylus. You cannot depend on the model number. Pfanstiehl will often put a '4' in front of the model number to indicate that it is a Pfanstiehl stylus or a '*' to indicate OEM. But.....not always. EVG and Pfanstiehl have been around for decades and have had numerous parent companies and things change. The 52 year old Pickering sounds okay. It could do with a fresh stylus.

 

GE also made tube amps like these.I will forever regret passing up a pair of their tube amp and tuner I saw back in the mid-90s at a pawn shop for $15,because my mind had been poisoned by too many snobbish audio magazines.

 

Yeah,but the hard part is finding people to repair or restore the stuff.

 

I have a 1219,I found at Goodwill about 5-6 years ago,for $5.99.I have meant to get it restored and running,but I like my TD135 ,and my Garrard Type A Lab changer too much.

 

The Garrard Lab 80 that arrived yesterday needs a lot of work. I am looking for a better example as that will probably be cheaper than the cost of restoring the one that I just received.

 

My Shure V15 still going strong.
No probs tracking ( sme3009)

 

It'll make a good "parts-car".

 

That's what I like about the hobby, is fixing and refurbishing equipment.

 

Update:
So, one of the 4 styli I recently bought for the VR-1000 is actually good. It played beautifully with no distortion.
So at least I have two good styli now. 3 more on the way from Voice of Music.

Today I had some time off, so I played a bunch of LP cuts on the VR-1000 (installed on a Rega P1, tracking at 2.54 gms).

I MUST say that the VR-1000 really excels in detail retrieval. I heard things on some records that I had never heard before. I think other carts obscure certain things because of their design while the VR-1000 brings them out because of the energy at the stylus tip.

Heres what I noted:

Supremes 1967 Greatest Hits Lp:
Played the side with "Stop- in the Name of Love". I never noticed the long organ note "wash" playing in the backround. Also, the piano on another cut (I think "Back In My Arms Again" ) is really noticeable , where its obscured on other Lps and Cds.

Four Seasons LP with "On Broadway Tonight":
Played 'Save it For Me" and never noticed the guitar switched from chords to playing heavy accented 8th notes.

Gary Lewis "This Diamond Ring" LP
In "This Diamond Ring", there is a short instrumental part where the organ alternates with a lead guitar. On the VR-1000, the guitar really sounds like it in the room with you...you hear every detail of the string noise, etc...pretty cool!

The Ventures- Surfing
Someone is playing a pair of SCISSORS on Party In Laguna!!

You know, it strikes me that the VR-1000 would be a great cart to use when something has ti be mastered from vinyl because no master tape exists. Especially something like a lost Jazz Lp or instrumental album. Also to mention that really really wide Stereo separation the cart has.

 

I've used this for years. Some odor, but not intolerable. Works a treat.

https://www.mouser.com/images/techspray/images/1612-2SQ_Hi-Res.jpg

Cheers,
Larry B.

 

This makes my day !!!! So happy for you. It is a great cartridge. I have that Supremes album and I will play the same tracks.

 

Yes, I have to say I was very impressed with it. Now, i am wondering if it would perform even better in a Thorens TD-124 , or other Vintage table. I would almost just buy one to really give the VR-1000 the tools it needs to excel.

 

LOL. Same here. I bought the VR 1000 first and then a turntable for it. I am going to have the second VR 1000 mounted in a Lab 80 headshell. The Lab 80 tonearm is more massive and I think has less bearing friction than the AR tonearm. I repaired the first Lab 80 to the point where it plays records and the second Lab 80 is on its way. I also bought the Lab 80 repair manual.

 

Good for you John!! I hope the second Lab 80 works well for you.

By the way...I'm curious....are you going to open each styli you sell and test it before you ship?

 

Hi Mike,
No because it is so much wear and tear on the tonearm and cartridge. And the EVG packages are tamper evident. I could test a batch and send out for repackaging under the brand name that we discussed. I do offer returns, replacements, and refunds on the EVG's.

 

Got to do some more listening today:

John suggested I play some Beach Boys, so I put on my reissue LP of "Surfing USA".
WOW. Sounded amazing clear and 3D. John is right, it sounds spooky real, like the guys are in the room with you.

Put on the German release of "The Monkees" (the first album). This Lp is a sonic train wreck, but I wanted to see what the VR-1000 could do with it. It REALLY made the vocals stand out. Probably more so that any cart I have ever
used to play this album, which I have heard maybe 1000 times over the years.

Next up was Johnny and The Hurricanes stereo Lp "Stormsville". My copy isnt in the greatest shape but boy did it have a lot of drive and energy with the VR-1000.

An added benefit is that the stereo (30 db) separation with the VR-1000 is, I must say, phenomenal. I'm a nut for True Stereo and any cart that widens the stereo image is just perfect for me. I really enjoy this part of the VR-1000 experience.

Something I'm noticing about the VR-1000. When listening to vocals, the 1000 lets you hear the reverb/echo that the engineers put on the vocals a lot better than other carts. Not sure why this is, but its another part of the 1000's ability to excel in detail retrieval.

I have been evaluating the VR-1000 on Rega P1....the bottom of the line Rega table. I'm strongly considering a higher end table for this cart. Problem is I dont know if I should go Retro or Modern. Right now I'm leaning towards a high end Rega (because I have great experience and luck with those). Thoughts?

 

My second Garrard Lab 80 arrived with an Electro-Voice 279-D cartridge which I believe is a low output ceramic. The stylus is broken but that is no problem. Stylus #2622 will cure that. From what is left of the stylus assembly, it appears to be a high compliance stylus. This Garrard seems salvageable unlike the first one.

 

A magnetic cartridge is a generator. And like any generator, the faster you turn it, the more voltage it puts out. Thus, a magnetic cartridge has a 6 dB/oct frequency rise. It's the old constant velocity/constant amplitude game. The RIAA curve takes this into account. But a ceramic cartridge isn't a generator, so it doesn't have that top-end rise. You can't use a crystal cart with a phono preamp for that reason. That's why they sound "dull". A ceramic cartridge needs to be fed into a flat preamp, and then a treble boost applied.

 

Most importantly, it needs a flat preamp with a high input impedance. Tubes have this naturally, but with a solid-state preamp you'll need to load it with at least a 1 megohm resistor, or else bass response will suffer greatly.

 

I thought the RIAA curve was because when the master is cut, bass is reduced to allow easier tracking on playback and to increase play time per side and treble is boosted when cut and reduced on playback to reduce surface noise.