I am writing a book and need information about records made privately. When I was a kid, my grandmother played a record for me that her brother and his buddies had made back in what I think was the 1930's. I don't want to include this in the book unless I know what I am talking about. Can anyone help? Especially interested in what the cost would have been.
Thanks!
Making records yourself in first half of 20th century
(2 posts) (2 voices)-
josephine
MemberPosted 3 months ago # -
timinbovey
MemberHi-I'm a collector and restorer of home recording machines. I have the machine my family used in the early 40's through early 50's, which is the first I ever restored. I have a pretty large collection of "home made" records as well, and I've written a few articles over the years about the machines, records, recording techniques, etc. Perhaps you would like to correspond off the forum?
The home recording machines were not prohibitively expensive for a middle class family, but the quality was not anywhere close to a professional recording. I have quite a bit of original advertising and factory/company literature so I can give you pretty accurate period prices. For example, a Wilcox-Gay Recordio (a popular brand and basically the first mass produced for home use) in the early 40's would have a list price of $129.95 for a radio/phonograph/recorder in a console furniture cabinet. Blank records cold be hand for as low as 12 cents each for the fiber based small discs, with the price increasing with size and quality.
Let me know what you would like to know. I wrote an article on the W-G machines many years ago for Antique Radio Classified magazine, which I have posted online at:
http://www.edselmotors.com/vintagehepcats/wginarc.htmlLet me know if I can be of further assistance!
Tim
Posted 3 months ago #
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