These machines can now be said to faithfully reproduce music, instrumental or vocal, or any other sounds of which a record has been taken. This was not always the case, but more or less recent improvements in such operations as making the master record, reproducing the commercial duplicates from it, the construction and design of the sound box, etc., have greatly improved the tone and quality of the reproduced music, etc. Practically all modern records are made in the form of a disc, the old cylindrical shape has been superseded, the disc form being much more convenient to store, less liable to damage, and taking up less room then the cylindrical shape.

The horn has also practically gone, its place and purpose being now effected by the construction of the interior of the gramophone case itself. Spring motors have also been considerably improved, and at the same time prices have come down, so that even the advent of wireless has not reduced the popularity of the gramophone, but has actually increased it, many listeners desiring to be able to have a certain piece repeated at their convenience.

To get the best results from this instrument a little attention is required now and then to the following points :

Records

Keep these in a proper case away from dust and grit, and from the possibility of being scratched, broken, or otherwise damaged. Never be too careful in saving needles by using one too long, the point wears away and then damages the grooves in the record, if this be doubted, then examine the point of a new needle under a strong magnifying glass, and the same needle after having been used once. When starting the machine to play a record, always start the record rotating without the needle resting upon it, when it is up to correct speed then lower the needle gently upon it, the sound result is better, also the wear on the needle and record is less. See that the needle rests upon the record at the correct angle, which is about 45 degrees. See that the rotating record table or plate does rotate truly both when looking down upon it, and also when looking at it edgewise, it is not fair to the machine to expect good results if the record wobbles at every revolution. See that the swinging arm that carries the soundbox does swing freely, if not find the reason, and put it right. If a record has got so damaged that it persists in jumping the needle off at a certain place, then the only remedy is to carefully cut a deeper groove there so that it glides through the damaged place and resumes further on, but this wants doing very carefully. A cracked record is certain to make a sound, other than the music, every time the needle passes over it, a new record is the only remedy. In the uncommon event that a record has been heated and got bent, it should be put into a large vessel with a flat bottom, covered with water, and heated slowly up to about 180 F., and then allowed to cool in the vessel, it will flatten out against the flat bottom of the vessel. There is no permanent remedy for a worn-out record ; some preparations are sold to rub over the surface, and which do reduce the hissing and scratching noise, but like most worn out things it will finally have to be scrapped. Modern records last practically a lifetime, given fair treatment.

Needles

The majority of these are of steel, having a circular section, with a conical point, and are now sold at such a price that on good valuable records they should only be used once, i.e., one per each record played. There are other metal needles on the market of " permanent" type, that is they can be used repeatedly, they generally consist of a very small cylinder of a very hard substance, set into a steel body ; even so, in time they get worn, and unless then removed must damage the record. A triangular section needle made out of hard bamboo gives very good service, and by means of a special cutter can be resharpened, and used again, and again, until it is too short, it is claimed that these needles wear the record considerably less than the steel ones, and this appears to be very probable, they do not, however, give such a large volume of sound as do steel needles. When inserting the needle into the needle holder on the sound box, it will be found that the needle may either be pushed right in, or can still be secured if it is not pushed in so far, and it will be found that, if the needle is secured when only just in, that the volume of sound is thereby affected.

Sound- Box

These vary considerably in construction, cost, and value of performance. The requirements from a perfect sound box are great volume of sound, very large range, pure tone, and sensitiveness. These points are difficult to combine in one instrument, but recent designs do certainly make considerable new strides towards the ideal. It is stated that before 1923 gramophones only capable of reproducing 3 octaves at equal value. In 1923 the best were capable of reproducing slightly over 4 octaves of equal response, that is an increase of over 33% on previous years. The Columbia Gramophone Co., Ltd., state that in their new Viva-tonal instruments they obtain a range of approximately 6 octaves of equal response, an increase of 50% beyond that of 1923, and twice that of instrument prior to 1923.

The sound-box of the Viva-tonal Columbia is an entirely new device applying certain acoustic discover- | ies in scientifically decided ratios in the details of its construction. It is technically known as the " No. 8 " sound-box, Fig. 77.