78 records pre and post 1935 dilemna « Tim's Phonographs and Old Records Forum

Tim's Phonographs and Old Records Forum » 78s

78 records pre and post 1935 dilemna

(3 posts) (3 voices)

Started 7 months ago by gpierson
Latest reply from Joe Patterson

gpierson
Member

Hi, first time posting here...so bear with me!

I'm a newby phonograph owner (wife bought me a VV-50 for Christmas. I broke it down and cleaned and oiled the motor. Took me a full day practically! The reproducer works well, but I still want to rebuild it too. Let me say, I've fallen in love with this hobby! Quite frankly, I've become obsessed with it these days on my vacation!)

Anyhow, I have some pre and post 1935 78s that I've played on it, but from what I read on this site, playing post 1935 records with an acoustic needle is a no no. I should be playing anything post 1935 with an electric stylus I believe.

So here is my issue. I really want to play the post 1935 78s (they are from about 1947, columbia red lables), but I don't want to destroy them. Can I play them with bamboo needles on my victrola without destroying the records? I've tried it and they sound well! (I cut a few bamboo needles with success!) But am I doing the same thing with the bamboo as I am with a metal needle, or will the bamboo prevent damaging the 1947 records?

RELATED to this, when I see a small amount of black residue on the needle tips after playing, does this mean I am actually destroying the records and the dust/residue is remains of the record? (Note: I see this with metal needles AND bamboo needles - both materials collect the black dust. AND I see it happening on the older pre 1935 records that I've played too! So this puzzles me. Why are the pre 1935 78s getting cut up when they were designed for playing with needles?)

I should add, I always use new needles for each playing.

If you've read this far, thanks in advance!

Posted 7 months ago #
lherault
Member

Another possibility is to watch E-bay for an Audak made reproducer that fits onto the Victor arm. It is, if I remember correctly, gun metal finish with a cover over its aluminum diaphragm. This should have enough compliance to allow the safe playing of electrically recorded records through the 50 and it will sound pretty decent too.

Ron L

Posted 7 months ago #
Joe Patterson
Member

By 1935, record manufacturers decided that most phonograph owners now had electronic machines that were not so hard on the records, since they no longer used the groove to directly drive the resulting sound. At this time, they opted for a surface material that was smoother and more noise-free, at the expense of less durability. I have ruined a number of records, bought new in the 1940's, by playing them on a Victrola Credenza. The credenza was a great machine for the time, and sounded better that many electronic machines manufactured much later, but was hard on the records.
In a nutshell, yes, you are damaging your post-1935 records each time you play them on an acoustical reproducer. Cactus needles wear shellac less than steel, and diamond needles, a must for vinyl, are an NO-NO for shellac records on acoustical machines.

Some of the black residue that you find is probably from wear, and some is simply accumulated dirt over time. For best results, and less wear, this material should be removed. I recommend the SPIN CLEAN Record Washer system at

http://www.spincleanrecordwasher.com

It costs about $80.00, but is worth the protection of your records. It uses a special detergent and special brushes that do not wet the label, but removes the dirt from inside the grooves. I have no financial connection with this company, but own one of their cleaners, which has worked very well with my shellac records.

I hope that this has been helpful to you

Joe Patterson

Posted 1 week ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.