Record Collecting

[Roger Manning Jr]

Any of you collect records?
I have been collecting records for about 25 years now, mostly LP's about 5,000.
The last few years I have been collecting acetates and home made records. Its like collecting home movies you never no what you have till you play it. I just found 15 at a junk store this weekend.
Anyone else collect these?

[Steven Sigel]

I collect 78s and Edison Cylinder records - as well as antique wind-up Phonographs. Got about 3000 78s and about 600 cylinders...

[Jim Reid]

Have either of you run into any vitaphone discs? I'm always on the lookout for those although I'm not sure what I'd do with one if I found it.

[Jeff Sumberg]

Have either of you run into any vitaphone discs? I'm always on the lookout for those although I'm not sure what I'd do with one if I found it.For one thing, you'd play it from the inside -> out. Yes, really!

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

Vitaphone movie sound discs play from the inside out. They will play fine on a regular phonograph, at 33 1/3 (78 needle), but most are 16" records, although there are some 12" cartoon and trailer discs.

Also note, there was a company called "Vitaphone" that made consumer phonographs and disc, somewhat compatable but not completely with consumer Victor format 78rpm discs. I believe that the consumer company and the theatre sound process creators are related, but I am not sure about that.

Edison also made disc phonographs and discs, called Diamond Discs, but they were not compatable with any other manufacterer's product.

[Jack Theakston]

While I don't collect many records, I DO collect piano rolls, which are becoming exceedingly rare. I've been working on transcribing several of them them to MIDI files in the last few years.

[Linda Haluska]

I collect 78's, 45's and LP's.

[Dan Matson]

I'll chime in here too. I also collect 78 rpm and Edison Cylinders. about 3,000 78's and about 200 cylinders. I also collect 16" radio transcription discs.
I have about a dozen from Ginny Simms private collection and 4 shows From William Powell's estate. I also have one of those huge RCA Transcription turntables that came out of CBS radio in Chicago.
How many of us remember those good old days when you could pick up 78's for as little as a nickel a piece.
I find a few at the flea markets but they're usually junk and the sellers have the nerve to ask 10.00 a piece! So I'm happy with what I have.
On Sundays I crank up the Victor Orthophonic Credezna or head for my 1928 Victor Electrola/Radiola.

[Jim Smith]

I have collected 45's for many many years. I have thousands upon thousands of them, many very rare.

[Thomas Stathes]

I've collected a few 78s here and there, basically anything that looks interesting (I like those super-thick Edison 78s :cool: )
Btw, I have a few dozen 60s-80s LPs that I need to sell off, if anyone is interested in some titles then please let me know at CartoonsOnFilm@aol.com
Tom

[Peter Goed]

Tom, those "super-thick Edison 78s" are not 78s at all, they run at 80 revolutions and should NEVER be played on a 78 player as the needle will ruin the disk. They need a diamond stylus of a particular shape to play properly without damaging the disk.

Peter

[Peter Dizozza]

I didn't know that about the Edison disks. Thank you. Peter

[J. Craig Shearman]

I don't consider myself a collector but I have a few hundred records ranging from my parents' easy listening, Nat King Cole, country and Christmas LPs of the 1960s to classical I bought in the 70s and 80s. Not much rock. I particularly like some of the Readers Digest album sets that came from my parents and in-laws -- they had lots of various styles in boxed sets and came with these cardboard slide calculators to put together a selection of album sides to suit a particular mood or theme. Also a few dozen 78s. Just found a box of thrown-out records at the dump that included the first single-sided 78s I'd ever seen. Regular commercial recordings (I think RCA Victor but not sure) with patent dates going back to about 1912. I also have some Mutual and maybe CBS radio drama shows from the late 1970s that are on regular LP discs. I brought these home from the radio station where I worked, which was throwing them out after they aired. (CBS and/or Mutual actually tried a radio drama in the 70s but it didn't last long.) I also have lots of old-time radio on tape.

[Steven Sigel]

I'll chime in here too. I also collect 78 rpm and Edison Cylinders. about 3,000 78's and about 200 cylinders. I also collect 16" radio transcription discs.
I have about a dozen from Ginny Simms private collection and 4 shows From William Powell's estate. I also have one of those huge RCA Transcription turntables that came out of CBS radio in Chicago.
How many of us remember those good old days when you could pick up 78's for as little as a nickel a piece.
I find a few at the flea markets but they're usually junk and the sellers have the nerve to ask 10.00 a piece! So I'm happy with what I have.
On Sundays I crank up the Victor Orthophonic Credezna or head for my 1928 Victor Electrola/Radiola.

