WOOOOW! That is simply AWESOME!! Soo cool! I wasn't expecting the size, then...WHEW! SMALL! One battery, mechanical speaker, LITTLE record!! Then it's played on the full machine, WOW! Good quality recording on the record!
I have 3 of these and about 33 of the records for it. I was able to find a manual turn table at Target that plays at 78 speed and doesn't have the automatic tone arm pick up, so I have digitized all of the records to preserve them because this toy will eat the record grooves fairly quickly and it's speed is very unstable.
Really a beautiful little phonograph. What I find funny though is that if you actually skip rope with this record on, won't it skip, skip, skip, skip, skip...? Ha! Thanks for the video, really great!
The tiny player is amazing but that miniature record is too. How come your record changer doesn't go to automatic cycle with that tiny song end diameter ! Tnanks for showing us these little wonders of the record collecting kingdom :)
dont worry about it dude, and you would have to basically cut the thing apart and remove the battery case from the unit, as for the speed if you can find a power supply that can adjust power from 1.5 volts to say .5, .6 volts and all the way up to 1.5 volts, hell even a half dead D cell might work, and i have an electric train transformer actually 2 of em but they have between 3 volts all the way up to 17 volts and that would make this player behave like its had too much coffee lol
kjigmond do you think its possible to slow down this player electrically so it plays slower or it it of such a simple design that the only speed it has is the one in the video, and it sounds much better on your hi fi
That record player didn't sound good at all. However, anything sounded O.K. if you were a little kid. However, when you played it on regular turntable, it sounded pretty good.
Your 'Carnival Record Player' would work a lot better if some means of speed(tempo) control were incorporated into it. That could be accomplished with a system of continuous transmission. That would be best but it might be difficult to shoehorn such into that small chassis. I would suggest a simple voltage regulator circuit requiring a power transistor, but that would take out the authenticity of this cute little phonograph record player.
Yeah Jeff it would be cool if this thing had some regulation...lol. The heavy acoustical tone arm puts more drag on the record at the beginning. As the tone arm progresses towards the center of the record, less resistance is on the spin thus allowing the RPM to speed up making the record go faster at the end. The platter spinning is belt drive...basically by a rubber band. Not a whole lot of speed stability when resistance (the tone arm) is applied to the 78 RPM record. The speed problem would be better if a quality belt were to be utilized instead of a rubber band to keep the speed constant while the tone arm travels. The motor is not that strong either to handle stability when the tone arm pressure changes the torque. Even if voltage were constant to the motor I am not sure it would fix the speed up problem. This player was my first experience with that front control pitch adjustment...thus my entrance into Disco DJ mixing!! Thanks Carnival Company.
The problem with all those acoustic mechanical players was that the pressure of the stylus is way too high for the plastic records. After 20 plays or so most information is milled away and after 100 plays nothing comes out of the speaker anymore. Kids were often disappointed with the steadily degraded sound and threw that player to the wall. Worse were those even who accepted normal 45rpm records - if you played one of the parents only once with them, the sound on a HiFi turntabe afterwards was completely lacking higher frequencies...
These players all sped up at the end of the record...they did that when they were new. That's because the heavy acoustical tone arm puts more drag on the record at the beginning. As the tone arm progresses towards the center of the record, less resistance is on the spin thus allowing the RPM to speed up making the record go faster. The platter spinning is belt drive...basically by a rubber band. Not a whole lot of speed stability there when resistance is applied. I loved my player. Thanks mom and dad for buying for me somewhere around 1967.
WOOOOW! That is simply AWESOME!! Soo cool! I wasn't expecting the size, then...WHEW! SMALL! One battery, mechanical speaker, LITTLE record!! Then it's played on the full machine, WOW! Good quality recording on the record!
what a great vintage children's player . it is amazing that it still worked . great find and video thank you for sharing this
I love this Musical instrument.
Viva la difference! Serious ingenuity to make fun toys back then with such a low cost target. neat video.
I'd like to hear a Close n Play in action again.
I had one of these as a child! I still have the records. The player tore up and disappeared long ago. Would love to have another one...
Very nice demo. Thanks for posting!
actually thats a 78 it plays at 78RPM but you already know that already, it does sound much better on the hi fi
I have 3 of these and about 33 of the records for it. I was able to find a manual turn table at Target that plays at 78 speed and doesn't have the automatic tone arm pick up, so I have digitized all of the records to preserve them because this toy will eat the record grooves fairly quickly and it's speed is very unstable.
Really a beautiful little phonograph. What I find funny though is that if you actually skip rope with this record on, won't it skip, skip, skip, skip, skip...?
Ha!
Thanks for the video, really great!
