New Cylinders from CLPGS

[soundgen]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/timboinwestcl ... 7675.l2562

[Wagnerian]

Thanks, Soundgen, for reminding me that I have just reposted these two cylinders on Ebay.

These two cylinders form the start of a new venture for the City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society in re-issuing, for collectors, the very best of the Edison wax Grand Opera and 2-minute wax Grand Opera catalogues but in an indestructible four-minute cylinder format. The first cylinder is a re-issue of Karl Jorn singing Lohengrins Abscheid (Mein Lieber Schwan) taken from a mint copy of Grand Opera Amberol No. 40025 from 1910, the second cylinder is an amalgam of two 2-minute Grnad Opera gylinders, the Act II duet from La Traviata sung by G & S Resky coupled with Florencio Constantino sining La Donna E mobile from Rigoletto both issued in 1906.

These two cylinders are made exclusively for the CLPGS by the Vulcan Cylinder Record Company in Sheffield, England and anyone who has bought their other cylinder titles will know, they are a high quality product and are practically unbreakable or unwareable in normal use.

To see and hear how good these cylinders are, Valecnik has kindly put them on his You-Tube channel - simply follow the links below:

http://youtu.be/IX7fwZt4QqI
and
http://youtu.be/dcTtp6-KB4o

These cylinders cost just £45 GBP each plus postage at cost; please see further details on the Ebay listing as noted above by Soundgen. CLPGS members are entitled to a discount of £10 per cylinder (making £35 GBP each)plus postage but could members please e-mail me on clpgsmembership@blueyonder.co.uk rather than use the Ebay listing?

For any further information on this new project please e-mail me on clpgsmembership@blueyonder.co.uk

Tim W-W

[Steve]

I feel a bit left out. Maybe it's time for me to buy my first cylinder machine! They certainly do sound rather nice.

[soundgen]

"they are a high quality product and are practically unbreakable or unwareable in normal use."

Does this pose a problem for stylus wear ?

[Wagnerian]

"they are a high quality product and are practically unbreakable or unwareable in normal use."

Does this pose a problem for stylus wear ?

As far as we know, no more so than for any other kind of indestructible cylinder

Regards

Tim W-W

[Valecnik]

They do sound good "in person". They are recorded with a microphone attached to the camcorder and not processed or filtered in any way before uploading to youTube.
[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcTtp6-KB4o[/youtubehd][/quote]

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX7fwZt4QqI[/youtubehd][/quote]

[edisonphonoworks]

Im curious of how they are recorded onto the master? Are they played on an electrical pickup and digitized, and then electrically cut to the master, or is a mold made of the actual Amberol record directly. They do sound good though. I have used both electrical and acoustic dubbing methods. (any time you have to record onto a wax master, instead of transfer by moulding you then have dubbed!) and it is no longer a direct master, and there is some loss in fidelity no matter how good your equipment is. If I had the money I would record all my dubbed cylinders with a Wextrex or Neumann head, and drive it with a 200 watt, McIntosh Amp.

[Wagnerian]

I'm sure that purists may throw their hands up in horror but these two cylinders were indeed re-recorded from the original wax cylinders with an electric pick up and then digitalised. A wax master cylinder was made from the digital recording and the brass mold to make the finished cylinders was made from that.

As has been noted elsewhere, they really do sound good; even more so when played on a quality machine. The Jorn recording, in particular, is a superb example of Edison's ability to record the human voice with almost unnerving fidelity and presence - it is simply an astonishing recording for 1910. Even the two-minute cylinders are pretty good for 1906. When you listen to the Resky duet, the recording is so clear you can actually hear when the singers change position in front of the recording horn when one or the other takes the lead role.

We, in the CLPGS, are very proud of the way these cylinders have turned out, especially as this was our first attempt and we sincerely thank everybody who has supported us thus far.

Tim W-W

[FloridaClay]

They sound terrific! When my budget recovers from the holidays, I may order some.

Clay

[Valecnik]

Projects like these give many of us the chance to own cylinders, we'd never otherwise have the opportunity to own. The originals are too costly and, if one has them, almost cannot be played for fear or wear or damage.