4 Minute Edison Recorder?

[edisonphonoworks]

These are Ediphone cutters for Edison Ediphone machines. My Pro technic machine has the same recorder.They could very well work as four minute recorders, but fromw what I have determined they are just a little bit bigger than a four minute, I am not going to measure the cutter and ruin it. Four minute cutters though should measure .021"

Hi

I bought 6 of these 4 minute cutters many years ago, I retro fitted one into a 2 minute Edison recorder with excellent results using a 2 minute wax blank I bought in the UK.

The cutter does sit a little proud, Gramophoneshane got one from me and adjusted his to the correct height, he also had good results.

I would be happy to sell a few of them.

Cheers Marcel

[saxymojo]

Hi

Thanks for the information, I thought they may have been for a dictation machine, but had no idea which one.

Cheers Marcel

[edisonphonoworks]

Four minute studio recorders were not anything like your home recorder, you need a slightly wider cut for masters, and to do this, you push the cutting stylus a little farther into the blank, and it changes the width to a studio cut, a recording stylus, usually just the small diameter of the very tip makes the cut, and this is set by the weight of the home recorder floating box. I have to sometime soon replicate my original four minute Edison studio master feed to four minute, by having a new 97 ⅓ feedscrew cut and a matching 8 toothed gear for the mandrel, chain drive gear, and I will then be able to make masters exactly as Blue Amberol masters were made. Although with modern resin materials a 100 or 99 tpi feed screw will work for those (with the 8 toothed gear). When they did master, mother, working mold, and celluloid shrinkage involved the master cut was 194.6666 tpi.

Phonohound, the question is, have you tried it? It looks like the technical design would make it sound better, as it has rubber dampening instead of cardboard and wax, and the added dome center. what these would be good for, is recording onto a brown wax master cylinder, and then making moulded records from them, rather that wearing out these rare antiques on the original black wax, orange box four minute recording blanks. I have made test blanks of the harder black material (not to be confused with the softer, black, Ediphone, or Dictation machine wax.) And I am hesitant to use them with any recorder I have.

One thing I wonder: is there any difference in diameter between styli on the studio and home recorders? Would the shrinkage in moulding have any significant effect?

Bill

[phonohound]

Shawn

I didnt try it. I bought it more as an artifact as I collect reproducers and recorders. I just wanted to share the example with hearsedriver and those who havent see an original with its box.

[Chuck]

I think that a very interesting experiment to try
would be to use one of the 4-minute Edison home style
recorders to make a recording on a brown wax blank.

Then play it back and see how it stands up to to repeated plays.

I have a very strong suspicion what the results might
probably turn out to be. But I have to admit that
this is all theory and conjecture on my part. I have no
real data nor results because so far I've never found
a 4 minute recorder yet.

In short, it will be fun to try it some day.
Fun and interesting, but most likely not very practical.

[coyote]

I think that a very interesting experiment to try
would be to use one of the 4-minute Edison home style
recorders to make a recording on a brown wax blank.

I've done this as an experiment. I recall a lot of echo in the playback. Needless to say, I only played it back a couple of times. I suspect the grooves won't hold up well since they didn't for the initial recording/playback in the first place.