[Dixielandjazz] Speaking of needles for 78s

[Stan Brager]

Bill and all;

My old Victrola (circa 1916) uses bamboo needles which were cut into a
triangular shape. Since the bamboo wore out fairly quickly - about 3 plays -
there was a convenient guillotine which would slice the record end of the
used needle to create a new point. The drawback was that a shorter needle
couldn't play as loudly as the longer needle.

I still have a small stash of those bamboo needles which I use to play my
Anthony Braxton LPs.

Stan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 8:10 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Speaking of needles for 78s


> Hi all,
>
> Craig wrote:
>
> "I shall look to see if it is possible to find a a proper 78 rpm
cartridge.
> Anyone have some ideas on that?"
>
> I can't be of any help on this, but I do recall from the olden days of my
> youth there was a period when we all went ga-ga for cactus needles to use
in
> our 78 turntables.  There was even a cute little gizmo which featured a
> sandpaper disk that was used to sharpen the needles because they tended to
> get dull rather quickly.
>
> Cactus needles did have the advantage, however, of always being in
plentiful
> supply as long as you lived in desert environment.
>
> If you can find a 78 turntable with one of those tone arms with the
knurled
> screw you used to clamp the needle (we didn't call it a "stylus" back
then)
> in place then perhaps a trip to the local desert might be in order.
>
> Just reminiscing,
>
> Bill "love that high tech stuff" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
>
>
>