Where I get my victrola needles

[Fletch]

From a tree. I kid you not.

Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)

There is one of these just outside my terrace level apt. Their chief characteristic, besides the seed pods various critters enjoy, is clusters of weapons-grade thorns.

These suckers are hard and sharp enough to deflate lawn tractor tires, but they give way easily to heavy nail clippers. Once I've harvested a decent batch, I carefully cut them to the length of the steel needles that go with my RCA acoustic portable. They give this usually bone-rattlingly loud phono a much softer tone, and supposedly, won't wear the records out so fast.

There is some trick to getting them in at the right angle - if you don't, they'll stop the turntable dead about 10 grooves in. Now I need to find one of those needle sharpeners folks used to use back in the day of cactus, bamboo, and various fiber needles.

I hadn't known this, but there is some historical precedent for what I'm doing:

We never knew how delightful our pet phonograph records could sound until one day, in a frenzy born of desperation, we substituted these long, sharp, honey locust thorns for the regulation needles. Now we use them through preference.
Yes . . . Mother Nature is kind to her children in the Ozarks.

-Marguerite Lyon, Take to the Hills: A Chronicle of the Ozarks, 1941

 

[scotrace]

Very cool - where does the honey locust grow? North? South?

 

[dhermann1]

New York City parks are full of them. I would imagine there are plenty in Ohio.
I've been told that the honey locust was a tree that was considered pretty much worthless by early farmers except for one thing. The wood splintered. and didn't take to a saw, so the only thing they could be used for was split rail fences. In early American pioneer days, when a daughter was born to a farm family, her father would plant a good sized stand of honey locusts. When that girl got to be marrying age, those trees were ready to be cut down, and split into rails for her husbands farm, so he could erect those good old fashioned split rail fences around his land.
Now we know one other use for this tree.
In late spring the honey locust is covered with cascades of lovely little white flowers that have a delicious aroma, hence the name Honey Locust. One other not very useful trait of the honey locust is an affinity for lightning. They have a higher than average moisture content, so when the sky is full of electricity, it tends to find the tops of these tall trees. You'll often see honey locusts shattered in pieces after a lightning storm. Don't plant them too close to the house.
I've seen other materials used for 78 rpm needles, I'm thinking I've seen ivory, or something that looked like it.

 

[PADDY]

A pal of mine (on here)

Well he does something similar with his Vitrola - so you're not alone

 

[Chas]

Your records will last longer on a new turntable, though.

 

[Fletch]

The nice ones only go on the new tt.

I play the Crankola strictly for itself, so it gets the not so nice records. I have loads.

 

[Flivver]

As I'm sure you all know, Victor used to sell fiber needles for those who preferred a softer tone. They were also advertised as causing less record wear than a steel needle. These needles were triangular in cross-section. A tool was sold to renew the tip of the fiber needle after each play by simply cutting a bit off.

I have some of these and they sound quite good.

But my favorite needles are the Victor Tungs-Tone needles. These are semi-permanent (100 plays) and their sound is incredible; particularly on an Orthophonic machine. They have a thin rod of tungsten steel encased in a plain steel shank. Many years ago I was fortunate to find several hundred Tungs-Tone needles at a flea market. I'm still using them.

 

[RetroToday]

Interesting topic, cool. I don't think I've seen a tree like that in Ontario, Canada, but I'll keep my eyes peeled now that I know.

These look to be the same tapering shape as a steel needle, as long as the reproducer head is at roughly a 45 degree angle it appears it would play just great. As far as sharpening them, would they take well to sanding?

On my older machines I currently prefer to play 78s with fibre needles due to the wear steel needles can cause. I don't have many though and I don't have an official fibre needle cutter so it can be a bit of a hassle. After I wear out the batch I use a stright razor blade (padded on top to save my fingers) to shave them down.

I also like tungs-tone needles and like how they play, but I've heard many contradictory arguments for and against them. Many have said that the tungs-tone needles wear records even faster than steel needles.