drh wrote:Wolfe wrote:^ Wouldn't have needed a warming oven, acetate / lacquer recordings discs were in use by WWII.
Otherwise, it still seems unlikely that they could cut a disc master under those conditions.
For "instant"/"home" recording, certainly, but for commercial disk mastering? (Not doubting you, but if so I'm learning something!)
By the mid-1930's started the transiton from wax to lacquer. An early example would be the recordings (issued on Vocalion) of Robert Johnson, cut to lacquer in 1936 or so - professional recordings. But by the early 40's, companies like Columbia (part of the ARC family) were regulary cutting takes in studio to 16 " 33 ⅓ rpm lacquer masters, later to be dubbed to 78 rpm masters down the line. Many of those masters that were used for dubbing survive and are used today to make very clean sounding CD transfers, versus using shellac 78's.
Benny Goodman's famous 1936 Carnegie Hall concert was recorded to lacquer disc.
I don't know exactly when wax was finally abandoned. Lacquer has it all over wax in any case. It's lighter, doesn't need to be heated, more stable. etc. It would have made sense to convert pretty quickly.