Hullo all i'm on a roll here!
I fixed this record player up by making 1 out of two units.
One of them is badged "Calstan" and I thought the other was a little nipper but now I don't think so.

The things I don't know are:

1/ who made the chassis as they are both the same model 563B.
2/ who made the unbranded unit.


Cheers, Fred Lever.

Fixing a Calstan 563B Record Player

Great work, Fred.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but you might like to contact Leo Simpson at Silicon Chip magazine and show him some of your articles. I'd be surprised if he wasn't interested in publishing your material in the Vintage Radio section of SC.

Uploaded.

I can't shed any light on the makers of the sections of these tablegrams but they were typical of the final run of these machines. Built to a price, no real 'style' to them apart from the vinyl upholstery which was in fashion at the time and fairly small speakers. They would certainly have been just as reliable as previous generations of tablegrams though.

I didn't realise Jaycar sold pickups. I'll keep that in mind for the restoration of the few tablegrams I own, an STC of the mid-50s, an Astor Super Six and a Kriesler 11-25, the latter only plays 78s though.

You'll find that these chassis' were built by Zenith.

Again, look at the font style of the model and serial numbers. They are the same that have always been used by Zenith. Lots of generic brands used Zenith chassis and this is a good way to identify them.

Most Zenith schematics are available under Calstan until 1955 in the AORSM books. Unfortunately our mate from Chester Hill never included the later ones in his publications. It is unknown whether Zenith had service data published for distribution to service departments.

Thanks for the info guys.

Brad, That cartridge was part number GE 4134.
I say was because I just checked the 2016 catalogue and that part has been deleted!
They still list the stylus GE 4137 as a 2 pack part but the cartridge is gone.
That means the part wont show up on the computer system so most sales wont know about it.
There may be some still left in stores but once it goes off the system its a dead issue.
Sales of that part probably dropped too low and that means delete.

Mononchrome, I might send a couple of my articles to Leo again and see what he thinks.
Last time I sent some I got a negative response.
I guess they must be flooded at SC with articles from radio experts.
I see they have a guy doing the vintage radio articles now and I suppose it is a real minority hobby.

Cheers.

I guess they must be flooded at SC with articles from radio experts. I see they have a guy doing the vintage radio articles now and I suppose it is a real minority hobby.

There's a handful of regular authors of the Vintage Radio section in SC these days (maybe 3). I wouldn't think there's a flood of articles, but there would be a word limit.