Unusual record??

[gramophoneshane]

I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me about this record I got today. It's a 6 ½" disc, and appears to be acetate on a cardboard filler. Were these similar to the aluminium "Voice Records" in England that were recorded via a machine in amusement parks etc?

[Shane]

Hey Shane,
I've never seen one of these before, but I would guess this was recorded on one of those machines you describe. The "Your Man In Service" line is probably a reference to this being a disc from a soldier during World War II making a recording to send back home. The soldier's name was supposed to be on that line instead of the date... though the June 1943 date does support my WWII theory. I have a number of these type of discs from WWII soldiers... it seemed to be a popular and more personal way to communicate versus sending a letter home. I believe some of the housing quarters for troops had these machines.

Have you played the disc yet to see what is on it?

[estott]

I've seen a couple of these, heard one- it was a "Hi Mom, everything's great at camp" sort of message. They don't tend to survive well and are prone to delamination and getting folded.

[richardh]

Interesting disk. I had read that during WWII because aluminium was required for the war effort (plane construction) that alternative materials were sought as the base material for acetate disks. Mostly acetate disks use an underlying aluminium disk coated with acetate. However During WWII alternatives were used...glass being a popular one. I had also read about materials such as card being used but had never seen one before. Of course many acetate disks were simply recycled by melting off the acetate and reusing the aluminium disk.

I guess that for a 6" disk card was fine...but imagine having a 16" transcription disk made of glass or cardboard!

BTW Shane is you do a transfer it would be interesting to hear whats on the disk - even if it is mundane

RJ

[Viva-Tonal]

I've had one of them for years as well. My dad made it when at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin circa November 1943.

My dad was, among other things, a musician. He didn't talk on this record at all. I don't know if he was shy about speaking on a record at the time, but I think he just jumped at the idea of being able to hear himself playing on a recording, and have the record for himself.

His main instrument at the time was alto sax. This is the only recording I have of him playing it. He couldn't remember the names of the other musicians with him on this. But I was able to determine this was one chorus from a Charlie Barnet hit of the day, 'Southern fried'.





As you can see, the disc is now very cracked. The uncut reverse side (which also has the same style label) is much worse. Ever since I first saw this disc back in the 1960s, the first two grooves were ground off it. But also at my grandparents' house was a yellow Knight brand fibre base recording disc with repeated dubs of this disc on it. Ironically enough, that disc was in poor shape even then as well. It has a piece torn from its edge, which affected the only one of the dubs of the disc to contain all the words of the spoken introduction! (My guess is, that's the last time it played and the groove was sheared off with that play.) It also had its own flaws, among which was a very strange vibration of the cutter as it was making that first attempt, with the cutter jumping off the disc many times.

By 1989 though, I had managed to take a successful attempt I'd made in 1978 (on 3 ¾ ips tape) at capturing that spoken part from the Knight disc, and managed to EQ and otherwise doctor it to fit onto as much of the actual record as survived when I transferred the lot to 15 ips tape. Using the same turntable I've used for all the other vintage record transfers I've posted here, I also corrected the speed of the original disc. It was cut on a machine that ran slow, and 75 rpm put the music on pitch. I also EQ'd it somewhat as well.

Dad seemed to recall it was the Pepsi bottler who had the cutting machine, and brought it round one day to record him and others who wanted to send messages home. It was that mysterious bottler Dad persuaded to make the introductory announcement on this disc.

Here's the 1989 restoration: Enjoy!

[estott]

That was NICE!

[phonophan79]

Have you played the disc yet to see what is on it?

Nice find, a piece of living history recorded. Share it on YouTube for posterity if you can!

[coyote]

I have one as well, still in excellent condition with its paper envelope. My Great Uncle who recently passed away served in WWII and recorded a message for his wife back home. I wish I knew more details about the recording setup and such, but obviously PepsiCo went around recording these. The usual (standard) spoken announcement is something like "The Pepsi Cola Company is proud to bring you the voice of your man in uniform" without a name I think, but I'd have to dig it up and play it. This is similar to the small records from the early 50s which could be made in a booth at amusement parks, two of which my father made as a kid with his parents. Great to have my dad's voice as a kid to go with the Kodak standard 8 movies of him. I'd guess that magnetic tape didn't come into wide usage until the transistorized 60s for "spoken letters back home" sort of recordings.

Wow, that's a great restoration job, given what you had to work with! Amazing!

[Viva-Tonal]

That was NICE!

Thanks! Bear in mind, the disc was much less checked and cracked 20 years ago compared with now.

[gramophoneshane]

That was NICE!

Thanks! Bear in mind, the disc was much less checked and cracked 20 years ago compared with now.

Gee, I wish I could get that sort of sound quality from my disc. It sounds great!
I wonder how well the music would record onto a wax cylinder. It would be pretty neat to add a new intro to the music using your dads name etc.