The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Re your question on playback of Soundscriber disks on a normal turntable, this can be done but the sound level is quite low with poor frequency response. Probably has something to do with the needle point profile.

More on this: one relevant patent says the disks are of "Vinylite", a co-polymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate. Thanks to Tape for pointing me in this direction.

Thanks , Tape ....you're very helpful. For those others who ask about needles, it's true that barring disasters, the recording needle tends to last forever...my machine is very old yet the needle, under a microscope, seems as good as ever. And as you mention, one does NOT want a chisel point, but ra...

This reply is 2 years too late, but it looks to me that you could use steel needles, cut to the recording profile, to cut discs on this old acoustic dictating machine. As usual, one would have to use the bottom side (matte side) of plastic picnic plates as a recording material, lacking acetate discs...

Has anyone determined what was the material used in Sound Scriber disks?
I am thinking Lexan (easily embossed) might be a substitute....

Thanks, cd4cutter. I hadn't thought of Sams or Riders...good advice. I am much obliged.

Does anyone out there have a schematic for the older tube-type Sound Scriber circa 1950 (I think)? Mine is model LPR1KOS (5 tubes) in leather case with small lift-up front for loading blanks and accessing microphone.
Or does anyone know an Internet site where one can buy a schematic?

If you don't have an old crystal phono, then really, any low-level signal (say, about 1/4 volts) would do...for example, the output of an amplifier turned so low that it's almost inaudible. Luckily, tube type circuits are very robust and there's not much danger of harming them this way, unlike trans...

Since as far as I know the Sound Scriber uses a crystal microphone, if everything else seems to be OK then I would suspect the mic. The Rochelle Salt crystal in these 50-year old machines decomposes over time and gives no output whatever. It's the same with old crystal earphones and crystal phono pi...

Re your antenna: I have a Recordette, and it's antenna has three wires plus the two screw attachments. Here are the circuit details: There are two windings in the antenna, one for the tuned circuit, and another to match to an external antenna & ground. One lead of the tuned winding goes to the 1st g...

Memo to Grooveguy: I looked at a Wagner embossing needle under a microscope and it's very much like an LP sapphire phono needle - not a ball as I had assumed. I suppose this is because the point provides a lot more pounds-per-sq-inch pressure for good embossing, but without tearing. People say the S...

Thanks, Groove-Guy, for the info. The clue about smelling like burning styrene is very useful...I wasn't sure they had styrene back then, but the discs might have been made of a precursor plastic. I am assuming that the embossing stylus point is like a very tiny ball...will have to check on the Wagn...

Thanks for your advice, Cartridge repair...that is a great help and I will check them out.

I would think that even tempered glass would be prone to chipping along the cutting edge...quite impractical. If you're just into experimenting casually, you can grind your own steel cutting needles from old 78 RPM phono needles if you know the angle of cut and have Dremel tool with a very fine emer...

I have tried cutting Lexan with a Recordette...even with a very sharp needle it was not successful; I do think, though, that thin Lexan sheets might be a good medium for the Sound Scriber units., which emboss the groove.

You can indeed grind your own cutting needles, using old 78 RPM extra-loud phono needles. One uses a high-speed Dremel tool or equivalent fitted with a very fine-grain grinding wheel. First the shank flat is ground on, then on the opposite side the point of the needle is flattened and then the 45-de...

Does anyone out there have info/diagrams of the recording arm & head for a Sound Scriber disc embossing unit? Or a photo?
I need to reconstruct one that is missing from my machine. Thanks.

I've had reasonably good success with a Recordette (78 RPM) with a cutter head I rebuilt myself, and steel needles that I grind from regular 78 RPM phono needles. I am using plastic picnic plates with the rim cut off, leaving about an 8" disc for recording. One MUST use the matte under-side of the p...

This might not be overly helpful, but ....the Wilcox-Gay (Recordette) uses a piezo-electric (Rochelle Salt) cutter head and if you're lucky the crystal will not have turned to dust inside the cutter head, over the last 50 years or so. But if you get no results and can't feel any modulation on the cu...

Does anyone know what type of plastic was used for the green Sound Scriber blanks, which work by embossing a modulated groove? I think thin sheets of Lexan will work as a substitute (it won't break but it takes scratches very easily), but it would be good to know the type of original plastic, in cas...