Starr records

[gramophone-georg]

There were some early, vertical cut U.S. made Starr records, a product of the Starr Piano Co. of Richmond, Indiana. The were only sold in Starr stores, with Starr machines. They're quite scarce. I've never seen one in nearly 50 years of collecting.
Around 1919, in order to sell more records, in stores other than their own, Starr changed their label name in the U.S. to Gennett.
The records you have were produced by Starr's Canadian operation. I have not seen a vertical cut Canadian Starr record, and I would assume they're all lateral cut.
Like everyone else, Starr (Gennett) started electric recording in '25, so it really depends on when they were recorded of they're acoustic or elactric.
I've seen plenty of non-French Starr records. I suppose it depends on the region of Canada they were marketed to. Hopefully this has been helpful

Steve

Yes, Gennett started recording electrically in 1925. Their early Electrics were the regular red label issues with a "GE" at the top. Their first system was quite problematic, though, so they quickly backed out of the electric market and re- appeared with the "New Electrobeam" series in 1927.

The early red label Gennett Electrics are quite rare.

[ChesterCheetah18]

There were some early, vertical cut U.S. made Starr records, a product of the Starr Piano Co. of Richmond, Indiana. The were only sold in Starr stores, with Starr machines. They're quite scarce. I've never seen one in nearly 50 years of collecting.
Around 1919, in order to sell more records, in stores other than their own, Starr changed their label name in the U.S. to Gennett.
The records you have were produced by Starr's Canadian operation. I have not seen a vertical cut Canadian Starr record, and I would assume they're all lateral cut.
Like everyone else, Starr (Gennett) started electric recording in '25, so it really depends on when they were recorded of they're acoustic or elactric.
I've seen plenty of non-French Starr records. I suppose it depends on the region of Canada they were marketed to. Hopefully this has been helpful

Steve

Yes, Gennett started recording electrically in 1925. Their early Electrics were the regular red label issues with a "GE" at the top. Their first system was quite problematic, though, so they quickly backed out of the electric market and re- appeared with the "New Electrobeam" series in 1927.

The early red label Gennett Electrics are quite rare.

That's very interesting George. I wasn't aware Gennett actually commercially released an electric record prior to the Electrobeam. Do you have a photo of one you could post?

[gramophone-georg]

There were some early, vertical cut U.S. made Starr records, a product of the Starr Piano Co. of Richmond, Indiana. The were only sold in Starr stores, with Starr machines. They're quite scarce. I've never seen one in nearly 50 years of collecting.
Around 1919, in order to sell more records, in stores other than their own, Starr changed their label name in the U.S. to Gennett.
The records you have were produced by Starr's Canadian operation. I have not seen a vertical cut Canadian Starr record, and I would assume they're all lateral cut.
Like everyone else, Starr (Gennett) started electric recording in '25, so it really depends on when they were recorded of they're acoustic or elactric.
I've seen plenty of non-French Starr records. I suppose it depends on the region of Canada they were marketed to. Hopefully this has been helpful

Steve

Yes, Gennett started recording electrically in 1925. Their early Electrics were the regular red label issues with a "GE" at the top. Their first system was quite problematic, though, so they quickly backed out of the electric market and re- appeared with the "New Electrobeam" series in 1927.

The early red label Gennett Electrics are quite rare.

That's very interesting George. I wasn't aware Gennett actually commercially released an electric record prior to the Electrobeam. Do you have a photo of one you could post?

Why soitenly, Ollie!

I think I was off on the dates, though. I have probably 20 of these, and they all have "11-26" or "12-26" on the label. All my earlier red labels are acoustic. My earliest Electrobeam out of maybe 100 is 5-27. So, I think the first series was only issued the last 2-3 months of 1926. They are not easy to find!
Interestingly enough, I have a couple of these where one side is electric but not the other, even though both labels have the "GE" logo.
In my opinion, the early Electrobeams were not much of an improvement. A lot of the 1927 issues have the same problems as the old "GE" records. I wonder if they are matrices that were not issued from the original series.

