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Will
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Electrifying the Phonograph - Putting it together

In this part I show you what parts I put together and why. I also give you some rules of thumb.

 

 

Tips and Rules of Thumb:

1. Before building the electronics into the phonograph you should assemble together all the electronics and test it. This will save you time and trouble if something doesn't work right. You don't want to assemble it all to find out you have to take it apart to trouble shoot it.

2. You should solder everything. Absolutely everything. With amplifier and microphone circuits they can be very sensitive to loose connections. Soldiering everything insures solid connections.

3. Keep the speaker as far away from the microphone as possible. The microphone can pick up feedback from the speaker and cause screeching. Notice how my microphone, mounted in the paper cone, is on the left and the speaker is mounted on the right.

4. Using foamboard or cardboard for the turn-table can cause the record to slip a little bit. You might want to attach something to the surface of the turntable so the record holds steady when revolving. I used a rubberized shelf paper like material. It has good grip.

 

Really pretty straight forward. The speaker is on the right. It has a pair of wires going around to the amp with volume control. The black box is the battery box that powers the amp.

There is also a pair of wires coming out of that amp and going to the pre-amp/microphone setup.

The pre-amp/microphone is attached to the stand for the cone. And it sticks straight up.

Here is a look inside the cone. It shows the pre-amp/microphone sticking up into about the center of the cone. Those wires are attached to the stand for the cone.

 

Let's take a look at the motor for the turn-table.

I mounted the motor to a piece of foamboard.

Then glued that into a slot in the phonograph top surface.

 

Then I added the disk for the turn-table. The record tended to slip on this foamboard surface. I later added some material to it so the record could grab and hold tight without slipping.

ThenI wired it up. In this picture I simply twisted the wires. But after it was tested I soldered those wires for a good connection.

And that's it. We are ready to play it.

Listen to it here: