Re: Custom-made shellac (?) 78 rpm records.
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:03 pm
The difference in the microgroove cut and the optimum 78 cut means that the modern cutter heads could be damaged on the modern vinyl cutter and it is just not worth the operators of these machines risking that for a couple of 78 records. ( have researched this with a couple of vinyl cutting engineers)
It would be handy to make reasonably priced one-off direct cuts but as yet a material that will deal with a steel needle and be easy enough to cut seems to be difficult to find and to be honest always was, soft blanks you could cut and then bake in an oven and harden had a phase in the 1930s for example.
I currently cut on wax masters on my own lathe and make a disc mould and mouldings which can be played with a steel needle.
I note Don suggests 120 LPI, this a bit fine in my opinion, 100 Lines Per Inch or even 90 gives a better available dynamic range and less chance of twining and are common feed cuts for popular music on 78.
The cut record that started this thread was stated in the company video as 4 minutes on a 10 inch side and may have been even finer than 120LPI and quite compressed, this might allow for less record wear I suppose but the suggestion there is to leave the same needle in and the same record for the next 30 plays.
It would be handy to make reasonably priced one-off direct cuts but as yet a material that will deal with a steel needle and be easy enough to cut seems to be difficult to find and to be honest always was, soft blanks you could cut and then bake in an oven and harden had a phase in the 1930s for example.
I currently cut on wax masters on my own lathe and make a disc mould and mouldings which can be played with a steel needle.
I note Don suggests 120 LPI, this a bit fine in my opinion, 100 Lines Per Inch or even 90 gives a better available dynamic range and less chance of twining and are common feed cuts for popular music on 78.
The cut record that started this thread was stated in the company video as 4 minutes on a 10 inch side and may have been even finer than 120LPI and quite compressed, this might allow for less record wear I suppose but the suggestion there is to leave the same needle in and the same record for the next 30 plays.