This little record player is nothing special but it is very dear to me. I think I was about 7 or 8 years old when I found some old records that my parents had bought before they were married. They didn't have a record player to play them on as it turns out they had a Dansette but had part exchanged it for a Philips reel to reel tape recorder when they got married as funds were tight and every penny went on saving for a mortgage. When Dad asked what I wanted Father Christmas to bring me this year I said I would like a record player to play the records on.
Christmas came and I opened my presents and found this Philips record player. Not new but that didn't matter I could listen to Paul Anchor singing Diana! I also got a Camberwick green record for Christmas from my Grandparents so it looks as if Santa had tipped them off!
That old Record player went to hell and back with me! It had speakers strung on to it went to my Junior school party ( it wasn't really loud enough!). One day It started to play slow and was enthusiastically oiled! That cured it for a while until the rubber drive wheel went all gooey at that point it stopped...
Sometime in the 70's I found a smashed up one on top of a pile of rubbish on some waste land when the prefabs were being demolished. I salvaged the record deck and valves. At last I could fix mine! The idler got the turntable going but by now the sound was very low, it had suffered from Philips cartridge rot!
It went with me when I left home and eventually ended up stored in my spare room. During my recent clear out I came across it and decided it had waited long enough its time had come, after 56 years of ownership it was time it played again!
Today it went on the bench, During the decades it has waited I managed to find a new old stock cartridge so I had hopes it would be OK. I found the speaker laying loose inside I don't know what happened there, The deck mounting grommets had turned to goo. I decided to run it up slowly to see if the smoother would reform. It seemed to but after a while the hum started so I guess it has died. I dug out the scrap deck and found to my surprise that the grommets were fine. So the grommets were replaced the smoother replaced, I left the original in place and fitted two modern ones behind the 'chassis' Then a clean of 'deck' and a careful lubricate of the motor and speed selector and away we went! There is still a bit to do, the volume pot is intermittent and the whole thing needs a really good clean,
but it sings! Looking at the wear on the handle it did sterling service not only for me but also the previous owner! I found some of the 'Kidditune' records that I used to play on it. And a hits of the 60's which seemed appropriate.
Once it if completed I will Play Camberwick green again for the first time in decades! If anyone is still awake after all this waffle, Here are some pictures!
@slidertogrid That's not one I've seen before? As for "Kidditunes" records, I have some too, but mine came with a little battery-operated record player that was acoustic so had steel needles. I think it was made by Marx - I'll take a photo later.
Here you go Rich - same colour combination. It was fun playing those 6" 78s on Mum's radiogram: I think a Collaro Conquest will actually play them automatically.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8LGDnqebsJ0&pp=ygUSbWFyeCByZWNvcmQgcGxheWVy
@cathovisor I have my old one somewhere... In a wardrobe I suspect, Just as I remember, they sound dreadful! I think part of the massive wow and flutter was down to the records? I have a couple of Marx toys from back in the day, a cap firing tank and slide projector. Unfortunately only a few of my toys survived my Mother's obsession with clearing things out...
I finished off the DJ Junior today, I had to strip the motor in the end to clean and lubricate it properly as it was running slightly slow. I then found that the intermediate drive wheel or 'idler' wasn't coming into contact with the rim of the turntable unless the speed control was jiggled replacing the pull on spring with the one from the spares deck fixed that. I had to straighten out the LP needle as it was bent. I then replaced two missing feet with ones that are not the same but near enough. After reassembly I gave it a clean it really was mucky! I haven't gone too far with the cosmetic refurb nothing polished up the tatty old handle remains, if I start doing too much it won't be my old record player anymore!
Then I dug out my records, Boy is Camberwick green scratched! A real "chip shop" record. But with the massive arm weight of the Philips it doesn't jump as the stylus trenches through the grooves! I can date the record player by the records I bought new which wasn't many! Most came from relatives or friends second hand.
I remember going to Woolworths with Mum to buy Sandy Shaw Monsieur Dupont (Or Monster Dupont as I called it!) 1969, which means I was eight! The last record I bought for it was Rosetta By Fame and Price 1971 the rest were pretty much donated. So today I have listened to all my old favourites. Lilly the pink. Joyce Grenfell Nursery school. The ying tong song and of course Monster Dupont!
I was gifted some records by a friend of my Dads, Pete Simpson. He was a friend of Pete Murray and Don Moss and one of the records is a demonstration disc of Steptoe and son (old Ned) By Geoff love. Which I played to death much to my mum's annoyance! It has since lost it's middle as it was in my jukebox for a while! The B side is called over the Backyard fence, now as a child this side seemed a bit dull and miserable but if you played it at 78 It was brilliant! All a bit "Benny Hill" ! So the old faithful long suffering record player is now on a table next to my chair and is pumping out sounds again ! The Gramophone has been displaced to the floor! When the record player has fully warmed up it has a lovely warm smell that reminds me of growing up in the original house we lived in, Black and white telly from BRW, Ascot over the bath, Handpump for water from the well in the garden and the meat safe in the pantry! Happy days... Oooh I do feel old!
Rich
A nice little machine, and it’s come up nicely! It’s always nice to find something from your childhood, and be able to revive it! My parents also had a habit of clearing stuff out back when I was little, it used to be a regular thing to have my bedroom invaded by either mum or dad carrying a black bin bag! Luckily none of my radios ended up in the bin, but I did loose 4 telly’s and a couple of old VCR’s. I remember being really upset when my old Hitachi black and white portable went to the tip, and dad said it made a bang when it went in the skip 😢 took a good number of years before I found an identical one on eBay! It’s not the same as having the original one though.
Now, I do have a Philips disc Jockey major in the lock up, quite an ugly thing by comparison to yours, it’s in a sort of yellowish snake skin box, with a backwards speaker in the lid, similar speaker to a Bush DAC10. Free if anyone wants it! It might end up on the bring and buy next year at RetroTech!!
