Mills Throne of Music Cartridge Conversion

[emanm18]

I have a 1940 Mills Throne of Music and the original cartridge in it (I believe to be an Astatic b2) quit working and it seems that those cartridges are obsolete. My question is, has anyone done a cartridge conversion on one of these jukeboxes to be able to use a 78rpm mono cartridge that is more readily available? If so, what cartridge did you use and what was required to make it work on the throne of music? Thanks!!!

[Hildegard]

I never did this cartrtridge conversion.
Astatic B2 must be a crystal cartridge with most likely 3.5V output.
In general it can be replaced with ceramic cartridges available these days. But this should be kept in mind:
- The input of the amp might need an adjustment to work with lower output of ceramic cartridges.
- The stylus should withstand some pressure.
- And if so the tonearm might need an adjustment to lower the tonearm pressure to the needs of the ceramic cartridge.
In general customer of our have installed the Pfanstiehl P51-2 in 78 rpm jukeboxes. It can withstand 8 g.


Just for the interest, here's a forum post of somebody repairing such an Astatic cartridge.
antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=209333

[jukenorman]

Hi Hildegard,
That antiqueradios thread of the rebuilding an Astatic cartridge with a piezo element is really excellent! And for anybody looking at it, don't miss out on the link for the you tube video demo. These piezo elements can be purchased for pence.

Norman.

[tonyj]

Nov 29, 2023 3:07:43 GMT emanm18 said:

I have a 1940 Mills Throne of Music and the original cartridge in it (I believe to be an Astatic b2) quit working and it seems that those cartridges are obsolete. My question is, has anyone done a cartridge conversion on one of these jukeboxes to be able to use a 78rpm mono cartridge that is more readily available? If so, what cartridge did you use and what was required to make it work on the throne of music? Thanks!!!

I recently used Gib Epling from West Tech services to rebuild a crystal cartridge for a 40's era console radio/78 record player and was very reasonably priced.  Might be less headache than trying to lower tracking weight, coming with a premamp, etc. for a ceramic cartridge.  Not sure how the Mills works, but have heard that lowering the tracking weight in addition to a lighter cartridge can make the velocity trip at the end of the records intermittent.


www.west-techservices.com/index2.asp

[Hildegard]

I agree, if the original cartridge can be rebuild no adjustments are needed.
Just depending on the tonearm weight it needs, a less heavy one protects the records better.
So sometimes it's worth to consider to go for a newer lighter one, sometimes not.

Maybe the link to cartridge repair can be added to this general post fpor repair etc.: jukeboxaddicts.proboards.com/thread/6/parts-used-books-repairs-where

[jukeboxmarty]

Dec 3, 2023 16:19:26 GMT Hildegard said:

I agree, if the original cartridge can be rebuild no adjustments are needed.
Just depending on the tonearm weight it needs, a less heavy one protects the records better.
So sometimes it's worth to consider to go for a newer lighter one, sometimes not.

Maybe the link to cartridge repair can be added to this general post fpor repair etc.: jukeboxaddicts.proboards.com/thread/6/parts-used-books-repairs-where

Agreed. But that thread is so out of date I think we have to start over. Let me figure out how to deal with it.

-Marty

[jukeboxmarty]

I tried to research West Tech for inclusion into our resources listing, but the link above doesn't contain any contact information.