Citizen Printer

Is it possible to make an old phonograph play new 33's?

I've got a neat old portable phonograph (the wind-up kind) that I just love, but it only plays shellac 78's from the first half of the century, and I was wondering if I made a few tweaks, would I be able to play a 33 or 45? Now don't get me wrong, I know the difference between the new and old records, if I plop down a vinyl record on there and play it with a steel needle, I'll shred it to ribbons, though I had an idea: I've heard it's possible to slow down the turntable with the break to about 45-33 rpm and if I were to finagle some kind of new needle from a cartridge in the sound box while simultaneously taking some weight off the tonearm (maybe by suspending it with a string?) would that be just crazy enough to work? Or do vinyl records absolutely require electronic amplification? Would the sound be too quiet? What do you think? If I COULD get it to work, it would be totally awesome... Has anyone tried this before? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Also I didn't really know which category to post this in...

Public Comments

You certainly could if you got some professional help (which might be hard to find, but check the internet). HOWEVER, I'm not sure how worth it that would be. Aside from cost, turntables obviously require a great deal of precision in order to play (speed etc) and I think the logistics of that might be just a bit more than you're willing to do/is feasible. But maybe not! go for it let me know how it goes
That would be awesome if it worked, but I really can't help you. All I can say is that I've seen a modification to a newer record player that let it play 78s, but not the other way around. Sorry. Good luck, I love vinyl records, and that would be great if you could do something like that.