Silvatone andCairns Morrison Discs

[pumpkin]

Afternoon,
I have recently acquired some Silvatone and Cairns Morrison records which are home recorded 8 inch aluminium discs produced by Cairns Morrison ltd of Percy street London and bear either a Cairns Morrison or silvatone label.
There is hardly legible pencilled writing on the labels but at least one is dated 1937. The silvatone discs are slightly thicker than the Cairns Morrison and the label states "use fibre needle only".
Has anyone else come across these before ? as a domestic recording there is not a lot of information about them available.
As I have yet to get any fibre needles I have tried playing partially damaged discs on a (cheapo) modern multi speed player with the generic Chinese cartridge trusting the light weight arm would be ok, side one played ok and side 2 skipped.
There is much surface noise but the tracks ( much like an LP) included whistling, enthusiastic piano playing, and a big band of the era. so possibly the source was a home microphone and a radio output.
So apart from fitting some fibre needles to a HMV 101 any ideas please on the best non destructive way to hear these.

[drh]

I'd say you had the right idea to play them on modern gear, you just need something better than a Crosley (or whatever). Playing the discs in mono, something a cheapo machine probably won't do, will greatly decrease surface noise. Good speakers will make a big difference in the quality of the sound you get from the disks. They almost certainly need a stylus of size other than a stock "78" type (for most mfrs., probably around 2.5-3.0 mil, conical) and definitely will need a different size from an LP stylus (which may be the sole choice on a "cheapo" Chinese cartridge, depending on the model). You'll also need a good, well-balanced tonearm, and there's no telling if the things you have were actually recorded at 78 or if they're at some "close but no cigar" speed instead or even have speed creep; if either of the latter, some pitch variability in the turntable will also be needed. Ideally, you also should have either a good equalizer or (preferably) a phono preamp that allows for different equalization curves, as the records almost certainly were not cut with today's default RIAA equalization.

That's a lot for a few old home recording discs, but in my opinion it's the "best" way. Add or subtract elements as you see fit. I wouldn't inflict a heavy-tracking acoustic reproducer on them, fiber needle or no. Just because that (or an equally heavy-tracking early electric pickup) was what was expected when they were new doesn't mean it's a good way to play them now, any more than a front-mount acoustic machine today is the best way to play and preserve a rare record from 1902.

[pumpkin]

Thank you DRh for your advice.
I appreciate that you have described the best/proper way to listen to these discs, but I'm afraid if I cannot find my old dansette in the loft with a 78 stylus I'm going to using the cheap and nasty method as these discs have not particularly been well looked after and I am curious if there is anything of historical interest on them.
They all need a good clean at least and interpretation of the handwritten labels