The tins arrived by mail. The padded envelope with a confusingly colorful assortment of stamps; some are 1990-ies, but the red stamps are Queen Juliana stamps from the seventies at the latest. Were the needle tins posted through some kind of timewarp? Is there a wormhole to supplies for old stuff? A post by Spider explained and resolved this little mystery :)
The tin with paper inlay. Echoes of the 30-ies when there would be e.g. an instruction to use only this brand of needles and only once!
(Now to play!)
Wonderful! I didn't realize they were one-use-only.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of thing makes me believe that people will step forward to make typewriter ribbons when current manufacturers give up.
My Victrolla has a tin of steel needles and also bamboo needles, with the needle cutter. The bamboo needles are triangular cross-section bamboo sticks, and the cutter slices them at an angle, the sharp corner forming the needle. Good for one play, then snip off a bit more bamboo and play again.
ReplyDeleteYes, single-use... Feels wrong to toss a shiny steel needle after one go, but I looked under a microscope and they are indeed worn after 1 record!
ReplyDeleteHad read about bamboo! Can't get those (yet). Are easier on the record I think. Did use some hawthorne needles (from our garden). These need to be dried well but then can also be strong and sharp enough.
Neat to learn that more people still have a wind-up!
Hmm, now eyeing the bamboo bush out in the front yard... :-)