kiddie record players

[fonografmaniac]

hi yall out there who know alot about turntable. i just have 2 question 1 why is that the needles in some of those kiddie record players wear out the grooves or ruin the record instantly even with a new needle installed and 2 why does it also skips? i've experience that couple of times with my little record players and it seems like i can't do nothing about it, but there are some needles that won't give that issue at all. if someone can tell whats that all about and how to correct it without having to replace the pickup or tonearm, i'll greatly appreciate that. thanx!

 

[paulg]

Ask 50 people, you'll get 50 answers.

My two cents:
You probably need to take into account that child's record players were almost always designed for economy, not performance. Many record players for children DID skip and the really old units (with steel needles) did ruin records when new. For that reason you usually cannot make them better than they were when new.
The better childrens' record players by GE, VM, Westinghouse, Silvertone etc generally worked well with a good needle - however the quality of needles varied dramatically. Experiment with needles and see what works. Generally though -don't expect much out of the typical child's player. Our Silvertone player lasted for years but frequently skipped. However it made us giggle which is (in itself) fun enough.

 

[rickr]

Tracking pressure set too heavy can cause record wear also.

 

[charbee]

Also, you have to take into consideration that "kiddie records" were usually either wide-grooved 78 rpm or 45 rpm, and not "microgroove" like LPs.

The tips of needles required for 78's were very large and cone-shaped, made to fit the large mono groove. Big 12" stereo LPs required very much more refined needle tips (like .0007 x .0004 elliptical) to play the more refined and much smaller "microgrooves".

It was always warned not to play an LP with a 78 needle, or vice-versa. A 78 needle will rip an LP to pieces in one play.

 

[classiccaprice]

Noteably I'm the youngin here...

But I never had any issue with my Fisher Price player ruining records....

except for the time I dropped it on my "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" 45....

 

[paulg]

Fisher Price phono = young

Yes, if you played with a Fisher-Price phono as a kid - you're a young'un.
In my era, child's phonographs were still made by major electronic manufacturers. Yes, I'm a baby-boomer but not an old fossil quite yet!

 

[beadsobleach]

skipping

I remember taping a nickel above the needle to fix the skipping problem.

 

[fonografmaniac]

needle type

the one that give me problems is the ones that uses this type of needle

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