Odd Empire Cartridge... Any Clue Anyone?

[RanOutOfSpac]

I've had this Cart. for awhile now and have never been able to find anything about it or another like it. I cannot remember what kind of Table it came off of, but I think it was a mid-60's Garrard... not sure. I have most certainly heard of Empire, but Empire Gordon? Sorry the pic sucks but my camera phone wouldn't focus - it says "Empire Gordon 91IIE". Any idea as to what stylus this guy takes or where the 'Gordon' came from?

 

[wualta]

Locally we have Gordon Food Service, though I doubt Empire private-labeled a cartridge for them! it would be delicious, however.
Kidding aside, we know it's an oldie, from the 1974 era, because it has a sticker. I suspect that, like so many other private-label carts, it's a clone of the 66 series, but the only way to know for sure is to measure the inductance of the coils. Failing that, a resistance measurement will do. Have you got access to a modern handheld digital ohmmeter?

Your phone's camera might have a "macro" setting (usually a tulip symbol). See if you can get a better closeup. If not, back up enough to give the autofocus a chance to lock in and that will do fine.
(You'd have to be cautious approaching a cartridge with a name: "Good morning, Gordon, would you like to play a record today? You would? Splendid!")

 

[RanOutOfSpac]

Indeed, the cart. does not appear to be delicious, it actually looks quite hungry itself. I do have access to an ohmmeter or two, but have never been able to get a consistent reading; even with working carts... which setting should I have it switched to? Perhaps I'm doing it wrong/don't have the needed setting. As for the photo, it's all I could manage at the time, and the camera really is a p.o.s. - there is no 'better' with it -- at some point (I hope) the stars will align and I'll have *Internet, *My good camera, and *Cartridge all at the same property...

Thank you for your quick reply!

 

[wualta]

1K or 2K range on the meter. I'm expecting to see a reading right around 500 ohms. If, like me, you sometimes can't get a consistent read, try poking the probes' pointy ends into the very ends of the terminal pins.

After that, the problem will be getting one of Empire's better styli (the originals have been out of production for 25 years at least). Don't want you to come away thinking Empire was nondelicious.

 

[RanOutOfSpac]

Thanks for the info! I'll try again later tonight and see what it says. My last question: Are there decent reproduction styli available for the 66 series (assuming it is one), or is the cart. doomed like my Signet; with styli costing >$150?

 

[wualta]

For the 66QE/X clones (their numbers block out the sun) I haven't found a really good aftermarket stylus yet, which is both very odd and very frustrating, since at least one such stylus exists for the next generation of Empires. If my guess is correct, you want what Pfanstiehl indexed as the 239-PDE (either purple or white), and they do pop up at places like eBay, but it's sporadic and random and can take a long time. Pfui.

 

[RanOutOfSpac]

Just to wrap this thread up; after losing and eventually making my own test leads, I finally got a reading on the thing. Indeed, 500ohm exact. Thank you for the quick and informative replies!