Timing, as they say, is everything

Thanks to Pina on SG and a very patient and nice woman at JoAnn's Viking sales area, I have now determined that the hook is not picking up my top thread as the needle starts back up. JA's showed me the problem was what the machine was not doing to the top thread rather than the bobbin thread. Pina gave me a link to How a Sewing Machine Works that explained why. My one time the bobbin thead did come up was a one time thingy where there was just enough play/tension in the top thread for the hook to catch it once. It never made a stitch because it only did it once, not on every cycle.
Look here and you can see:On this one, a little blurry, but the hook has passed the eye and the thread is ust above the hook. Here, I have forced the thread down below the hook with tweasers and the thread pulled around and would have brought the bobbin thread up and/or made a stitch. Couple of other shots of this. Well after the thread should have caught and a very clear photo of what it should have looked like if it HAD caught just as the eye passed the hook. If you're not sure what you're looking at or for, see the sharp point on the round metal? That's the hook. The needle is down in every shot, though at different points on the cycle. In some shots you can see the thread through the eye. When the needle goes down and starts back up it makes a loop like any string being held in 2 places from above. If it's timed correctly, that sharp hook will snag the loop and spin the thread around across the top of the bobbin case (removed for this photo along with the feed dogs). It does this every stitch. Or should.
Next is the solution. Is it the needle? Are Schmetz' a different length than Singer needles and does it make a difference in this Vintage of a machine (early 70's - 19 that is)? Or is it truely the timing? And is there anything I can do about it, myself?
Back to the internet to see.

Later that same day.... I ran by JoAnn's and bought some Singer needles. I have no photos, but there is a slight difference. Not in length but eye placement - the Singer is just a thread higher on the needle. But anyway, it didn't help. The hook still isn't picking up the thread and it still isn't making a stitch. So I think I'm done. I may try to alter the needle bar to fix the timing. I found this site that may get me there. Not sure it's worth the effort.