As far as the Starr records in Canada, if memory serves these were all Gennett masters leased to Compo. Gennett had a foreign series, but aside from a few Spanish and German issues, few were pressed here in USA. Shameless plug: Check out the rare 12" German Gennett I have for sale in the Music Trader. It might be the only one you ever see! There's a pic of it.

[ChesterCheetah18]

Yes, Gennett started recording electrically in 1925. Their early Electrics were the regular red label issues with a "GE" at the top. Their first system was quite problematic, though, so they quickly backed out of the electric market and re- appeared with the "New Electrobeam" series in 1927.

The early red label Gennett Electrics are quite rare.

That's very interesting George. I wasn't aware Gennett actually commercially released an electric record prior to the Electrobeam. Do you have a photo of one you could post?

Why soitenly, Ollie!

I think I was off on the dates, though. I have probably 20 of these, and they all have "11-26" or "12-26" on the label. All my earlier red labels are acoustic. My earliest Electrobeam out of maybe 100 is 5-27. So, I think the first series was only issued the last 2-3 months of 1926. They are not easy to find!
Interestingly enough, I have a couple of these where one side is electric but not the other, even though both labels have the "GE" logo.
In my opinion, the early Electrobeams were not much of an improvement. A lot of the 1927 issues have the same problems as the old "GE" records. I wonder if they are matrices that were not issued from the original series.

As far as the Starr records in Canada, if memory serves these were all Gennett masters leased to Compo. Gennett had a foreign series, but aside from a few Spanish and German issues, few were pressed here in USA. Shameless plug: Check out the rare 12" German Gennett I have for sale in the Music Trader. It might be the only one you ever see! There's a pic of it.

That's a first for me. Thanks George. It was my understanding that Gennett used the red labels during the Christmas season each year, and I've owned a few of those (acoustic) red labels over the years. Do you know if they ever produced any blue labels with the GE logo?

Steve

[gramophone-georg]

That's very interesting George. I wasn't aware Gennett actually commercially released an electric record prior to the Electrobeam. Do you have a photo of one you could post?

Why soitenly, Ollie!

I think I was off on the dates, though. I have probably 20 of these, and they all have "11-26" or "12-26" on the label. All my earlier red labels are acoustic. My earliest Electrobeam out of maybe 100 is 5-27. So, I think the first series was only issued the last 2-3 months of 1926. They are not easy to find!
Interestingly enough, I have a couple of these where one side is electric but not the other, even though both labels have the "GE" logo.
In my opinion, the early Electrobeams were not much of an improvement. A lot of the 1927 issues have the same problems as the old "GE" records. I wonder if they are matrices that were not issued from the original series.

As far as the Starr records in Canada, if memory serves these were all Gennett masters leased to Compo. Gennett had a foreign series, but aside from a few Spanish and German issues, few were pressed here in USA. Shameless plug: Check out the rare 12" German Gennett I have for sale in the Music Trader. It might be the only one you ever see! There's a pic of it.

That's a first for me. Thanks George. It was my understanding that Gennett used the red labels during the Christmas season each year, and I've owned a few of those (acoustic) red labels over the years. Do you know if they ever produced any blue labels with the GE logo?

Steve

Hi Steve:
I never heard about Gennett only using red labels at Christmastime. Where did you learn this? If so, this is good new info.
And no, I have never seen the "GE" logo on anything but a red label. If blue and green labels exist with this, it would certainly be cool to see or find these!

There is a LOT of conflicting info on these and Electrobeams on the web for sure.

[ChesterCheetah18]

I'm not sure where I read that George. Possibly "Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy", or it could have a bit of bad information from someplace else. Gotta hit the books I guess.

Steve

[Zenger]

Thanks for posting all that from the Barr book, Inigo. I actually own it (and have used it so much that it's falling apart), but it didn't occur to me to look up Compo in it. I am surprised to find that the disc pictured dates to 1942 -- it sure doesn't sound electric to me. But the matrices are 9933 and 9934, so I guess it is; and the subject matter does fit in with World War II...