Recording not working

[Lucius1958]

The shavings were more of flakes than curly. The sapphire looks pretty blunt, is it supposed to be sharp? I purchased this recorder from another reputable member of this forum.

Should be sharp. A good test is to rub it against your fingernail, and see if it leaves a mark.
- Bill

[paradroid1793]

Yes. It appears there was still glue on the needle, I appreciate all of your advice greatly. Hopefully when my shaver arrives I'll be able to get into my Edison & Paul Morris blanks.

[BigC]

This is something that I'm currently working on so I'll put my two cents in. All the members here are extremely knowledgeable so make sure you take the advice they give you. First off I have several recorders in good condition but Wyatt Markus repaired one for me and the difference is like day and night. Second make sure that the recorder is seated correctly. When you record use a horn that's made to record. I made mine from a cardboard cone I bought from Hobby Lobby and glued a copper reducer from ¾ to ½ I believe that's what it was. The cardboard works really good for me and it was super cheap to make. When you get your shaver try and find Edison or Dictaphone cylinders to experiment with you can cut them to size. I found that Dictaphone cylinders record with less surface noise than the Edison ones. When you get your recorder working you can contact me I'm not a expert but maybe I can give you some pointers.

[paradroid1793]

UPDATE: It's finally going. The recording sounds crappy, but I have a generic no-name horn (circa 1900s~), heating up the cylinder and clearing some of the remaining glue helped the recorder cut better. I still need to re-shave the Edison blank, it has too much mold to really sound like anything, but the Paul Morris blank will probably sound better when I test on that.

To BigC, I've actually made a cheap horn like that before, but didn't use copper reduction, how much of a difference did it make for you?

[BigC]

When I used a normal tin horn and recorded Great Balls of Fire there was a little distortion I believe in was the resonance on the tin. When I did it with the cardboard horn it almost went away. I believe Edison also recommended using a paper horn to record. Maybe another member can clarify that for us. I use a Bluetooth speaker close to the horn to record, I made a sealed speaker enclosure and attached it to a cardboard horn but that would dig too deep on the cylinder on the high notes. Still playing with it. Like I said my recorder was rebuilt by Wyatt Markus and that's what made the biggest difference, that was like day and night. Keep us posted.