The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It’s the same like today, there is the theory in the marketing department and the reality in the manufacturing area. I don’t think these variations were intentional, but rather caused by varying conditions during recording.

Andreas

I agree with Andreas: problems rose in the recording, not in the labeling in my opinion. This said, however, I also wonder how is it possible that the speed of the recording turntable was not checked. Nothing more than a strobe disc and an ordinary incadescent filament lamp are needed to do so. Should not even a lamp been available, then a centrifuge speed gauge could be used: this works even without electric energy of any kind. Checking the RPM of a turntable is so easy, so quick and so important for consistency, that I wonder why they didn't.

They DID use a centrifuge type speed gauge at many recording labs. Of curse the lathe was weight driven well into the electrical era.

Marco Gilardetti wrote:I agree with Andreas: problems rose in the recording, not in the labeling in my opinion. This said, however, I also wonder how is it possible that the speed of the recording turntable was not checked. Nothing more than a strobe disc and an ordinary incadescent filament lamp are needed to do so. Should not even a lamp been available, then a centrifuge speed gauge could be used: this works even without electric energy of any kind. Checking the RPM of a turntable is so easy, so quick and so important for consistency, that I wonder why they didn't.

Well, I guess they just didn't care about it as much as some folks do today. Probably figured that Uncle Josh sounds about the same at any speed and Aunt Tilly wouldn't know the difference anyway. I'm sure that 99.8% of folks did what I do, adjust it till it sounds good to me.