GE VR 1000 Owners Club

Tony, You may be able to fix the Walco's since you were successful with one transplant. From '92hdcma' ? Somehow, I knew that was you. LOL. If I am wrong.....never mind as the Church Lady said. LOL. I bought 60 of those from him and they were almost all no good. I think someone sold him a boat load of rejects. His other styli are excellent. The Walco's repackaged by EVG were quite good. Walco used very little glue. The low volume is because the tip is either too far from the pole pieces vertically or too far behind horizontally. The tip must line up with the pole pieces left to right, front to back, and clear the pole pieces vertically. You can compare the Walco's to the ones that work. If they are off horizontally, just very carefully pull the tip forward. If you go slowly, you will not tear anything. If the tips are too far removed vertically that is harder to correct unless you transfer the pieces to the old style body if you have any or push in and glue on the sides of the rubber damper. The old style body has a narrow opening when viewed from the back and there is a lip so that you can usually just push the front rubber pieces all the way in. The Walco's have Dally's modified body and have a wider window. The front damper will 'fall through' unless you put tiny bits of glue on the sides of the damper. If my instructions are confusing, contact me. The diamonds on the Walco's are bonded but decent. You can rid of the very soft adhesive on the Walco's if you take them apart. If you only need to slide the cantilever forward to fix, it will free the cantilever from the adhesive and they will track lighter. Your Pickerings and Empires may very well have nude diamonds.

 

I ordered a micrometer from Amazon so that I can measure the rubber pieces and make some adjustments to sizing that will compensate for slightly different cantilever shapes.

 

John, many years ago in my previous work life, I was a copier technician. Back then, they outfitted us techs with a small bottle of "rubber rejuvinator", to use on beat up rubber parts. I actually dont recall ever using it, but it existed.
Would something like that work on the hardened rubber pieces? just a thought.

PS......As I look back, I should have STAYED a copier tech instead of getting into IT...I would have had a lot less headaches.

 

I tried that stuff. It is nasty and dissolves plastic. I will not use it as I do not know how long the effects last. And I really need new butyl rubber parts because the size of the front dampers is too short. Thank you though. IT is tough. It is never 9 to 5 like some people think. It is more 24/7. When I was a DB2 DBA, fortunately I always escaped the same old same old of building tables and running reorgs and got to resolve performance problems. That was interesting and right up my alley.

 

Gotya, thanks.

Just to report that tonight I played a new Lp "Elvis is Back" on the VR 1000....sounded FANTASTIC. The VR 1000 has a terrific stereo spread.

 

I need to get some Elvis records. I have never owned any. When the time comes, I will see what you recommend. The channel separation for the VR 1000 is 30db for much of the audio range. It is still high at the high frequencies which really helps with directional cues.

 

The GE VR 1000 IS a Peter E. Pritchard original. Wish he was still around. I would love to communicate with him. I would learn a lot. Much. Mucho.

 

Me too!! And ask him why the Heck GE didnt manufacture their own High Quality Styli!!

 

GE spent a fortune advertising the VR 1000. Google 'orthonetic'.

 

I found another rubber fabricating company about one block from the one I visited last week. The company that I visited last week would have to outsource the project and make dies. Dies are expensive and I need some test pieces. The company that I will be visiting next has a computerized machine that knife cuts the rubber. That should allow me to have a few test pieces cut first. And then, it should not cost much to just cut the pieces without having to pay for dies to be created. If this goes well, I can start on Phase II.

 

Here are some patents to look at. The first is the original design by Peter E Pritchard:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ae/06/ec/2025d36eb806e9/US3062925.pdf

The next patent shows the changes that Roy Dally made to the stylus assembly design:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/a1/5b/d4/7235504261f7ec/US3220738.pdf

 

Did you think about someone 3D printing the Rubber components?
Don't know much about it - but it may be more economical that making dies.

 

389.....what a GREAT idea. I mean, if they can 3D print medical stuff, they should be able to print 2 tiny pieces of rubber, no?

