Your Record Collection

[VintageTechnologies]

1) In a brief statement, describe the first few *old* records you acquired that were 78s or cylinders. What type of music were they, how old were they, where did you get them? Many of us were old enough to have had 45s and 33s in your youth because the format was still being sold on the shelves. Vinyl records don't count for this discussion.

When I was a young boy, 78's, 45's and mono LP's were all being sold concurrently. That kind of dates me, right?

My mom wanted to stimulate my interest in some kind of hobby to keep me out of the bars, so when I was 11 or 12, she brought home a couple of Edison Diamond Discs from her usual rummaging in the antique/junk shops and said, “wow, look at these!”. One was titled “Minuet in G” played by Frederick Kinsley on the pipe organ. Mom had remembered being intrigued by Edison disks when she was young, and I certainly was.

Another time, Mom brought home four 2-minute cylinders, including an Indestructible titled “Lyna, Oh, Oh, Miss Lyna” by Collins and Harlan. Mind you, we did not have a cylinder machine, but my Mom's cousin did, so one day we took the records over there and played them. I was spellbound by the cylinder machine. That is when the phonograph bug bit me – HARD! I haven't recovered from the malady yet.

My first machine was a common model upright Victrola, filled with albums of 78's, many of them acoustic. Until this point my focus had been more fixed on the machines themselves, but when I heard “Poor Papa” by Fred Rich's orchestra on the Harmony label, I fell in love with that music and my focus changed primarily from machines to the period music. That song, and also “Bell Hopping Blues” on the flip side, defined my vision of fox trots and still does. Happy music, that's what it is.

2) When did you start acquiring more records and how did you go about it?

I immediately began looking for more records, mostly in junk and antique stores.

3) How do you organize and store your records? Do you have them in good order and cleaned, or are they in random heaps and boxes?

Most of the cylinders are stored inside custom made cardboard boxes that I made to fit perfectly within huge metal storage cabinets that I bought at an office supply store. Each box is numbered. Each record and box number is entered into a computer database that serves as my catalog.

Apart from machines, most of the Edison disks are stored in wood boxes or plastic crates, and are also cataloged in the database. I have a constant backlog of new records to enter and may never finish.

The 78's are also stored in wood boxes and plastic crates and unfortunately not cataloged. Too many of them.

4) How many records do you think you own?

Until I finish cataloging, I really don't know. Perhaps 2,000 cylinders and well over 500 Diamond Discs. Easily more than 500 Pathé disks. No earthly idea about the 78's.

5) Where do you acquire most of your records lately?

I buy mostly from a few phonograph/record dealers and on eBay. I don't usually buy lots, but instead buy specific titles that I want. I don't have the room to store unwanted records or the time to dispose of them. I rarely find anything but pure junk at flea markets or antique stores anymore.

6) What do you play them on?

My rare or nicest 78's are played on a “modern” turntable to preserve their condition. Everything else is played on period machines the way they were originally heard.

[howardpgh]

Qs 1&2, I started collecting when I was in elementary school in the mid 1960s. In those days people used to just give them to you.
Q3 Organize? Hah! I generally keep them together by label.
Q4 Probably over 1000 but less than 10000. It is not hard to accumulate 100 records.
Q5 Flea market, junk stores. I try to be somewhat picky.
Q6 I have a Victor IV, but I play most of them on my Garrard 301.

[Wolfe]

The first 78's I remember liking were things like Spike Jones, Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers, a recording of Rhapsody In Blue...mostly common stuff that I used to scrounge up in an antique store near where I lived when I was in grade school. And those days (early 1980's) the records were just a dime or a quarter, so I could afford them.

I played this vinyl RCA Victor Spike Jones record until the steel needle on my suitcase phono completely destroyed it. Didn't know any better.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlQ8dDJK0Ww[/youtube]

[Edisone]

I can't follow the exact order of questions, but here's some idea (and I realise nobody cares) :

My Great Grandma Bailey (born Kittie Dennigan, 1878, Sugar Grove PA) gave me her 2 remaining albums of Victor 78s - all dance records by Arthur Pryor & the Victor Military Band. She and her husband, James Bailey (a motorman on the Jamestown NY Street Railway) used to dance on the front porch of their Celoron NY home to the Victrola. I guess my habit of taking her cane & trying to dance was amusing (I was a baby & didn't know better) so I got the records. Mom wouldn't let me play them on her turntable ("Don't wreck my needle!") so I didn't actually hear the stuff until I was about 12 & bought my own portable at the flea market for $1. Yes - $1 . I think I had five or six one-dollar portable phonographs- all with tubes, and all excellent - and I killed them all, one way or another.

