About Edison Diamond Discs

[MisterGramophone]

I have been wondering what in the design of an Edison diamond disc makes the label fall off? Another question is that is there a way to tell what the song is if the label fell off?

[drh]

I have been wondering what in the design of an Edison diamond disc makes the label fall off? Another question is that is there a way to tell what the song is if the label fell off?

Many, if not all, diamond discs are now searchable by catalogue number and presumably matrix number on the Discography of Historical American Recordings: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/

So, taking a disc I have at hand as an example, if you have disc 82308, matrix 9233-C-7-1, both of which will be stamped on the record, you can search DAHR for 82308 or 9233 and it will tell you that the disc is Valse Capriccio played by Albert Spalding and Andre Benoist.

You can also consult the printed reference Edison Diamond Disc Re-Creations: Records & Artists 1910-1929, which lists all the diamond discs sequentially by catalogue number. It's long out of print and goes for substantial $$$ when it turns up. That's a fine resource, but DAHR is free; faster; easier; probably more up to date; and more comprehensive, as going to a record's entry page will often give you information about performers and whatnot that isn't in the printed volume.

[recordmaker]

Shellac discs had the printed label put in to the press and the shellac glued them on. this was fine as the press cycle is 60 seconds or so. The diamond disc resin needs 20 minutes to cure and labels when tested would go brown due to cooking hence the initial etched labels. The cured resin does not work well with adhesives then available so post pressing label attachment was not successful initially
The process later was to put a dummy paper disc in the press cycle and then glue the paper label to the fixed and cooked paper, in this way the labels are held on by a method that is more prone to peeling off I am not sure what glue was used but is may also be affected by damp.

[JerryVan]

Shellac discs had the printed label put in to the press and the shellac glued them on. this was fine as the press cycle is 60 seconds or so. The diamond disc resin needs 20 minutes to cure and labels when tested would go brown due to cooking hence the initial etched labels. The cured resin does not work well with adhesives then available so post pressing label attachment was not successful initially
The process later was to put a dummy paper disc in the press cycle and then glue the paper label to the fixed and cooked paper, in this way the labels are held on by a method that is more prone to peeling off I am not sure what glue was used but is may also be affected by damp.

What great information! Thanks!

[52089]

I have been wondering what in the design of an Edison diamond disc makes the label fall off? Another question is that is there a way to tell what the song is if the label fell off?

Many, if not all, diamond discs are now searchable by catalogue number and presumably matrix number on the Discography of Historical American Recordings: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/

So, taking a disc I have at hand as an example, if you have disc 82308, matrix 9233-C-7-1, both of which will be stamped on the record, you can search DAHR for 82308 or 9233 and it will tell you that the disc is Valse Capriccio played by Albert Spalding and Andre Benoist.

You can also consult the printed reference Edison Diamond Disc Re-Creations: Records & Artists 1910-1929, which lists all the diamond discs sequentially by catalogue number. It's long out of print and goes for substantial $$$ when it turns up. That's a fine resource, but DAHR is free; faster; easier; probably more up to date; and more comprehensive, as going to a record's entry page will often give you information about performers and whatnot that isn't in the printed volume.

Another excellent source is the Excel file of Edison Diamond Discs available from truesoundtransfers.de on their discographies page. You can download all their discography files to your computer for free.