Anyone creating 78 records with modern music?

[talking2100]

Subject says it all - I would love to have some actual modern records created. There's such great music out there that was never produced in a 78 format.

I've seen some older stories online where people have managed to make their own recorders, but it never looks like a record, and it's extremely complex from what I can tell.

Really surprised with all the phonograph collectors out there that no one has spun up a company to produce some form of a 78 record for customers. Have I just not found them yet?

[talking2100]

I should clarify - 78 shellac records. Not vinyl. Something to play on the older phonograph machines.

[VanEpsFan1914]

There's one man who can do this, and his name is Don Wilson.

He's on here as donniej and he makes records that a Victrola will not eat up. They have the iron-like wearing characteristic of an old Victor bat-wing acoustic c. 1915 and the smooth fidelity we would like to hear on our old phonographs but we don't often find. With no grit in the grooves they don't have that scratchy tone built in...and they're quite fun. Expensive? not really when you consider the quality.

If it's good music maybe it would be added to his catalog?

[JerryVan]

There's one man who can do this, and his name is Don Wilson.

He's on here as donniej and he makes records that a Victrola will not eat up. They have the iron-like wearing characteristic of an old Victor bat-wing acoustic c. 1915 and the smooth fidelity we would like to hear on our old phonographs but we don't often find. With no grit in the grooves they don't have that scratchy tone built in...and they're quite fun. Expensive? not really when you consider the quality.

If it's good music maybe it would be added to his catalog?

I believe Don makes his records using actual, original 78's as his "molds". Creating records with newly recorded material may be something very different. Hope I'm wrong though! Some of the music by Tuba Skinny, mentioned in another thread, would be awesome on a 78!!

Also, new stuff would probably be a royalties nightmare...

[travisgreyfox]

I believe Don can and has transferred modern music onto 78s but he really cant sell them because he runs into copyright infringement laws.

This is also the reason that no company has filled this "void". The costs vs market interest are probably not there.

[VanEpsFan1914]

Mr Wilson has a vintage lathe & has recorded his own music--his "Maple Leaf Rag" as played by Joplin on a piano roll had to be done this way, essentially capturing a 1916 performance with modern microphones.

The copyright bit is a nightmare for sure though.

[Lucius1958]

I'd love to have a 78 version of a rag I wrote some years ago. Here it is on harpsichord:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOHq_lz64o

- Bill

[Curt A]

Copyright issues aside, most people who collect historic, acoustic or electric machines, want to hear historic music played on them.

Then there is the issue of what is considered to be "modern"? For me, modern "music" ceased to exist in the '70s or early '80s... Current "music" is 7-11 music to me - 7 words repeated 11 times in Auto-Tune, boring, virtual Muzak - just my opinion. That being said, everyone has their own definition of "modern".

Scale that down to the number of collectors who would buy it, then add the factor of what specific title(s) would actually sell (Don Wilson has this problem whenever he asks for opinions on what records to reproduce) and you probably arrive at approx. twelve people in the country (or less)... Hardly a profitable market...

And then, try to find young people who have any interest in these machines in the first place, who want "modern" music, who have enough money to buy them (and would rather spend that money on this or a new iPhone) and there lies the problem...

[Curt A]

I'd love to have a 78 version of a rag I wrote some years ago. Here it is on harpsichord:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOHq_lz64o

- Bill

Bill,
I enjoyed your jackdaw crow rag... interesting and talented.

Curt

[talking2100]

Copyright issues aside, most people who collect historic, acoustic or electric machines, want to hear historic music played on them.

Then there is the issue of what is considered to be "modern"?...

Agree with you here. While I'm sue there may be some people out there that would like to hear some newer hip hop music on a phonograph, I am not one of them. The goal of my thread here is to get some of the good music from the 50's and even 60's onto a phonograph record format.

I can only listen to so much obscure fox trot music before I get sick of using these classics. There's only a handful of period correct music I enjoy from the 20's and 30's - I'm guessing around 1% if it's even that high.

Would love to have more of the popular songs and some early rock music that I can play from a Victrola. The few that are out there are wanted by many others and so good examples of those are usually very pricey.