edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

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edisonphonoworks
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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by edisonphonoworks »

You can make high quality music recordings on an Ediphone, true it is not compatible with anything else except another Ediphone machine. The office dictation machine has kind of had a bad rap with collectors, however they were the last acoustic recorders, made up into the 1940s or even 1950s,l. The recorder on say a 1936 D model Ediphone has a big rubber gaskets that encases the mica diaphragm, and a retainer ring,,, a better designed floating diaphragm holder, as long as the gasket is supple and soft very clear recordings can be made, The recorders had to be good, because it will record S's Ts and F sounds, it must, because it was used for transcription for a typist, and intelligibility was the priority in the making, so the typist does not make a mistake. These recorders also have very good bass response too. Clear speaking recordings can me made of course with the on board speaking tube, but musical records can be made by using a rubber horn connector connecting the recording horn of your choice, , I have seen original studio vocal horns that range from 24-30" long and made of tin, or of red fiber board. You can make these horns out of poster board, or tan thick manilla cardboard folders, do a really good job taking two of them and turning into a cone, and about a 3 inch long rubber connector. The recorders are very sensitive on these machines, so it does not take much volume to make a fairly loud recordings, and heating the blanks to about 90 degrees with a light bulb will improve the cut as well. These machines were set at about 80 rpm, so you want to increase the speed to 160 to make musical records. If you have the playback Ediphone with the rice paper diaphragm, replace the gaskets and these sound very good with new gaskets.

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by Lucius1958 »

As regards the indented stylus: I have wondered whether a hollow tube (glass, of course) might provide a similar response.

There may be glass pipettes of appropriate diameter available from scientific supply houses (used for manipulating microscopic samples); if one could break a section off cleanly enough, and / or carefully smooth and sharpen the end with a diamond Dremel point........?

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by gramophoneshane »

I have definately seen photos of a hollow tube cutter in the past, so I see no reason a new one wouldnt work Bill. I dont know what brand it was that I saw, but the hollow was clearly visible because it had collected a small amount of wax dust in it.

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by Orchorsol »

edisonphonoworks wrote:You can make high quality music recordings on an Ediphone, true it is not compatible with anything else except another Ediphone machine. The office dictation machine has kind of had a bad rap with collectors, however they were the last acoustic recorders, made up into the 1940s or even 1950s,l. The recorder on say a 1936 D model Ediphone has a big rubber gaskets that encases the mica diaphragm, and a retainer ring,,, a better designed floating diaphragm holder, as long as the gasket is supple and soft very clear recordings can be made, The recorders had to be good, because it will record S's Ts and F sounds, it must, because it was used for transcription for a typist, and intelligibility was the priority in the making, so the typist does not make a mistake. These recorders also have very good bass response too. Clear speaking recordings can me made of course with the on board speaking tube, but musical records can be made by using a rubber horn connector connecting the recording horn of your choice, , I have seen original studio vocal horns that range from 24-30" long and made of tin, or of red fiber board. You can make these horns out of poster board, or tan thick manilla cardboard folders, do a really good job taking two of them and turning into a cone, and about a 3 inch long rubber connector. The recorders are very sensitive on these machines, so it does not take much volume to make a fairly loud recordings, and heating the blanks to about 90 degrees with a light bulb will improve the cut as well. These machines were set at about 80 rpm, so you want to increase the speed to 160 to make musical records. If you have the playback Ediphone with the rice paper diaphragm, replace the gaskets and these sound very good with new gaskets.
Many thanks! Fantastic, that's really helpful and encouraging advice.

I have all three machines - recorder/player, player (with the secretarial control attachment!) and cutter.

At present I only have a couple of viable blanks and will need some more - I keep an eye on US Ebay but shipping is usually prohibitive (surprising how it varies in different auctions). Sooner or later I will find some, get the machinery up and running and then start experimenting!
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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by McTodd »

kirtley2012 wrote:Have yours arrived yet?, i would like to know if they work!
My latest experiment has produced a massive leap in quality! Until now, I had been using 1mm thick glass rod to make my styli and getting very quiet recordings. I was using 1mm because I had read that the original cutting styli were 0.042" thick, which is around 1mm, and that is the thickness of the glass rods I bought.

However, late last night I decided to try a thinner stylus, and so using my butane soldering iron I stretched a glass rod in the flame, rather like modelmakers stretch plastic sprue to get thin 'threads' for ships' rigging etc., to thin the rod - only a little, mind, so it took a few attempts, but in the end I got a 0.7mm thick tip (the rod when stretched only a little way is tapered, so when you break it in the middle of the stretched bit you use the narrow broken end) and fastened it in my stylus-mount with the narrow end poking out to form the cutting tip. Because it was very late at night and I live in a block of flats I didn't want to be bellowing into the phonograph to test it and risk annoying the neighbours!

However, I tried it this morning and - wow! Just using the standard Edison Witch's Hat horn produces loud, clear recordings equal in volume to a commercial cylinder! Whereas before (with the 1mm stylus) I would have to sit near the mouth of the horn to hear the recording, now with my 0.7mm stylus I can sit across the room and still hear it loud and clear!

No photos or video, I'm afraid, as shortly I go away for the weekend, but I shall try to put something together next week.

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by McTodd »

Right, some photos and video/audio...

First, my latest homemade cutting stylus, made from glass:
Image

This is my homemade shaving machine, using parts of an Edison Standard and a totally DIY shaver attachment (a powerful electric motor drives it):
Image

And a couple of recordings, made on one cylinder, using the above recording stylus:
http://youtu.be/2Nz-V208ux4

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by kirtley2012 »

well, ive got something whilst messing around with a snapped medium tone gramophone needle!, read the description for more information about what ive done, i think im on to something though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PvYULnl1wA

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by McTodd »

kirtley2012 wrote:well, ive got something whilst messing around with a snapped medium tone gramophone needle!, read the description for more information about what ive done, i think im on to something though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PvYULnl1wA
That's genius! Benjamin The Victrola Guy on YouTube experimented (very effectively) with a drill bit of the right thickness snapped off at the shank to make a cutting stylus, so your idea of using snapped off gramophone needles is brilliant!

I've measured a soft tone needle and it is precisely 0.9mm thick, so I think it would make a good cutter. I'm about to go out now so have no time to experiment, but I just popped a used needle in the vice and tapped the end off with a hammer, it gives a very jagged edge, so I shall experiment with that.

I've done some more tests using glass styli, including this:
http://youtu.be/B0m4r0YWW-U

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kirtley2012
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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by kirtley2012 »

thanks!, i am also going to try snaping different lengths of the taper from a needle to get the right length

your experiment sounds good!, the voices arent that clear though!, if i were you i would turn the treble up to the top to try and make the voices more distinct!

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Re: edison 2 minute recorder stylus and holder

Post by McTodd »

kirtley2012 wrote:your experiment sounds good!, the voices arent that clear though!, if i were you i would turn the treble up to the top to try and make the voices more distinct!
Cheers! I think I had the stereo a bit too loud, causing 'blasting' of the mica diaphragm. There's another track I recorded on wax which is quieter but with clearer voices:
http://youtu.be/PCMQnWlOhPI

Plus when I've recorded myself speaking I've had very good results. Next off I've ordered a couple of glass diaphragms from a chap in Germany, and I'll try a steel recording stylus. It's all a bit of a laugh, eh? ;)

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