Anyway, the Victor Dance records set my 12 year old brain ablaze, and I still love all those Victor Band, Sousa, Pryor, Prince, Sodero, Jaudas, etc etc brass band and early orchestra records of pop / dance / semi-Classical selections.

As to numbers, I am a hoarder or accumulator, but am not proud of it. No immense collection, here. Maybe more than I'll ever play.

I play my records almost exclusively on old machines, which I've repaired and adjusted carefully so they sound fine & won't wreck my records. My few truly valuable & rare records are not subjected to play on antique machines, even though that's how I prefer to hear them.

ps - Gawd help one of us, but I look just like Kittie! Except for the dress, of course.

[bart1927]

1) In a brief statement, describe the first few *old* records you acquired that were 78s or cylinders. What type of music were they, how old were they, where did you get them? Many of us were old enough to have had 45s and 33s in your youth because the format was still being sold on the shelves. Vinyl records don't count for this discussion.

To be honest, I can't remember. I was introduced to 78's by a radio show that played them, I really liked them (especially 1920's dance bands) so I started buying 78's at flea markets and junk shops. But since I didn't really know what to look for (what labels, catalogue numbers, how to look for record wear) I mostly ended up with, well, junk. So I don't have any of those, anymore. I sold them on Marktplaats (the Dutch Craigslist), and the worst of the lot I just threw away.

2) When did you start acquiring more records and how did you go about it?

When I got Internet in 1999, I started buying records on Ebay. The selection you find in used record stores and at flea markets here in the Netherlands is very limited. Mostly stuff from the 1950's, accordion medleys, the Platters, that kind of stuff. Dance records from the 1920's are hard to find. There is one specialized shop in the Netherlands, and while the prices they charge are very low, it's a mixed bag quality wise.

3) How do you organize and store your records? Do you have them in good order and cleaned, or are they in random heaps and boxes?

My records are stored in a Lundia cabinet. They are arranged in order of purchase. The sleeves are numbered, and the numbers are put in a computer data base, along with other discographical info, such as recording dates, condition of the record, from whom I bought the record, and what I paid for it.

I clean all my records, unless they already look very clean. I store them in a nice new clean sleeve, and when they came with a nice original sleeve, I put them in a transparent plastic sleeve.

I also digitize my records, using a Rek-O-Kut turntable, the KAB VSP, a Tascam cd-recorder, and several custom styli.

4) How many records do you think you own?

I currently own 1137 records.

5) Where do you acquire most of your records lately?

The Ebay seller "Burrish" and Nauck's VRA.

6) What do you play them on?

Aside from the Rek-O-Kut turntable, I also play them on my HMV 101, 102 and 130.

[Shlomo]

1 ) In a brief statement, describe the first few *old* records you acquired that were 78s or cylinders.

The first old records I acquired came from Ebay, about a decade ago. As best as I can recall, it was Memphis Minnie's "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" on Okeh and Mckinney's Cotton Pickers' "Cherry" on Victor Scroll from the same seller. I didn't have a proper turntable and hifi setup at the time then.

I knew the Memphis Minnie song from a blues CD I owned at the time, and I was also getting into 20s jazz music, mostly through redhotjazz.com.

2) When did you start acquiring more records and how did you go about it?

When I got a proper turntable, shortly after I purchased my first few 78s. I used eBay, and an Antique shop in Northern California with a booth for old records. I never bid on Auction lists tailored for 78s. I started focusing more on early Jazz records (Blues was too expensive) and also got into the generic dance bands of the 20s and early 30s.

3) How do you organize and store your records? Do you have them in good order and cleaned, or are they in random heaps and boxes?

I clean all my records. The records are stored in new sleeves on edge. Some records that I only play on the victrola are in used thick kraft sleeves. Records are stored on a heavy duty wire shelving unit, some are in cabinets, and some are in milk crates. All records are cataloged in a spreadsheet, and given a code so I know where to find them.

4) How many records do you think you own?

Around 1200 78s. About 900 of them I'll only play with a diamond stylus. And the remaining are for the Victrolas. I don't own cylinders, etc.

5) Where do you acquire most of your records lately?

Mostly Ebay.

6) What do you play them on?

A Technics SL-D2 that I modified and a Kabusa VSP preamp. Several sizes of styli cut from Expert Stylus UK.

