Albums? Good or bad?

[OrthoSean]

I inherited about 10,000 classical / opera 78s about a year and a half ago that belonged to a man who started collecting in the 1930s (another story!) and every single disc was in a storage album, mostly grouped by artist. As I empty the albums of the records, clean and resleeve the records, the albums get sorted into "like" groups and later either macthed up with a proper machine (Victor etc) and others sold if I can't use them. Both the records and the storage albums are among the cleanest I've ever seen. I've been able to complete sets for a couple of my Victor machines that were missing a letter or two. I put together a complete set of gorgeous correct ones for my XVIII, another for a Victor 8-4, helped a few fellow collectors complete their 8-35 sets and fill in other missing albums etc etc. The thought again of someone cutting these up just gets me. I still have several thousand discs to remove from the albums and continue with, but for now they'll remain in the albums until I get around to them. It certainly is a job!

I don't normally store my 78s in albums, but I did get an idea when I was beginning to look through this collection and began to notice that there were probaly 2-300 rather fancy albums that all match. They have textured marble-looking covers and nice black spines with gold embossing on them. They'd sure look great filling a wall of shelving. One day when I get really ambitious, I thought it would be great fun to do just that and use the albums to store all of my "victrola" copies of things. I've certainly got a few thousand records dedicated just for acoustic machines (duplicates, mostly) and it would be nice to have them all in one place.

Sean

[Orchorsol]

Slightly OT, and on the UK side - interesting to see this record storage cabinet on eBay at the moment, almost identical to one I have: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251232002192? ... 1423.l2649

The front door folds down, and a large panel in the door panel folds down again to form a vertical support, then the record box slides out on castors running on metal tracks. Here are 2 photos from the above listing, and below them my own - mine still has its original dividers and index cards.

[alang]

What a nifty construction. I'd love to bid on that, but unfortunately it's across the big pond
Yours looks very nice with the original dividers.
Thanks for sharing.
Andreas

[FloridaClay]

The cabinet looks nifty, and of good design to support the weight when the drawer is opened.

As for albums, perhaps I have just been lucky but have never had a brakeage problem. I do always store albums upright.

Clay

[operabass78s]

I think my post regarding albums may have been a bit hazy due to some of the responses. When speaking of "clean" albums that I cut, I am speaking of albums which were manufactured initially for album sets in the 40s, which have had their contents destroyed etc. I am not referring to the 20s era leather covered Victor/Brunswick etc albums with the 12 sleeves.

[larryh]

Another timely topic. I have a wall full of classical and some popular albums. At the same time a friend is sending me a box at a time some like new sets from a music college he has worked at for many years. They simply don't want them any longer. Most of them play like new with silent surfaces which shows what they can be like if kept well. The exceptions are the columbia records from the 40's where the surfaces were poor. A few of them do have warps, but not anything like the collections of them I had purchased off ebay over some time.. One thing about them always baffles me is how so many end up with a very severe quick bump on the first record as a rule but sometimes in others. Its not something that even seems to show when your simply look at them but its enough to cause my Elac changer to simply get stuck. It also hates any kind of scratch or dimple in a record, it simply won't track them with the grado 78 cartridge I have now. I am ending up with quite a few rejects out o that wall but its a good thing since I needed the space for the new ones that keep coming.

As far as breakage of records in albums, I have collected them off an on for over 55 years now and rarely have I broken a record due to the album. Lifting a stack of too many records could break the edges off the lower one from the stress and as pointed out some albums do not turn well when laying down an that can also be a problem but I normally only remove them while they are standing up.. I also need to get more supports along the shelves to keep the albums from leaning so much on the others. The shelves originally were made for piano rolls and so they don't have real frequent upright dividers which you do need for ease of removing the records as well as keeping them for leaning to far.

Larry

[Wolfe]

It also hates any kind of scratch or dimple in a record, it simply won't track them with the grado 78 cartridge I have now.

The Grado cartridge design have delicate suspensions that never seem to work very well with record anomalies. Something more rugged like a Stanton will help.

[OrthoSean]

The Grado cartridge design have delicate suspensions that never seem to work very well with record anomalies. Something more rugged like a Stanton will help.

Agreed, I have one Grado 78 stylus, 3 mil, no idea if it's conical or elliptical, but it's touchy to say the least. I use it primarily for playing vinyl DJ pressings and 50s pop stuff, it does well with those, but anything earlier that may have any kind of issue, forget it. A Stanton can handle almost anything with no issue.

Sean

[larryh]

I purchased the Grado at the recommendation of the dealer. He said that Stanton which is a good cartridge had been in the process of eliminating most of the line of stylus except for the D J varieties. The issue has been partly for me a decent stylus and when you look at Stanton replacements now they almost all are coming from replacement type suppliers rather than the original equipment which is often no longer available. That was why they suggested the Grado. I had heard that it tended to not track well but I didn't quite think it was going to be this touchy.. I may still have to try a Stanton to see how it works, the Dual used to track most of these issues as well.

Larry

[gregbogantz]

The 3-mil replacement styli that Pfanstiehl makes for various cartridge models including Stanton, Shure, and Audio Technica are pretty good, especially for their reasonable prices. I have used all three types mentioned above, and I am currently regularly using a Pfanstiehl in a Shure M-75 for everyday playback in my modified Magnavox Micromatic for playing 78s. Excellent performance at 3.5 grams tracking force. For any records that work well with 3.0 mil styli, these styli work as well as the originals from the cartridge makers and are much friendlier in price. Considering that you can't even get originals for most of the Stantons and Shures anymore, the Pfanstiehls are a welcome resource. They list sapphire 3 mils for many models, but they also make 3 mil diamonds. You may have to request them as they aren't always listed in the catalogs. I am not a big fan of most of the Pfanstiehl microgroove styli, but the 3 mils are a good buy.