Neumann (14)

Agnew Analog Type 6016 Scribing Platform

The Agnew Analog Reference Instrument Type 6016 is a fully adjustable scribing platform that will work on any make and model of lathe of any vintage, with a 16", 14", or 12" platter, for 14", 12". 10" or 7" records. Scribing platforms are typically used by mastering engineers, to rest their hand while scribing the catalog number, their signature, or secret messages, in the land around the lead-out groove spiral, without touching the surface of the fragile lacquer master disk. Remember, it is your signature that should be proudly displayed on that master disk, not your fingerprints! Significant quantity discounts available, especially on orders over 100 pieces. Please enquire for details.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

SA-74 Suspension Unit Repair From Neumann VMS-70 Disk Mastering Lathe

Repairing an SA-74 suspension unit, from a Neumann VMS-70 disk mastering lathe, which arrived with the head lift/drop lever jammed in the down position, preventing the top lid from being removed! The Neumann SX-74 stereophonic motional feedback cutter head was still attached, as it had been glued to the mount adapter, which can only be removed from the suspension unit by opening the top lid! Several mechanical and electrical repairs, adjustment/calibration procedures and even a bit of machining on the 1961 Moore Special Tools Jig Borer later, it was fully brought back to original specifications!

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Agnew Analog Type 631 Direct Drive Motor and Type 231 Control Module

The Agnew Analog Reference Instrument Type 631 is a high performance direct drive motor, designed for professional disk mastering lathes and turntables. It is usually positioned on the floor under the lathe or turntable, driving the platter directly by means of a long driveshaft, similar to the drive system of the Neumann VMS-70 and several other professional disk mastering systems.



[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

 New Hydrodynamic Oil-bath Bearing Units Available Now!

For many long years, J. I. Agnew has been examining, adjusting, repairing and replacing bearing systems of all kinds, from disk recording lathes and turntables to tape machines, high precision machine tools, measurement instruments, industrial equipment and all manners of motor vehicles, from passenger cars to heavy trucks. Over the past few years, he has designed and machined countless bearing units to replace worn or damaged units on a diverse range of disk recording lathes and machine tools. Valuable experience was gained, which along with his solid engineering background, was put to good use in improving his designs further and further, up until the current stage of development was reached.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Westrex 2B Stylus Adapter

The Westrex 2B is a motional feedback cutter head, introduced in 1952 by the Western Electric Export Company. It followed hot on the heels of the Westrex 2A, dating from 1947, which was itself a lateral implementation of the principles first described by Wiebusch, Vieth and Yenzer in 1938, with a couple of relevant patents issued by 1939, for a vertical cutter head employing motional feedback.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Type 1501 Stylus Shank Adapter gets a Flat!

Our popular Agnew Analog Reference Instrument Type 1501 Stylus shank adapter was intended to make it possible to use the Neumann-style taper shank stylus (Transco 320, Adamant NSH-2, etc) with vintage mono heads such as the Presto 1-C and 1-D, which need a long shank stylus.

Up to now, customers would just install the adapter and leave it there, only occasionally replacing the stylus. One customer, however, wanted to be able to leave the stylii aligned in the adapter, and change them out without needing to realign.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Fitting a Neumann Cutter Head to a Presto Lathe

Neumann cutter heads have a rib along the back, for mounting. Presto lathes, on the other hand, together with the vast majority of non-Neumann vintage lathes (Rek-O-Kut, Fairchild, etc.), have a mount with two slots, for cutter heads with two threaded holes on the back (Audax, Presto, Fairchild, RCA, etc).

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Neumann MS-52H Cutter Head with Feedback: Repair and Hot Mods

This Neumann cutter head arrived as a particularly clean example, but in need of repair. The first obvious issue was that the coil was fried.
The second issue was that the original stylus fitting was broken.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

School of Cut - Learning how to cut records at Agnew Analog

We recently had the pleasure of having Symatic over, from Bristol, UK, for a week of training on how to cut (and how not to cut) records.

Symatic runs Cut & Paste Records, a record label attracting some serious attention among skratchers, with high quality releases of skipless skratch samples, lock-groove tones, beats, and relevant music.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

The Stylish Stylus Tool

Requests for a stylus tool kept on coming in, so we decided to design and manufacture them! We call it the Agnew Analog Reference Instruments Type 6019 and it is now available for sale.

Stylus tool safely holding the ruby cutting stylus

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Lab Report: An improved cutter head mounting system with integrated dashpot

The need for a new suspension for our recently presented Presto MRC-16 modification project brought about yet another innovation from our R&D laboratory: The Agnew Analog Reference Instrument Type 6021 Lathe Suspension Toolpost!

Inspired by the toolposts used in metalworking lathes and improving upon the cutter head mounting system used by Neumann, the Type 6021 will accurately and rigidly hold any cutter head fitted with a suitable bar, including Neumann, Vinylium and FloKaSon heads, as well as any other head imaginable, through the use of our Series 1400 head mount adapter range.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Lab Report: The Agnew Analog Stereophonic Cutter Head

Happy new year! Time to reveal what has been secretly developing in the lab throughout the past year: A stereophonic cutter head of an entirely unique design, invented by J. I. Agnew during his work with experimental transducers for measurement and testing purposes.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Lab Report: Cutter Head Mounting Adapters

In the previous episode, we had a look at taper shank stylus adapters and saw a vintage magnetic monophonic cutter head fitted to the AM44 lathe. The two are not normally compatible. Neumann lathe suspensions do not have the same mount as the suspensions of Presto, Fairchild, RCA and other lathes of the monophonic era, which were originally designed to accept such cutter heads.

But, in fact, almost any cutter head can be fitted to any lathe, as long as there is enough space for it to physically fit, by means of a suitable adapter. The eagle-eyed reader will probably have noticed that the cutter head mount on our prototype AM44 suspension is similar to, but not the same as, the mount used in Neumann suspension boxes. So, the adapter shown here was made specifically for our AM44 suspension unit.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew

Lab Report: Making cutting stylus shank adapters

Stereophonic cutter heads developed by Neumann are designed to accept a cutting stylus with a conical shank, resembling a micro-miniature version of a Morse Taper, a type of fitting frequently encountered in machine tools, especially metalworking lathes. Vinylium and FloKaSon cutter heads also adopted the same fitting for the sake of compatibility. But most other cutter heads, especially all those predating the stereophonic era, used long, thin cylindrical shanks, often with a flat machined on one side, to allow a set-screw to align the stylus and secure it in place.

[MISSING TRANSLATION] J. I. Agnew