45 rpm

2 Articles

Record Changer Spins Round And Round

July 14, 2025 by 1 Comment

There was a time when all the cool kids had a 45 RPM record player. [RF Burns] picked up a 1950s-era player from  RCA. However, it needed a lot of work. The good news? We get to see the teardown and the result in a two-part video series, which you can see below. If you are looking for the schematic, you’ll have to wait for the second video.

These were made to be cheap, so there were many parts that needed replacement or, at least TLC. The automation of the record changer was all done with an eccentric wheel, which is satisfyingly low-tech. We were surprised that it still seemed to work after everything was cleaned up.

Inside were two active tubes and a rectifier tube to amplify the signal from the needle. A coat of paint made it look great, and a polarized power cord made it safer.

There was also an unamplified version of the player you can see at the end of the second video. All the same things except for the tube amplifier, of course.

If you are too young to have fond memories of 45s, here’s a primer on how records work. The record player we really want is mobile.

Repairing A Desktop Jukebox

September 11, 2018 by 4 Comments

Although vinyl records have had a bit of resurgence, they are far away from their heyday. There was a time when 45 RPM singles were not just how you listened to music at home, but they also populated the jukeboxes you’d find in your local malt shop or anywhere else in public. [Fran] has an old 45 RPM “desktop jukebox” from RCA. It really isn’t a jukebox, but an automatic record changer dating from the 1950s. The problem is, the cartridge was toast. Replacing it wasn’t a big problem, even though replacing it with an exact duplicate wasn’t possible. But, of course, that was just the start.

You can see in the video below, that there were some weight problems with the cartridge, but the changer part would not work. She tears it down and makes some modifications. She even pulled out the schematic which had three tubes — one of which was just a rectifier.

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