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Trans-Oceanic Museum-Ham-Antique and Marine Radio Museums

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Phonograph Cartridges and Needles

There are thousands and thousands of different cartridges and needles available for all the old phonographs from the past.  We have a very large stock of them at Radio Era. 

CARTRIDGE TYPES

The earliest phonographs used steel needles for the sound heads and needless to say, these steel needles wore out the groves of the early records in record time!  Later as tube amplifiers came into existance, the manufacturers of phonographs used crystal and ceramic elements in the cartridges to produce the varying voltage as the needle would run through the record grooves.  If you have an old tube type phonograph, you should be pretty much assured that if it was produced before 1950, it used either a ceramic or crystal type cartridge.  In the glory days of high fidelity ( mid 1950's to 1960's ), the turntables and tone arms became pretty sophisticated with lighter and lighter weight being placed on the needle and thus giving each record a longer life.  These cartridges were using a magnetic structure and were quite expensive for the day, but very effective.  Those turntables of today are still using magnetic cartridges.

NEEDLES

The needle sizes vary on the design of the cartridges employed, and the tips vary in size in thousands of an inch using either sapphire or diamond tips.  There are literally thousands and thousands of needle types that were made and it is very difficult to be assured of having the correct replacement if you don't have the original needle or needle/cartridge in your hands to make sure that you get an identical replacement that will fit the cartridge.

PRICING

It is for this reason that we are providing cartridges/needles or needles on the basis that you must send yours in so we can match its size and needle configuration if you are just replacing a needle whose tip is either worn out or has broken off.  This is an exchange service.  Send in your cartridge/needle to Radio Era and we will replace it with a like size of the same type with a new cartridge and needle for $ 50.00 + $ 7.00 shipping on an exchange basis.  If you only need a needle, the exchange price is $ 25 + $ 5.00 shipping on an exchange basis.  The above shipping costs are for USA, Mexico and Canada only.  Add $ 12 if you are outside the USA, Mexico or Canada.

When sending in your order make sure you give your full name, address, city, state, zip, phone number and if paying with a credit card or debit card, please make sure you give the proper address where your credit card statement is sent to you as this is used by the credit card companies to verify your address.  Also if you have a mastercard or visa, we must have the 3 digit number on the back side of the card.  Other card such as American express have a 4 digit number on the front of the card for identification purposes.  Without the exact card address, we may not be able to process your order.  If you have any questions about this, please give us a call at the below phone number.  Thank you, and I hope we can provide the replacement that you may need.