[rvt32016]

I see your posting of an article about refurbishing a horseshoe magnet pickup.  I wish I had that 35 years ago when I acquired an Atwater Kent model 75 radio/phonograph.  A radio technician I knew got the chassis working and the radio still sounds great.  The pickup was in terrible shape and all I knew was to try and replicate what I saw.  I found a coil and mashed it slightly in a vise to fit the cavity, replaced the rubber damper and it worked!  I knew nothing about rubber or coil specs.  A couple years ago it was sounding sick (I rarely play it except for fun experiments).  The rubber damper seemed fine, and I used heat sink tubing for the cradle sleeves.  I had always been concerned about the heavy weight of the magnet, and it seemed weak.  I didn't know about using a "keeper" when I removed it for the other repairs.  Then I thought of trying powerful button magnets.  The result was almost ear shattering volume! More experiments and I now use just one little button magnet on each side (the polarity must be right or you won't hear anything, plus the pickup is a lot lighter.  I've tried minute adjustments to the magnet screws and right now the volume and frequency response seem good but there is a little distortion on the loud passages.  I was astounded by how loud it got when the cradle was more loose.  Any suggestions on the distortion?  Really not bad, just noticeable.