A friend told me about someone who found an old Brunswick 17 in their barn, and
I went out to see it, excited, but discovered it has a very odd problem: I
can't remove the crank. It turns, but nothing happens with the motor; when you
crank it counterclockwise, the crank doesn't unthread from the shaft, probably
because there is nothing to stop the shaft from turning. I managed to lift up
the motor board enough to see that this is the case, and that the barrel is
turning, but not the gears. Obviously, I can't remove the motor without first
detaching the crank, but there doesn't seem to be any way to make the latter
happen. The only thing I can think of is to detach the motor (anyone know how
many springs it has?) from the metal motor plate, but those screws won't budge,
and I'm wondering if this seems like an ill-advised idea anyway. (I already
stripped them all a little just trying to get them to turn.) Any thoughts on
what is wrong with it, and what I should do next? It's a nice phonograph, and
I hate to walk away from it if I don't have to.
Oh, and the Ultona reproducer doesn't rotate, either. It doesn't appear to be
pot metal, but I'm not sure what the problem might be otherwise...
