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Late '40's-early '50's Birch Manhattan 78 rpm record player - part one

3,315 views · Published 30 August 2012 · 9:40 · Indexed 11 October 2026

Channel: radiotvphononut · 2012 · Science & Technology

Here's a Birch Manhattan portable 78 rpm electric record player from the late '40's-early '50. Most of these type portables that I find are trashed to the point that they're not worth repairing; but, this one is very clean, with only a few tiny blemishes. I suspect this was used for only a short time before being put into storage when 33 rpm and 45 rpm records became available. This record player uses a two-tube amp (rectifier tube and audio output tube) that is driven by a crystal 3-volt cartridge (that is, of course, dead). My options for replacing the cartridge will be to either have the old one rebuilt, replace it with a lower output modern ceramic cartridge and live with low volume, or add a preamp circuit (based on a 12AV6 tube) to the chassis. Since this record player is in such nice shape, I'm leaning towards having the original cartridge rebuilt. The idler wheel needs to be rebuilt, the turntable needs to be re-flocked, and the drive mechanism needs to be cleaned and lubricated. The rebuild of the amp was very simple. The tri-section electrolytic capacitor was replaced with modern caps, as was the lone paper capacitor that's in the circuit. I need to send the cartridge and idler wheel off for rebuilding. Once I have those parts back, I should be able to put everything back together and make another video of the record player in action playing a record.

Late '40's-early '50's Birch Manhattan 78 rpm record player - part one

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