Victor VV-IX (my first period machine, acquired early this year)
Victor VV 2-55

[schallplatte]

1 ) My first exposure to 78s was a collection of early Victor records in my grandmother's Victrola during the 1960s-1970s. These were mostly popular recordings, dance music and songs from 1920s. As a youth I was intrigued by the acoustic playback. Flash forward to the 1980s and I found several albums of mint Victor and HMV opera records in an antique shop along with a large Victor Victrola, all in remarkably fine condition. These records were original pressings of Caruso, Melba, Tetrazzini, Scotti, etc. Because of my orchestral background and interest in opera, I played a few of the records and was astounded. The Caruso recordings in particular were amazingly good.

2) That experience started me on my collection. I sought out more records from antique shops, auctions, flea markets, other collectors.

3) I clean all of my records and store them in archival paper sleeves. Most of the records are stored in record boxes and organized by artist.

4) My collection has become more focused over the years and I've become more selective. I'm especially interested in Wagnerian and Italian Opera. Artists of particular interest to me are: Battistini, Caruso, Chaliapin, Destinn, Flagstad, Fremsted, Gadki, Jadlowker, Jeritza, Kurz, Lehmann, Leider, Melba, Melchior, Patti, Ponselle, Ruffo, Schorr, Schumann-Heink, Scotti, Sembrich, Slezak, Tetrazzini, Urlus, and van Rooy. Total number of 78 rpm records >500.

5) These days I acquire most of my records through auctions.

6) Playback with archival turntable and phonostage, or original Victor phonograph with bamboo and thorn needles.

[Springmotor70]

1 ) I bought my first machine in the summer of '82 when I was 11. My first 78s were childrens records we already had then a few records from relatives and neighbors started bringing me more. In the beginning most of them were early 40s and post-war shellac. I didn't start buying cylinders till I bought my first cylinder machine in 1995.

2) I started to find earlier acoustic and 1920s shellac at garage, rummage and estate sales as well as auctions. I liked auctions because I could get someone's full stack of records that came with a machine and collectors bidding on the machines often had little interest in the records. Later I found mail-order auctions and ebay.

3) There are plenty of records in boxes that have not been cleaned or sorted but the center of my collection gets processed when they arrive - Every record is cleaned, put in an appropriate sleeve (I use a mixture of new and old sleeves along with original sleeves. The sleeve is chosen for the hole size so that it nicely frames the original label. On the sleeve I note the record number, content and artist. I also note when I obtained it, from who and sometimes how much I paid. Once the record is entered into my data list (File-maker Pro) I write the date on which is was entered on the sleeve. Finally I will sometimes write the date and place the record was recorded or fun or interesting facts about the recording, song or label.

I store my records on shelves and are sorted primarily in large groupings by label then sorted by artist and arranged chronologically by record number.

4) I would guestimate between 8,000 - 10,000 records. Around 5,000 are sorted and easily accessible - the others are in storage. (I also probably have about 600 cylinders - ranging from brown wax to 5000 series blue amberols)

5) I still find a few at antique stores (now antique malls) or estate sales but the majority are acquired from eBay and mail-order auctions like Naucks. My favorite though is buying from other collectors or dealers like Tom Smith, Ted Nelson or others. I do this at shows like Union or visiting them at their homes or storage sites, taking time to dig for a day or more....

6) I play my records on the machine that was made within 5 years of the record - (I have about 35 machines) The bulk of my collection is from 1925-35 (the first decade of electric recording) so I use a Credenza, Viva-Tonal, VE 7-26X, Brunswick Panatrope P-11, P-3 (Deluxe Case-Georgian), Edison C4 and many portables designed for electric recording by Victor, HMV, Electorla, Columbia, Edison and Brunswick.

For needles I use new steel needles, NOS, Fibre, and for changer machines NOS Tungs-tone and Cactus Needle (Chromium kinda scare me even though I have an RAE 26 and another 2 speed RCA electrola - go cactus!)
For very rare or NOS records I also use more modern equipment - or almost modern equipment such as a Garrard RC-88 and an RC-90 which is where I play all my 10" LPs

Below is a photo of the closet next to the Credenza - all the shelves on the left are Victor Scrolls (there are plenty more boxed up) - on the right hand side are electric Brunswicks and some acoustics.

But Damon - why are you asking? - You've seen it all before

Darren

[rhammond]

1 ) In a brief statement, describe the first few *old* records you acquired that were 78s or cylinders. What type of music were they, how old were they, where did you get them? Many of us were old enough to have had 45s and 33s in your youth because the format was still being sold on the shelves. Vinyl records don't count for this discussion.

2) When did you start acquiring more records and how did you go about it?

3) How do you organize and store your records? Do you have them in good order and cleaned, or are they in random heaps and boxes?

4) How many records do you think you own?

5) Where do you acquire most of your records lately?