Hi Dan --

Are people really asking $10 each for common 78s these days? Rare stuff - like Rock and Roll and '20s Jazz records go for that much (or a lot more). But common stuff like 40s Big Band and vocals seems to never sell for much more than $1 (at most - usually less)...

I've got tons and tons of common records that I'd love to move out -- I'd be ecstatic if I could get 50 cents to $1 each...

BTW - my favorite player is my ca. 1902 Victor III with the optional Oak Horn... Nice...

[Steven Sigel]

Tom, those "super-thick Edison 78s" are not 78s at all, they run at 80 revolutions and should NEVER be played on a 78 player as the needle will ruin the disk. They need a diamond stylus of a particular shape to play properly without damaging the disk.

Peter
Not only that -- they are cut for vertical play rather than horizontal.. I've got an Edison Diamond Disc player in the basement but rarely use it...

You can play them on a modern turntable with a diamond stylus, but they sound awful that way - modern turntables expect horizontal cut records..

[Thomas Stathes]

Tom, those "super-thick Edison 78s" are not 78s at all, they run at 80 revolutions and should NEVER be played on a 78 player as the needle will ruin the disk. They need a diamond stylus of a particular shape to play properly without damaging the disk.

Peter
Peter,
Thanks so much for telling me this! I would have never known:eek:
Fortunately, I haven't had much access to a 78 player and as a result have only attempted to play one of the Edison disks. It sounded alright, but I don't suppose I damaged it by playing it.
Thanks once again!
Tom

[Peter Goed]

Sorry to tell you Tom that you have ruined the disk. As Steve points out above the recorded information is at the bottom of the groove in what is termed "The Hill and Dale" method of recording and your 78 needle on a heavy head has just removed all of the "Hill" information from the disk making it virtually unplayable.

Even worse, if you now play that disk on an Edison Diamond Stylus player your chances of totally ruining the diamond tip are about 95% - and costs well over $200 fitted, that is an expensive way to find out whether your record is ruined.

I would never play an Edison record without first checking the beginning of the grooves with a 20x hand held microscope to see the condition of the grooves - it is patently obvious at 20x when the groove is ruined by using a steel 78 needle on it.

The diamond tips for the Edison player are nowadays almost impossible to come by and of the 50 I purchased in the mid 1970s, I have only 2 spares left for my own collection (used to have an antique shop that specialised in film and record gear).

All you cylinder collectors should also invest in a 20x hand held microscope to check that there are no cracked grooves in your cylinders. The needles for the cylinder players are still available, but they are not cut in exactly the same way as the originals and don't give as good a high frequency responce, cutting out at about 4500hz (the original diamond needles were quite capable of producing upto 7,000Hz if well cut and polished). Some people use saphires instead of a diamond tip in these and with the wax cylinders they gauge the groove out wider, giving tremendous wow and flutter and on the Blue Amberola cylinders will erode the recorded information at the bottom of the grove to such an extent that you will have virtually no volume from a usually quite loud record.

Interestingly, a cylinder recorder/player unit that I have modified to a modern (well relatively) crystal cartridge fitted with a special diamond stylus ground and polished to edison specifications, is quite capable of hearing people striking a match in the background on an extremely loud Sousa march recording. You can also hear people talking in the background but cannot quite hear what they are saying.

There is a host of information contained in recordings of the "Hill and Dale" method that we have only recently discovered, however, each playing of these recordings will minimise the information by about 1/2% - in otherwords, play your cylinder 200 times and the volume will be virtually NIL.

One BIG thing that I almost forgot - NEVER but NEVER play an Edison recording that has a crack in it (either record or cylinder) as it spells certain death to your stylus.

Peter.

[Evan Chase]

First, if you EVER find Vitaphone discs, there is a major organization working to re-unite the discs with the film. It is called the Vitaphone Project. They have a fascinating website: http://www.vitaphoneproject.com/
They have been successful in restoring many before "lost" vitaphone films.

I also have much experience with Edison discs. If you find the thick Edison "Diamond Discs" as they are called, they can only be played with an Edison-style pickup. The grooves are cut "hill and valley" as opposed to all other records that were cut "side to side, or back and forth" The fidelity of Edison discs was excellent compared to the acoustic discs before 1926.

I also collect 78s--especially the great dance bands and pre-big band era, recorded electrically from 1925 to 1936....you can get a good idea of how wonderful they sound by visiting Radio Dismuke's website: http://www.dismuke.org/

[Roger Manning Jr]

Thanks for all the replys.
I also collect wire recordings, Anyone else?

[Jeff Sumberg]

I also collect wire recordings, Anyone else?
I don't collect wire recordings, but I do have a working wire recorder/player. Well, I know the player parts works...