Fanfare 60A - arm control lever

Hello everybody: this is my first post here, so I will introduce myself a bit. I'm Italian, I'm a musician and since I was a child I developed a passion for electronics. It became useful when I began to work in recording studios in the Eighties, first as a maintenance engineer then as MIDI programmer and keyboard player, and after a while the latter became my real profession, while electronics remained as a hobby.

Now I have a small lab where I mostly play with musical boxes: instruments, vintage Hi-Fi, studio gear, computers... Some months ago a fellow musician and friend asked my help to restore his NSM Fanfare 60A, It was a lot of fun, but a long process as well: the amplifier and the record selector (Vorwählaggregat) needed a lot of work, but now it's almost over. I just ordered in the online shop the four pulleys for the record changer: they will fix the mechanism, but there's just one thing that still worries me... the arm control lever (Winkelhebel für Tonarm-Steuerung).

As many of you probably know, this item is made of Zamak, an alloy that tends to degrade overtime becoming very easy to break. In fact, while I was mounting it under the tonearm after cleanup and lubrication, it just snapped when I was tightening its screw (you can see it in the attached pictures). I managed to build an aluminium copy, but since it's handmade I can't be sure about size and mechanical tolerances, although it is mounted and seems to work.

Is there a chance to find an used one? Is there another way to recreate it? I was wondering about 3D CAD, but I don't know how to use these programs. Furthermore, the best way to have an exact copy would be a 3D scan, and I don't know how to find it. Any help would be welcome: thanks in advance.

In addition there's another photo with sizes.

Sorry, I have to write in English because my German is terrible... I studied it in school forty-five years ago (I should I have studied it, to be honest...) but I forgot almost everything since. When I got the Fanfare service manual, I tried to translate it in English but I got to use Google Translator all the time

Schreib mal Daniel Reuss in Büdingen an . Vielleicht hat er noch was liegen .

Swen, thanks a lot for your good advice. I'm gonna send him a mail.
By the way, last night I got the jukebox working for the first time... what a thrill! The mechanism is fully working, but there's no sound and the automatic stop is triggered too early. I guess the cartridge is broken - it was connected straight to the line input of an hifi amp - and the arm lever that I built hasn't the correct angle... Anyway, the box is getting better and I'm positive I'll get it working soon.

Today I managed to get the arm lever to work correctly. Unfortunately the cartridge doesn't generate any sound, I guess it needs to be replaced (seems impossible to open it without any damage). It looks quite different from the picture included in the service manual (part number SK460) but it fits perfectly in the tonearm cradle. Any information is welcome... thanks in advance.



1 mal bearbeitet. Zuletzt am 20.06.22 16:36.

Das System kommt aus einer Tonmaster .

Dear j-man,

Like Swen says this is the Wiegandt Tonmaster cartridge. It is a crystal one, means the electrical signal gets created by crystals. This is a kind of salt which usually soaks humidity by the years. Then the cartridge misses volume. So this is most likely with your cartridge.

Another kind of often bad piece is the rubber where the top of the styli rest on. If the rubber got hard it doesn't absorb little vibrations enough. The result will be sound distortion and / or that the styli jump over the record.

To open the cartridge the little rivets needs to get drilled out. Afterwards little screws have to be used.
Maybe there is somebody in Italy who does cartridge repairs? Because the crystals can be replaced.
The rubber might be still good in your cartridge because you didn't say anything about other cartridge problems.

Regards - Hildegard Stamann

Quote
Hildegard
Another kind of often bad piece is the rubber where the top of the styli rest on.

Hmm, that piece doesn't look like rubber to me.... I suspect that somebody messed around with this cartridge in the past, but of course I could be wrong: I never saw a Wiegandt Tonmaster cartridge before. What do you think?

I never heard about cartridge repairs here in Italy, but to be honest it's the first time in about 45 years that I'm dealing with a ceramic-crystal cartridge... No, actually the second: last month I replaced a Philips GP205 on a Grundig Verdi 8, but this is way off topic

Thanks a lot for your super quick feedback, I'll try to follow your suggestions.

Looking for further informations about the cartridge I got a little confused...
On this webpage [www.jukeboxguide.com] they say that the Tonmeister/Tonmaster was equipped with a Ronette TO-284... that looks completely different from the cartridge I got.



Before trying to tear it up, I was looking out for a possible spare... you never know.

Dear j-man,

Maybe it is not r real rubber, but the round piece looks original.
The needle is a Ronette TO284 but the cartridge itself is called Schumann-Merula SK461.
It is a crystal cartridge. Ceramic ones use a ceramic plate to create the electrical signal, not this kind of salt (seignette salt).

The TO-284 shown in your previous post will most likely not fit into the tonearm of your Fanfare. I guess it will be to high. In general it is not easy to find a good replacement unless one wnts to make quite some modification.

There is a technician here in Germany who does cartridge repairs. I will send you contact details by PM.

Kind regards - Hildegard

Hello, a tip this may work:

I have replaced Ronettes in the past with Varco TN4, they are ceramics, still being made and have .5 V output (there is also a shorter stylus available which gives you .8V. If your tonearm tracks at less than 10 grms this may work.

Carsten

Hello j-man,
I replaced the crystal with the ceramic stripe taken from a cheep china stereo system. The little contacts that go inside the square rubber are made from the contacts that come with the china system. The needle coupler is made from a piece of wire isolation. Output voltage is higher than the original, a 1nF capacitor in parallel to the amplifier input cuts the voltage in half and improves the low frequency response. (By the way, the "line-in" input on your stereo has too low impedance for a crystal/ceramic system, it should be around 1Meg Ohm). I never heard this system with a new crystal, but the ceramic replacement sounds ok to me in my Tonmaster. One can experiment with additional damping material around the ceramic stripe to reduce resonances.
Rgds Jürgen



1 mal bearbeitet. Zuletzt am 21.06.22 06:39.

