The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Thanks for thinking of me, everyone (and for the kind words).

I generally make a silicone mold from an original 78 but will occasionally cut one on my c.1940 Presto 6N and then make a mold of it. Silicone is expensive, recording blanks were expensive and are now non-existent (since the Apollo fire). Cutting sapphires are expensive and it cost thousands to get my lathe in good working order. People ask frequently but unfortunately only one person has ever been willing to pay for a custom 78.

With over 400 sides in my catalog, ranging from "desirable" to "rare as hens teeth", you'd think that I'd be able to make some money but that's never happened either. Now consider that most of my discs are $20 - $40 each, which is the approximate range of what a new vinyl disc costs. Who the heck is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to sell a few hundred copies per year?

There are two people in the world selling shellac-compatible 78's, Vulcan is the other, last I checked he had 4 titles available. I've even been encouraging others to start making them and have been teaching anyone who cares, that has resulted in one more person (gradually) entering the market. It's a lot of work and no money, but if that sounds like a job you're interested in, just send me a message

Curt A wrote:

Lucius1958 wrote:I'd love to have a 78 version of a rag I wrote some years ago. Here it is on harpsichord:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOHq_lz64o

- Bill

Bill,
I enjoyed your jackdaw crow rag... interesting and talented.

Curt

Thankee!

- Bill

talking2100 wrote:Subject says it all - I would love to have some actual modern records created. There's such great music out there that was never produced in a 78 format.

I've seen some older stories online where people have managed to make their own recorders, but it never looks like a record, and it's extremely complex from what I can tell.

Really surprised with all the phonograph collectors out there that no one has spun up a company to produce some form of a 78 record for customers. Have I just not found them yet?

Why? Nothing worthwhile has been recorded since at least the second AFM recording ban, and precious little worthwhile since the ASCAP - BMI wars.

I’d expect that some might disagree with this assertion, but it matters not, since Beauty, Truth, and Taste are absolutes and are never subject to argument.

Uncle Vanya wrote:
I’d expect that some might disagree with this assertion, but it matters not, since Beauty, Truth, and Taste are absolutes and are never subject to argument.

Anyone who believes in absolute truth I automatically like, same with the idea of an objective standard of beauty.

I think, though, that it's goodness, truth, and beauty that are the three absolute standards; "taste" by definition is subjective, I think? I mean, I like mahogany finished floor models and wouldn't want to own a Class M Edison. Other collectors really don't care for bog-standard Victors and want all the Class M's.

As far as recent records go, there are good artists out there who just don't get recorded. I'd pay for a Ramona Baker album! Miss (Mrs?) Baker is remarkably talented and the sort of person who the hobby needs. Her piano stylings are reminiscent of Fred Hylands, but without the abysmal audio fidelity and impossible rarity of early 1895-1905 records. (I have but a few records of this style, and they are hard to get--even harder to get in good shape.) Same goes with Mr Lucius1958's "Jackdaw Rag." That, played on harpsichord, was a real treat.

Also, is it just me or are there a surprising number of harpsichords showing up on this website the last week or two? First the plague, now the harpsichords; are we going back in time or something?

This subject came up on Facebook and somebody replied with the following link. Unfortunately the price is $250 for the first copy, and $125 the following ones. What concerns me a bit (and he mentions this) is the lack of abrasives in the record, making it so that the needle doesn't easily form to the shape of the groove. He recommends playing the end or the runoff for a bit with a fresh needle before playing it from the start, but for $250 that seems quite inconvenient, although um not sure if any reasonable methods really exist. I've talked to Don before about creating new records, as I know of a few that really deserve a "re-release" and I'm totally willing to invest and experiment with it. What I would probably try to do at some point is order a record from this guy and try to make copies of it on my own.

I'm probably one of the few if not the only person on the forum who is a huge fan of 90's and modern hip hop and rap, and I am super curious as to what a song out of Biggie's "ready to die" album would sound like being played on an HMV 163, especially since it excels in bass.

https://customrecords.com/videos#1b384e ... 8209a8ea8b

Martin

There is a man named Aleks Kolkowski, based I think at the Science Museum in London, who sounds as if he might be able to help with this idea, since he specialises in recording unexpected and often decidedly avant-garde forms of music on brown-wax cylinders. His website http://www.phonographies.org/ includes a number of examples. I do not know for certain if he also produces recordings on disc, but I have read somewhere that he once presided over a reconstruction of the 1913 session at which Arthur Nikisch and members of the Berlin Philharmonic recorded Beethoven's fifth symphony, and this must surely have been done on a disc recorder. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult – so far, in fact, I have found it impossible – to get in touch with Mr. Kolkowski; the website requires you to be logged in before contacting him, and it does not provide any means of signing up, so that presumably he only accepts new contacts by invitation! Perhaps, however, somebody here will know of him and be able to say how to approach him.

Oliver Mundy.

The Science Museum Journal

Here is a link to a pdf of the Beethoven project in 2014

http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/pdf/ ... -recording

If you REALLY want to make 78s with modern garbage, you might investigate here: http://www.aardvarkmastering.com

"I am super curious as to what a song out of Biggie's "ready to die" album would sound like being played on an HMV 163."

It would sound just as bad as the original and might destroy the machine... The album title is kind of prophetic, considering...

Mormon S wrote:This subject came up on Facebook and somebody replied with the following link. Unfortunately the price is $250 for the first copy, and $125 the following ones. What concerns me a bit (and he mentions this) is the lack of abrasives in the record, making it so that the needle doesn't easily form to the shape of the groove. He recommends playing the end or the runoff for a bit with a fresh needle before playing it from the start, but for $250 that seems quite inconvenient, although um not sure if any reasonable methods really exist. I've talked to Don before about creating new records, as I know of a few that really deserve a "re-release" and I'm totally willing to invest and experiment with it. What I would probably try to do at some point is order a record from this guy and try to make copies of it on my own.

I'm probably one of the few if not the only person on the forum who is a huge fan of 90's and modern hip hop and rap, and I am super curious as to what a song out of Biggie's "ready to die" album would sound like being played on an HMV 163, especially since it excels in bass.

https://customrecords.com/videos#1b384e ... 8209a8ea8b

Martin

Martin,

You mention, "He recommends playing the end or the runoff for a bit with a fresh needle before playing it from the start" I'm aware of some record collectors who do this even with old 78's. Don't know how common that practice is.

As for, "...order[ing] a record from this guy and try to make copies of it on my own." I kind of hope that those copies won't be resold. That could be construed as unfair to the guy who makes them and who invested in the process.