"Teardrop" '39 RCA Victrola

[Chip Chester]

Well, I'm starting to think this is a retrofit. It clearly started as a mass-produced item, due to the stamping instead of hand metalwork. I've looked thru radiomuseum.org and many other Google-able pics, and haven't seen any teardrop machines with this type of tonearm. They're all the nice bakelite versions shown above (although some are mounted backwards...) or a different, more trim version of the bakelite arm. I need to look through images of other manufacturer's products to see if there's a match.

Probably won't spend time/money duplicating this one, or cleaning it up. Instead, I'll focus on trying to find a suitable replacement. Or, craft a carbon fiber linear-tracking monstrosity... not.

Decojoe67, could you measure the tracking force (weight) of your original setup, to the nearest ounce or so? That would inform me as to what my target should be. Thanks in advance -- and great-looking work, too.