 

AFAIK, you cannot 3D print rubber. I will not pay for dies. Cut or quit. LOL. I will double check 3D rubber printing.

 

I found this: https://www.dddrop.com/3d-printing-with-rubber-is-it-possible-2/

 

I just called the rubber parts company that I have not visited yet. They are open but the guy I need to speak to will not be in until tomorrow. I need closure on this. They can or cannot do it ? If not....sorry....I am done with the effort. Enough is enough.

 

This looks really promising. I was concerned about punching the rubber pieces. They have to be a tiny bit taller with a slot punch dead center horizontally and off center vertically. Front damper will be two of the rear damper pieces. This will ensure that the tip is not only the correct distance from the pole pieces vertically(a bit too far is acceptable whereas a bit too close is not(due to collision and bottoming) but that the cantilever from damper to damper is horizontal. Any angle 'preloads' the dampers and reduces compliance. This machine may save the day and they have it where I am going tomorrow:

 

Well that answers that!

 

I welcome all suggestions. I must admit I have tried to think of everything to try to save the few styli remaining. Other than 'odds and ends' and a quantity of Walco's that show up on eBay, I am only aware of 213 508's. Any that have bent pole pieces will not be rebuilt. Any Walco's will not be rebuilt due to the lack of a lip to prevent the front damper from being pushed too far into the the grip/body. (The front damper can actually be pushed all the way through the body, but the armature stops it). I can use the Walco armatures with tips. The Walco grips go into the trash. Thank you Roy Dally. With Pritchard's grip design, you can just seat the front damper(s) instead of having to guess and glue. Being able to rebuild them depends on being able to get the rubber pieces called dampers, cut to the modified size and having a slot as opposed to a hole punched in the proper location in each damper. The armature is crank shaped so without a snug fit in the dampers, and without enough compliance, the stylus tip will roll the entire armature. If successful (with getting what I want), styli assemblies with the following defects which rendered them unusable will make them very usable:

age hardened gum rubber(gum rubber dampers are white),
glue soaked dampers,
misshapen armatures(cantilevers)
armatures with a blob of glue on top(side of armature opposite the stylus tip)
armatures with stylus shank protruding on top
dampers cut too short(height)

I am doing some drawing tonight so that I can be prepared for tomorrow's visit to C*E*N*T*R*A*L PLASTIC & RUBBER CO. INC.
It is interesting to me that in the October 1961 issue of Hi Fi Stereo Review there is the review of the GE VR 1000 and advertising for the ADC 1(page 37). Both great designs by Peter E Pritchard the then founder and owner of ADC.

 

John, somewhere, Peter Pritchard is looking down and smiling!!

 

Thanks !!!! I keep waiting for him to add to my PayPal. LOL. Too bad he did not make a deal with GE to continue the VR 1000 as an ADC product. With his brand on it, there would have been excellent styli. GE and Peter surely were in competition in 1961, but we all know who won as far as sales in the stereo cartridge arena between GE and ADC. He could have renamed the VR 1000 as 'Legacy 1000'. 'Poor man's London Decca' would probably have resulted in trouble. LOL.

 

I ordered another copy of the February 1964 Consumer Reports to hopefully get the test results for the VR 1000. This time I ordered it from eBay. I ordered the previous copy from Amazon last week, and the seller has not even put it into the mail yet. eBay expects the seller to ship promptly.

 

I don’t have a 1000 but I have a GE VR II on a replinthed Lenco with the older tonearm. These are amazing cartridges. I use this one for pre stereo era mono records and a few 78s using the press button to switch the stylus. Pretty amazing cartridge. Full, dynamic, and exciting sounding. Wish I had more 78s...

 

'Full, dynamic, and exciting sounding'. You got it. Great description....thanks !!!! That and awesome channel separation describes the VR 1000. Pfanstiehl currently makes styli for the GE RPX and VR-II in Rockford, IL. Other styli that they make there are for ceramic cartridges. They buy their other mag styli from the same Swiss manufacturer(probably HUCO) that EVG does.

 

Yup, thats a perfect description of the GE carts.