One-sided damage mystery on a batch of 78s

[James]

It's been a while since I have posted here! I'm encountering a strange phenomenon and I wonder if it is familiar to anyone here.

I bought a batch of around 30 78rpm jazz & pop records. Very cheap, thank goodness. It's good stuff....this guy's grandfather had great taste. There's a Dial label Charlie Parker, a Dizzy Gillespie, some 50's rock n roll (A Coasters 78, which is probably a non-shellac pressing, etc). A double-sided Louis Jordan record, "Saturday Night Fish Fry, pts 1 & 2." And a bunch of other 1930's & 40s swing big band stuff.

All of the records were kind of trashed, which I understood when I bought them. I cleaned them using a record vacuum unit and an archival fluid.

Here's the weirdness: One side of each record plays more or less fine. Scratchy, noisy, but fine. The other side of EACH record, usually the B side, is almost unlistenable. Crazy amounts of noise, getting worse towards the end. I can't stock it up to one side being "enjoyed" more than the other, because the two part Louis Jordan record has this problem too, in the second half.

The side that don't play is the more popular song, therefore it was played a lot in the jukebox. The one that plays is the less popular and just been played occationally. I had that problem, that one side is very noisy, and the other side plays like brand new.

Jim
And, here's the kicker: I tried playing the Louis Jordan record on my HMV 102. (Something I would not do if it was a record in pristine condition.) The second side WILL NOT PLAY. The needle drags the record to a halt, and the turntable only spins again when I pick up the arm. So I tried something else, which, again, I would not do if it was in decent condition: I sprayed Pledge on it, and it played fine. The friction problem went away. (I am open to better/safer lubricants....do tell.)

I have a couple theories:

1) The records were stored horizontally in a damp place for years, and were attacked by some sort of mold that only clings to the tops of things, or the bottoms of things.

2) The records were in a jukebox at some point in their past. The stylus that played one side was trashed and the stylus that played the other side was not. The nature of the trashing created a surface so rough that a steel needle gets caught on it.

Thoughts?

[PJDooWop]

I have two guesses. The records were either played much, much more on the worse sides. They were probably played with some sort of steel stylus.

My other idea is the records may have been waxed or pledged and the wax dried up over the years. It was a relatively common practice to "lubricate" records back in the day, and this would explain why pledge loosened the record up.

[epigramophone]

Going back to your observations about a worn record dragging your HMV 102 to a halt, I always take a badly worn 78 and a few new needles with me when attending an antiques fair or flea market.

That way I can always test a gramophone, even if the seller has no records or needles with it. As has already been pointed out, a worn record significantly increases the drag on the needle and will therefore expose any weakness in the motor.