This is a circa 1947 General Electric 78 rpm record player. The majority of similar record players produced by other manufacturers used a crystal pick-up cartridge and an amplifier that was usually a "hot chassis" design that was based on one to three tubes. This model uses the then new GE "variable reluctance" magnetic cartridge that would quickly pave the way for the hi-fi era of the 1950's. The advantages of a magnetic cartridge over a crystal cartridge is better fidelity, lighter tracking pressure, and a design that's immune to the type of failures that caused crystal cartridges to die after only a few years. Another difference between crystal and magnetic cartridges is the output level. Crystal cartridges typically had an output of anywhere between 1 to 3 volts. These magnetic cartridges typically have an output in the 10 mV range. Since the output of these cartridges are greatly lower, the amp must have an additional preamp stage in order to boost the low output of the cartridge into a stronger signal that is usable.
The earliest versions of this cartridge used a non-replaceable single tip 78 rpm stylus and the entire cartridge either had to be replaced or returned for a new stylus tip when the old one became worn. It didn't take long for GE to figure out that this was probably not the best way to do things and they introduced an updated cartridge that contained a user-replaceable stylus. In '48, the 33 1/3 rpm LP microgroove record was introduced; followed by the 7" 45 rpm record in '49. Soon after the introduction of these records, GE modified this cartridge to use a dual tipped stylus (3 mil for 78 and 1 mil for LP/45) and the proper stylus was selected via means of a "push and turn" red knob on the top of the tonearm. The updated version of this cartridge was a very popular hi-fi and broadcast cartridge of the '50's. In '58 stereo records were introduced; but, these older mono cartridges were not very compliant with stereo records and other manufacturers, such as Shure and Pickering, introduced newly designed stereo magnetic cartridges. GE briefly produced a stereo version of the VR magnetic cartridge; but, it didn't last long.
As you can see, the cabinet is in rather poor shape on this record player; but, I think it's repairable.
