The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

WOW! Great responses!

A lot of places (especially record stores) don't want to handle them at all. Which often sends a person like me to the far corners of junk-ville to find them.

Whilst I agree with many of the above sentiments, there is another side to this discussion. I collect portable machines, and when I buy one, it usually comes with a load of 78s. Plus,because people got to know I collect records, I get given loads from house clearances. I am grateful, as there are usually some that I want to keep, and add to my already large collection. However, a great deal of them turn out to be the usual pot-boilers from the forties and fifties, Glenn Miller, Doris Day, Billy Cotton, Ruby Murray etc, etc, which surely every collector of this genre already has? I certainly have, so what to do with them? Waste of time putting them on Ebay, people won't pay more than a few pence for common stuff like this. Local charity shops are reluctant to take them,they already have loads of unsold records.(mainly, I suspect, because of the stupid prices they ask for anything remotely old). I've tried offering them to younger collectors, but again, they already have most of the ones on offer, or haven't the means or the inclination to collect them.I find the only way to get rid of them is to amass a few hundred at a time, and then put them into a local auction sale. They fetch very little, but at least they're out of my way, and cost me nothing.
Classical 12" instrumental records are the biggest nightmare, though. Nobody wants them! Until recently I had about thirty HMV and Columbia albums full of various symphonies and concertos going mouldy in the garage. I tried for months to offload them, but no luck. I was reluctant to throw them out, for the sake of history, but I've now kept the albums, because the inner sleeves can be useful, and taken the records to the local tip. As a collector, I don't like doing it, but I too, don't want to be buried under piles of unwanted items..
I recently raised the question about what to do with unwanted 78s on a Vintage Music site here in England. Some of the members expressed the view that no 78s should ever be disposed of, or destroyed. However, when I offered them loads of 78s free of charge, there was not one taker. I wonder why?

Barry

Space for proper storage is an issue. I am going to need to get shelves built for what I have and once those are filled I will be about at my limit. I would love to preserve everything that comes my way, but just don’t have space to do it.

I know our (U.S.) Library of Congress is working on preserving recording data and sound files for all the Victor recordings and will eventually have all of their 78s up until 78s went out of production in the 1950s.

http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php

I wonder if similar things are being done for other labels.

The total numbers are so overwhelmingly large that it almost takes the resources of a large institution to handle it.

Clay

FloridaClay wrote:Space for proper storage is an issue.

You're telling me! I've built strong shelving covering most of two walls in a fairly large room downstairs (and had to support the floor underneath), and I'm having to be careful how much weight goes upstairs as the collection continues to expand. Will there be no end to it... I hope not... But it's a challenge! Well over 8000 at present, in a fairly small house!

Then there's another 4000 or so duplicates and things I don't want, stored in an outbuilding at my mother's place. I too can't bear to throw any away. Now and again I list a huge job-lot of the lacklustre stuff on eBay and someone usually buys for a low price. I'd rather have the hassle of helping them load up than have to take 78s to the tip.

Veering off just slightly, when I get those shelves built (hopefully just after the first of the year) what do you guys and gals recommend in terms of the space between vertical supports/dividers? I am thinking somewhere along the lines of every 8 to 10 inches.

Clay

Mine are every 5 ½ inches with cut-backs at the top to enable easy handling.

Good idea about the cut-backs.

Clay

I'd say it depends on what they're made from. 18mm MDF (painted) in my case, which is very stable and bears a lot of weight without bowing, so mine are 12 to 13" between dividers (which are less deep than the shelves). All fine and dead straight for nearly 10 years now!

What is MDF?

Jerry F Bacon-Dallas,Tx USA ♫♫