Orthophonic high fidelity rca victor radio

NAPA then made up an aerosol can of matching gold paint. I took the cabinet to the NAPA paint store and had the gold paint color-matched. I used very little water and tried to avoid getting any water inside the cabinet as I did not want to damage the nice label and cardboard speaker escutcheon. After I removed the tone arm, motor, amplifier, tone control assembly, and switch assembly, I cleaned the cabinet with warm water and Simple Green. The machine I purchased on eBay was in very good cosmetic condition, except for the usual needle scratch across the gold colored top and some stains in the gold paint that I couldn't remove. The retractable tone arm also functions as the on/off power switch, and the volume control knob is hiddden beneath the tone arm. This very stylish Art Deco or Industrial Modern design is very simple with clean geometric lines. The first 45 players offered by RCA took their styling cues from the 63E. The following year saw the introduction of the 45rpm record format. The 1948 RCA Model 63E was the last self-contained 78rpm record player offered by RCA. I repurposed it to adjust tone arm pressure by using a screw and two washers at the rear of the cabinet to adjust the pressure.Д¬lick the link for a You Tube Video of the player and a musical tour of the workshop. The tone arm came with a wire attached to the rear of the tone arm, which is used to raise the tone arm when it is installed in a RP-152 RCA record changer mechanism. The correct stylus pressure for the RCA cartridge is 2.75 ounces, so the pressure wasn't too much over, but I still wanted to get it closer to the recommended pressure. The next step was to figure out a way to adjust the tone arm pressure. I mounted a tone arm rest I found from an old Collaro record player, then I installed the motor and on/off switch.

I mounted the tone arm perch and routed the wires down below and soldered them to an RCA phono jack I installed under the motor board. When my cartridge came back from West-Tech Services, I installed it in the tone arm and replaced the original metal shielded cable with much lighter 30 ga. I sanded the veneer and applied two coats of Minwax Golden Oak stain and finish. I covered the Masonite motor board with PSA veneer. I put new felt on the platter, and cleaned up the nice brass on/off toggle switch. The motor seems to run well, and I checked the speed with a strobe, and it is extremely accurate.

I also serviced the motor and installed new rubber motor grommets. The tracking arc is the same as the original. I used the original motor board as a template for the motor and tone arm cut-outs. The John Vassos tone arm is the same effective length from pivot to needle tip as the tone arm shown in the first image, so I mounted it in the same location on the motor board. I made a new motor board from 1/2' Masonite and made cutouts for the motor mount, tone arm, and an on/off switch. In the meantime I found a nice Pro-Linear AT-1600 turntable base at a very reasonable price on EBay.

I sent the cartridge off to West-Tech Services for a rebuild. I was lucky to find a John Vassos designed RCA tone arm like the ones used in the RCA Victor Special Models, with a cartridge. I'm not sure of date or model, but the RCA tone arm has been around snce before WWII. I started with a turntable that appeared to be a pull from a RCA consoleI. Sometimes customers just send the amplifier, which is a battery operated three tube amp, using a 1G6 output tube, and it needs the higher voltage of the old crystal cartridges to properly test the amp. I wanted to build a test platform using the same tone arm and cartridge as the RCA Special Models. I built the 78rpm turntable described in this article for testing amplifiers used in the RCA Victor Special Models that I occasionally restore for people. RCA 78 RPM Home Built Turntable with a John Vassos Tone Arm Vintage RCA Victor Record Players Vintage RCA Victor Record Players

Orthophonic high fidelity rca victor radio