Hi. I've been busy for a few days, but I managed to contact some "cartridge repair" labs (including the one that Hildegard sent me): I didn't get any answer yet, I hope they are busy too...

In the meantime I found other info sources: here's a topic about a "Rochelle salt crystal" cartridge on an Italian site [elettronialtramonto.forumfree.it] and here's the Dutch webpage where the restoration is explained [www.hupse.eu].
I even found an ad where a Merula-Schumann SK461 is sold [www.marktplaats.nl] but I fear that it would be in the same condition than the one I got... what do you think?

@Jurgen: a very good job indeed! Unfortunately I'm not so skilled in micro-mechanics: I'm still surprised that my handmade tonearm lever is actually working...
This guy did something similar using a ceramic buzzer, but the sound doesn't seem any good: I guess the ceramic stripe you found makes quite a difference, I'll try to get one [youtu.be]

@sanfranphono: the Fanfare 60 (and 100) jukeboxes require a special 2-styli cartridge to play both sides of the record. I saw a picture of Varco TN4 and it looks like a "regular", single-side cartridge. Moreover, it doesn't seem to fit in the Fanfare tonearm cradle, as far as I can tell. I got an old Ronette Stereo 105 with two styli, but it's way too large...

So far I've been able to keep all the Fanfare original parts, except for electronics components, of course. But now I'm wondering about buiding a new tonearm with a 3-D printer, at least until I could fix or replace the original SK461. It could host a newer 2-styli cartridge, even a magnetic one (I already get a suitable preamp): any suggestion?

Thanks a lot for your feedback, everybody.

Update. I just got a mail from the lab in Ansbach, they'll fix the cartridge for 59 € plus shipping. Thanks to Hildegard for her precious hint!

Guten Tag Hildegard

Ich habe auch ein STC 492 einer Beromat Harmonie, bei welchem wahrscheinlich die Gummis der Nadelauflage zu hart sind. Die Nadel springt bei den meisten Platten. Können Sie mir bitte die Kontaktdaten der Werkstatt angeben, welche diese Systeme repariert?

Besten Dank und freundliche Grüsse
Martin

Martin, I sent you a private message with the contact Hildegard sent me. Good luck!

Hello j-man. Thank you very much. I hope, that she can repair my system. Please tell me about the result of your system restauration. Best regards from Zurich.

Hello j-man,

i would thank you very much to send me also the contact for the cartridge repair.
I have the same one SK-461 in my Tonmaster and it is "worn" with no longer good sound.

Thanks a lot and best wishes
Gernot

The cartridge is back and works great! Thanks a lot Hildegard!

There's still something I need to fix: I believe that the repaired cartridge is heavier than before, because i had to move the counterweight to the very edge ot the arm to get the right tracking force (slightly less than 10g). Of course this setting affects only the lower B-side of the records: how can I adjust the tracking force for the upper A-side? Is it the screw circled in red? I couldn't find this info on the service manual. Thanks in advance!

Quote
crazy.g
Hello j-man,

i would thank you very much to send me also the contact for the cartridge repair.
I have the same one SK-461 in my Tonmaster and it is "worn" with no longer good sound.

Thanks a lot and best wishes
Gernot

Hi, sorry for the delay. I sent you a PM with the contact.



1 mal bearbeitet. Zuletzt am 29.07.22 16:08.

Ich habe das System ebenfalls aus der Revision erhalten. Es spielt nun die meisten Platten beidseitig ohne zu springen.

Ein Problem, welches ich bereits vor der Reparatur hatte, bleibt jedoch bestehen. Die Nadeln rutschen aus dem Nadelträger raus. Ich bin nicht sicher, ob ich die Nadeln korrekt in das System einbaue. Ist es richtig, dass diese nur in den weissen Kunststoffteil (roter Pfeil) eingeschoben werden? Ich habe das Gefühl, dass diese nicht genug weit in diesen Teil reingehen.

Musikbox Beromat Harmonie 120 Wandbox

Vielen Dank für einen Tipp und beste Grüsse
Martin


I have also received the system from the revision. It now plays most records on both sides without jumping.

However, one problem that I already had before the repair remains. The needles slip out of the needle carrier. I am not sure if I am installing the needles correctly in the system. Is it correct that they are only inserted into the white plastic part (red arrow)? I have the feeling that they do not go far enough into this part.

Music box Beromat Harmonie 120 wall box

Many thanks and best regards
Martin



1 mal bearbeitet. Zuletzt am 27.08.22 18:32.

Ja, die Nadel muss etwas weiter rein ins weisse Plastik und muss auch besser auf dem Koppler (rosa Teil) aufliegen. Bei den geschraubten Nadeln für das SK461 gibt es Exemplare die zu lange sind und gekürzt werden müssen, vielleicht ist das hier auch der Fall ?
Gruß Jürgen

Hallo Jürgen

Besten Dank. Ich werde nochmals versuchen, ob ich die Nadeln tiefer in das Plastik eindrücken kann, ohne diese zu zerstören. Die Nadeln sind von Stamann [www.jukebox-world.de]

Die Musikbox steht an einem anderen Ort. Deshalb kann ich dies erst in zwei Wochen versuchen. Ich dachte, es sei eventuell ein bekanntes Problem, dass die Nadeln bei diesen Systemen aus der Halterung herausfallen.

Guss Martin