VERY VERY COOL the little records play really well on regular 78 players!!
Just a bad point : the needle scratchs the records when you begin playin' it ..
"Miss Lucy asked her Tiny Tim,
'Why ARE you feeling sick?'
"It's obvious', said Tiny Tim,
'This song's a lot of *drick!'"*
😉
The tiny player is amazing but that miniature record is too. How come your record changer doesn't go to automatic cycle with that tiny song end diameter !
Tnanks for showing us these little wonders of the record collecting kingdom :)
@force311999 Thanks. Vinylrecordsneverdie gave me a parts player a while ago, I've just been too lazy to put it together... I gotta get it done :-(
dont worry about it dude, and you would have to basically cut the thing apart and remove the battery case from the unit, as for the speed if you can find a power supply that can adjust power from 1.5 volts to say .5, .6 volts and all the way up to 1.5 volts, hell even a half dead D cell might work, and i have an electric train transformer actually 2 of em but they have between 3 volts all the way up to 17 volts and that would make this player behave like its had too much coffee lol
kjigmond do you think its possible to slow down this player electrically so it plays slower or it it of such a simple design that the only speed it has is the one in the video, and it sounds much better on your hi fi
You should play a really rare record on this thing:)
I had this too! I loved it!
Very good
did u ever try sleepin on your hand...?
That record player didn't sound good at all. However, anything sounded O.K. if you were a little kid. However, when you played it on regular turntable, it sounded pretty good.
Well on a full machine, it sounds more in tune.
Your 'Carnival Record Player' would work a lot better if some means of speed(tempo) control were incorporated into it. That could be accomplished with a system of continuous transmission. That would be best but it might be difficult to shoehorn such into that small chassis.
I would suggest a simple voltage regulator circuit requiring a power transistor, but that would take out the authenticity of this cute little phonograph record player.
Yeah Jeff it would be cool if this thing had some regulation...lol. The heavy acoustical tone arm puts more drag on the record at the beginning. As the tone arm progresses towards the center of the record, less resistance is on the spin thus allowing the RPM to speed up making the record go faster at the end. The platter spinning is belt drive...basically by a rubber band. Not a whole lot of speed stability when resistance (the tone arm) is applied to the 78 RPM record. The speed problem would be better if a quality belt were to be utilized instead of a rubber band to keep the speed constant while the tone arm travels. The motor is not that strong either to handle stability when the tone arm pressure changes the torque. Even if voltage were constant to the motor I am not sure it would fix the speed up problem. This player was my first experience with that front control pitch adjustment...thus my entrance into Disco DJ mixing!! Thanks Carnival Company.
Cool! Where can I get that?
78 rpm?
The problem with all those acoustic mechanical players was that the pressure of the stylus is way too high for the plastic records. After 20 plays or so most information is milled away and after 100 plays nothing comes out of the speaker anymore.
Kids were often disappointed with the steadily degraded sound and threw that player to the wall.
Worse were those even who accepted normal 45rpm records - if you played one of the parents only once with them, the sound on a HiFi turntabe afterwards was completely lacking higher frequencies...
78rpm hard vinyl?
Looks like Polystyrene.
So very cool!
Morticia
Wish I still had mine!
haha!!! thats so fukkin grindcore!!! wanna have one for stage-performance... would be great for our playback-beats!!! :D
Igors circuit bending lesson
Very cool player I would be proud to own, but that needle scrape at the beginning. CRINGE. LOL And WOW! Great fidelity on the direct transfer.
@kjigmond I have yet to see a carnival record that do not have those ugly scars!
very nice, best regards :)
Yikes, it probably needs work. Why does it speed up and then it speeds up even faster?
These players all sped up at the end of the record...they did that when they were new. That's because the heavy acoustical tone arm puts more drag on the record at the beginning. As the tone arm progresses towards the center of the record, less resistance is on the spin thus allowing the RPM to speed up making the record go faster. The platter spinning is belt drive...basically by a rubber band. Not a whole lot of speed stability there when resistance is applied. I loved my player. Thanks mom and dad for buying for me somewhere around 1967.
@wacko481 By George, I believe you've cracked it dear boy ! : )
lol, very nice find
thats fuckin awesome i wish i had one of those right now does it play reguler 45s
Hey, I think that carnival toy player is made for 78 RPM records, Not 45 rpm. : /
Koo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hool!
It looks like thoes records go fast
wow
i'd never put my records into this ;)
Thank God that thing can't play 12" records. I'd kill anyone who tried to play my copy of Machine Head on something the likes of THAT.
In this instance I think I prefer a cd player..lol
Sounded better faster LOL
Wierd,but i like it