I just purchased a vintage transcription phonograph, capable of playing 16 inch transcriptions – it’s a Califone 6U-7C Executive II with a self contained tube amplifier. At first, it had a horrible hum, but its origin was tracked down to the AC outlet it was plugged into – I switched it to a different outlet, one on a separate circuit, and the hum was greatly reduced.
I also have hundreds of 16 inch transcriptions that have sat idle for some time.
Merge the two, and I will be doing digital encodes of most of them over the next while. Most old time radio programs have been determined to be in the public domain in both the U.S. and Canada (they’re considered differently than music), and I will be making the new encodes of these available on the ALPB website (exact manner to be determined).
Types of programs to be available: Guest Star (a lot of these), Philco Radio Time, Red Skelton, Country Hoedown (hey, I didn’t say that they were all classics) to name a few from the top of the pile that I just glanced at. While I don’t think that many (if any) are rare or not already available, I will be encoding them at relatively high bitrates, so the quality may be better than available encodes (many of which are low bitrates and low relatively quality). I don’t think I’ll do much audio processing, other than running them through an Audacity filter to get rid of whatever hum is remaining, as I find that too much processing actually reduces the quality of the original material.
Special Stylus
I maintained two Gates 16″ radio station turntables for a long time and learned that, although they play at 33 1/3 RPM, the electrical transcriptions did NOT have micro-grooves and sounded terrible if played with a regular LP stylus.
I also believe the micro-stylus can cause permanent damage to the grooves.
The stylus required is the same size/width as used for 78 RPM discs, and can be special ordered.
Old Tyme Rounds
Pretty cool AR. I would for Sure (pun) get the proper stylus for that unit and the discs or you will end up damaging them on the first spin and they would be ruined forever.
That hum problem is probably due to aged caps. Just shotgun the thing and replace them all. And check the plug..probably not even polarized and most likely has one side tied to the chassis like them old Knight units. In the interim I would use an isolation transformer before attempting anything. FTC it in other words. (Fine Toot Comb).
RFB
The turntable has a flip
The turntable has a flip style needle, 78 on one side, 33 on the other. I used the 78 side to briefly listen to one transcription. Both needles appear to be in good condition.
Apparently all the capacitors were replaced on the turntable. And they do look new. The power cord was also replaced with a 3 prong, grounded one.
I contacted the Society for the Preservation of Vintage Radios here in Coquitlam (just across the river from me) and they have offered to take a look at it – I will certainly take advantage of that offer.