6) What do you play them on?

Personal Answers

1. We always had records at home. I can remember when 78 rpms could be bought new and children's Little Golden Records came in 78 or 45 rpm format. I always liked records and ours were played and played. That being said, my first phonograph was my mother's parents Edison Chalet and the records that came with it. They were a large German family and the machine was well played and battered. The machine has an interesting history but that is another story. This would have been in the 1960's. After that, our neighbors gave me an upright Brunswick with most of its records in tack. Somehow, the collection just started to grow. I would buy at auctions, second hand shops etc. and eventually, I would start buying and selling. I actually would buy broken machines or basket cases to get the records. This was a time when replacement parts were a huge issue and many nice machines were trashed due to a broken spring. My first cylinder machine was an Edison Standard D with a green morning glory horn. I mowed a lot of lawns to buy that thing in an antique shop. If I remember correctly, I paid $75 for it. Then I had to start finding cylinders and thus the education began on cylinders and types of machines etc. For some reason, I could find all kinds of upright disc machines but the cylinder and outside horn machines were elusive. Those would come later.

2. Records came from many different sources. I have bought an entire machine to get a couple of records.

3. I use the "Randy Method" for storing records. The machines and cabinets are full. I have several very large built in cabinets that are full. I keep the wax cylinders on the main floor of the house to ensure that they do not mold.

4. Number of records? This is a hard one. I probably have 1000 cylinders, 1,000 Edison Diamond Discs and a huge pile of 78's from acoustic to late. I do not have any of the really exotic early stuff like Berliner or Pre dog Victor. I just never had much opportunity to acquire those. The collection is an interesting mix. I also have probably 1000 Ampico piano rolls, 200 Duo Art rolls and another 1000 88 note rolls. In addition, I have a Regina music box and a library of discs for it. The easiest way to describe my house is that it is a musical time warp.

5. I still acquire records from second hand and antique stores, Ebay, other collectors, estate sales etc. I am pretty saturated at this point but I will still occasionally buy a few here and there. On Diamond Disc, I stick to the 52000 series, I like Victor Scrolls and certain cylinders. I am at a point where I need to do a drastic pruning.

6. I tend to play my records on original equipment. As for the regularly played machines, for Edison cylinders, my favorite machine is a Triumph E with oak music master and O reproducer. For EDD, I have a Chippendale and a William and Mary. For conventional accoustic discs, I have an L Door Victrola 16, and for the early microphone records, I have a Victrola Credenza. For the 30's 60's 78's, I have a 1948 Magnavox radio phonograph with a Chicago Webster changer and I also sometimes use a Califone or Newcomb school phono as they play 78s well.

My collection has some nice moments, too many uprights, a a few treasures here and there but it is not rare and exotic. I enjoy what I have and I love to share it with like minded individuals.

[oldphonographsteve]

1) In a brief statement, describe the first few *old* records you acquired that were 78s or cylinders. What type of music were they, how old were they, where did you get them? Many of us were old enough to have had 45s and 33s in your youth because the format was still being sold on the shelves. Vinyl records don't count for this discussion.

The first few records I got was when I was really little. I was one of those erm.... eccentric kids, and when I was six years old I asked for a "gramophone and records," and when my seventh birthday came I got a dozen 78s and a gramophone which I eventually found out was a crapophone. Most of the records were from the 30's and 40's, pretty average stuff. Then I went around all week saying "guess what I got for my birthday... a GRAMOPHONE!" The looks on their faces when they heard a seven year old say that....

2) When did you start acquiring more records and how did you go about it?

Well... since I was an eccentric kid, and since my parents supported the hobby because they thought it was better than playing video games all day, I just went antiquing and searched for records in thrift stores.

3) How do you organize and store your records? Do you have them in good order and cleaned, or are they in random heaps and boxes?

Currently I store my records inside of two Victrolas and inside of a wooden record cabinet which was made somewhat recently. They aren't in great order, I keep the rarer and more valuable ones in good condition sleeves while the common one I store without sleeves. I also store cylinders in storage bins and in drawers.
4) How many records do you think you own?

At the time of writing I have about 650 good condition records, all from between the 1890s and 1930s.
(about 100 cylinders, the rest are 78 rpm's. Some are Standard Disc Records and Edison Diamond Discs)

5) Where do you acquire most of your records lately?

I get them from eBay and thrift stores, but I get them mostly from this fellow who has thousands of records in his garage.

6) What do you play them on?

I play the few early 7 inch records I have on a Columbia AU. I play the 2 minute cylinders on my Edison Standard A, and I play the 78s on my Victrola XI and XVI

-Steve