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pmilton wrote:I am looking for this 78rpm record on 12". The piece title is Ride of the Valkyries ... and I have the Prelude, act I and act II, they sound great on this machine so I would love to have Act III.

As you can see, there are many possibilities.
Since you have these two discs... what are the numbers on those labels and the color of the labels, etc.?
If it's part of a series, you're holding the key to this conundrum.
Pictured is my Victor record on the Victrola scroll orthophonic label.
epigramophone pictured a UK disc of the same recording.
This is the Canadian disc of the same...
https://archive.org/details/9163arideof ... sr13954459

The orchestra is simply listed as Symphony Orchestra, which according to Discogs, is the Victor Symphony Orchestra.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/925226-V ... -Orchestra

James.

Unless these are Grand Prize or Deluxe era recordings by the Victor Orchestra, I think I have what you are looking for. These were a "sequential set" from around 1923, if memory serves, likely on the blue Batwing label. The Act III records I have are three sides of two records, the A side of the first one being the conclusion of Act II. Notice that the third side of the Act III series is conducted by Goossens.

This is an earlier acoustical version than the one James has.

See attached images.

I also have a nice Stokowski single of Act III on a c.1921 single face Victrola Red Seal. Feel free to PM me if any of these are of interest.

^^ This 1921 Red Seal recording is the same as one I have in my collection. If you get it, set your Grafonola running at about 75 RPM, otherwise it sounds more like a farcical soundtrack from an old cartoon. I think they ran the recording lathe slower to get the whole thing on the disc.

unfortunately, my grafanola will not run slower than 78, it seems the speed governor was set to run at 78 or faster. That or the pads are worn. If it is an issue of worn pads, I guess another question would be if anyone knows where to get new ones for it and how to replace them. I made some "tweeking" adjustments very gingerly to get some other records to play properly but I am not looking to do much more "tweeking"

That's rough. I know that you don't want to spend all your time fixing the Grafonola, but sometimes these old machines insist on something of a "spa day" before they go back into regular service.

To play any of these records, electrical or acoustically recorded, you will hopefully have rebuilt the reproducer and gotten some fresh steel needles. (Change the needle once per side, and "rebuilding" the reproducer is a simple task on the old pre-1925 machines. If you don't have a Viva-Tonal Grafonola it should be a cinch to rebuild.)

Now to fix your motor. It's super easy to do this--turn it on and let it run all the way down. Then open the hood and make SURE there is not any power left on the mainsprings, otherwise you risk injury or damaging the spindle drive gears.

Take a small screwdriver and look at the governor. The idea isn't to change the pads but to move that friction disc back a little bit to touch the pads that are there. (If they're well oiled they should last OK.) I haven't seen a Grafonola motor in a while so I don't remember if you move the bearings to adjust the governor, like on a Victrola, or if you reach in through the little flat springs that hold the weights and move just the friction disc.

Betcha you could make your changes in all of ten minutes and have it back going.

I found this single sided record earlier, apparently recorded on the 22nd June 1922 with American baritone Clarence Whitehill.

I don't know if it is 'ACT 3' or just 'the very end bit' of Act 3.

Hope it is useful to see another version to look for maybe.

Oh, last night I seem to have found a single sided record which goes with the one above. This one does say 'Act iii' on it.

Label image below in case it helps with anything.