Sapphire Needles for Reproducer Phonographs

I just put a sapphire needle in my 47 Silvertone phonograph that has an old astatic crystal cartridge. The sound quality is alot better than the steel needles. I can play it alot louder before it starts to distort. Can I use a sapphire needle in a wind-up phonograph that has a reproducer? What effect would it have on record life, as the reproducers are heavy and the steel needle was probably designed to wear out instead of the record?

Saphire Needles are no as hard as Steel. Basically when a shellac record turns the steel starts to wear away but also starts to get hot.By the time the steel needle has reached the end of the record if you look at it under a magnifyer you will see the point has almost a chissel end. Now not only does it have a chissel end it has also work hardened. Saphire does not do this ,it tends to keep it's shape as it wears away. If you look also at the grooves of a very Bassy gramophone record that has been played with steel you will find the Grooves at that point have been ripped a little if not a lot. Saphire is a much better option than steel.

Will the shapphire needle wear out as fast as the steel? And if it is not wearing as fast, will the record in turn start wearing? I would imagine that something has to give as the arm is pretty heavy. Also, the sapphire needles are 10.00 each. Would they hold up enough to make it cost effective against steel needles?

It's hard to say until you have tried it .I know a couple of people who have made an arm with a weight kinda Gizmo to take some weight off.Also the way they made it was something that clipped on the arm rather than a permanent thing so no harm done to the arm itself......Paul

Records will wear faster just from the shear weight. However, saphire needles do far less dammage than steel needles.
Bill Cahill

I have been using my Silvertone with record changer, and a small Columbia that I restored, to play my 78's, mostly because I can play them at a lower volume.