Why is noone making celluloid 78 records today?

[VanEpsFan1914]

Consider "trailer" needles.

[nostalgia]

I think...I found a company in Minnesota (USA) who provides the service, and obviously somehow have solved the problem. It is not cheap to have a record created, but vow..it is interesting !! If this really is working, it shows that it can be done.
https://customrecords.com/gramophone

What do you think? Anyone tried this service or know the company? They look very professional to me.

[gramophoneshane]

Consider "trailer" needles.

Trailer needles were designed for vinyl records, but old vinyl seems a lot harder than the vinyl they used over the last 4-5 decades.

I think the biggest problem you would face making modern 78's of modern music, regardless of the material used, would be copyrights.
Pressing and selling discs by Britney or whoever would be demeeded to be illegal as pirate copies, unless they were released through the record company who owned the copyright.

The only way around it would be cutting home recordings, and even if you had a machine with discs capable of such recordings, they couldn't be played on an accoustic machine anyway.
I guess that's the beauty of being able to record on wax cylinder.
You can record anything you want without getting in trouble from a record company, and you can play it back on any cylinder machine with a sapphire stylus.

[chunnybh]

Here are two new 78's being produced today by Alex Mendham and His Orchestra
https://www.alexmendham.com/shop

[VanEpsFan1914]

Yes, pressed by Rivermont. What the problem is, though, is that Rivermont's 78s would be of more interest to people who owned windup phonographs--usually the kind of people who have phonographs like the kind of music on Rivermont records. But if you don't have a modern-day turntable, then their 78s are not going to work.

If you had Rivermont making resin records like Don Wilson then you'd have something incredible. Don Wilson is already incredible.

Vulcan Records of Sheffield, England has 7" 78rpm discs that you can play on a gramophone, old selections dubbed from Edison cylinder recordings.

[nostalgia]

VanEpsFan, thank you for adding the info about Vulcan Records in Sheffield (UK, it was much appreciated. This company are actually making 78 rpm records in a robust resin material, that can be played with steel needle on "our machines", at a price that is acceptable. I am posting the link here, so everyone can check it out for themselves: https://www.vulcanrecords.com/product-c ... nch-discs/
I guess this also means that new music could be transferred to the same kind of disc, right? I don't know though if they can make 10 inch records or not. If they have solved the material problem, and also the groove challenge, I guess it could be done?

AND, if there was ever one song I would have loved to see transferred to a 78 rpm record, playable on our gramophones, it would be this song, by the hidden gem, Peter Skellern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhUzxWaQOuQ

[edisonplayer]

They meant "no one",not "noone".edisonplayer.

[donniej]

I simply can't imagine anyone in the world is willing to lose the amount of money required to make a celluloid disc. I'd bet good money that I'm currently the largest manufacturer of 78's and I might make a few hundred per year. I also developed the methods which others are probably using to make shellac compatible discs, and it was a significant undertaking. There is so little money in the market that I sincerely doubt anyone will further develop the technology beyond what I've already done.

Having said that, if you REALLY want a celluloid disc, and have some serious cash to pay for the R&D, then I can certainly do it.

As for the question about if the machines to cut 78's still out there, they most certainly are. I used my ~1940 Presto 6N to cut this version of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer"...

https://youtu.be/asHSwNY3OU4

[Orchorsol]

As for the question about if the machines to cut 78's still out there, they most certainly are. I used my ~1940 Presto 6N to cut this version of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer"...

https://youtu.be/asHSwNY3OU4

Thanks for clarifying that Donnie, I thought there was a problem for needle play, but clearly not!

[donniej]

Thanks for clarifying that Donnie, I thought there was a problem for needle play, but clearly not!

The disc that one cuts on a lathe is either lacquer or vinyl, these recording blanks can't be played on a wind-up with steel needles. After cutting the blank, I mold the disc in silicone and reproduce it in a special polyurethane that I developed specifically to use on such machines.