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Philco D-10 needle source - Printable Version

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Philco D-10 needle source - brownie45 - 05-28-2014

Has anyone found a source for needles for this unit? Dug out the Sams
for the changer, & it only gives a cartridge number [crystal].
Probably the odds of the pick-up being good yet are not high, but the neighbor would kind of like to get it working.
Unit number is 46-1209, & is a stellar performer on both AM & SW.
Good selectivity across the bands.
Thanks for any info.
Jim

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - TA Forbes - 05-28-2014

Hoo-boy!! Icon_eek They are tough to find!!

I had the same problem a couple of months ago with a model 46-1209. You would think that such a common set would have a common record player with common parts, but that is not the case.

I ended up giving the 46-1209 away to a nice family down the street, and told them the player did not work.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - brownie45 - 05-28-2014

Much obliged for the info, TA. I told my man that parts would
be hard to find--if not impossible.
Jim

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - sam - 05-28-2014

try gib he rebuilds them

http://www.west-techservices.com/
sam

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Warren - 05-28-2014

The needle is very hard to find.. I have a D-10a , I did find a needle on Ebay but it is very rare to find. Good Luck.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - TA Forbes - 05-28-2014

West Tech told me lots of luck when I went to them.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Ron Ramirez - 05-29-2014

You guys must be referring to that "Dynamic" cartridge Philco came out with right after WWII. Yes, the styli for those are basically unobtainium. To make matters worse, Philco designed the cartridge to only accept Philco's own proprietary stylus; use of a steel needle or the generic sapphire needle will destroy the cone of the cartridge which the stylus slips into.

A newer magnetic cartridge would seem to be an answer to the problem, until you consider that Philco set the mounting holes too far back for a modern cartridge.

Sometimes companies did some really dumb things in order to be different from their competitors...but then again, Philco didn't expect anyone to still be using 46-1209 sets 68 years later.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - brownie45 - 05-29-2014

Thanks for all the replies. This unit is the guys wife's folks outfit which
was their first piece of "luxury" furniture after they got married---so
lots of sentimentality there.
Guess they'll have to do without listening to their 78s.
Jim

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Randy H. - 06-09-2014

There are a couple of outfits who re-tip these styli. Be VERY careful pulling it out of the pickup. The aluminum coupling to the moving coil is very fragile. At least one of the re-tipers request that you send the whole cartridge to them.

At one point, Astatic marketed a replacement stylus for this unit, but I haven't seen even one of the wall charts in many years. It might have been a re-package of a Philco stulus.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Ron Ramirez - 06-09-2014

Who is re-tipping the styli? Please post links. This would be very helpful information to many folks out there. Thanks.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - brownie45 - 06-09-2014

Are there even pictures of the needles? Maybe they
could be duplicated using correct diameter shaft/
rod??

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Randy H. - 06-13-2014

RE: folks who re-tip styli: westtechservices@yahoo.com It's all I have left, because I have a new computer (HATE 8.1!) and everything I saved was on the OLD one.

RE: Pictures... Not so you'd notice them, except there WAS a wall chart issued by Astaic about 1955 or so, and it showed an outline of it.

This stylus shank is TAPERED. Almost not visible, but tapered all the same. It is held in the pickup by friction. The socket is rubber, and molded such that putting a steel needle in destroys the socket. If someone has an old one and a micrometer, you can 'mike' the top end, and the area where it exits the pickup. With some math, the exact taper can be calculated, and something new might be fabricated. The 'rake' is critical to surface noise reduction. (Rake is the angle at which the stylus meets the record.) The earlier versions of this stylus appeared to be straight, but in fact were bent just a bit at the tip end.

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Ron Ramirez - 06-13-2014

Thanks; I did not know Gib at West-Tech re-tipped styli.

http://www.west-techservices.com/

Randy, do you still have your old computer? If so, you can copy files from the old onto the new.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/transfer-data-from-old-computer-to-windows-8/

I really like 8.1, it is definitely better than the original Windows 8.0. I wouldn't think 8.1 would be as much of a pain to use, especially since the 8.1 update was released which makes 8.1 boot directly to the desktop on any computer that has a keyboard (not applicable to tablets).

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Skip - 06-13-2014

I believe this is the needle used in the D-10A phonograph. I have attached some pictures of the original out of my cartridge. My cartridge is shot and this needle is badly worn. I have also included a picture of one that sold on eBay not long ago.
   
   
   
   

RE: Philco D-10 needle source - Warren - 06-13-2014

Yes, that's the one I bought for my D10a which works perfectly.