The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

OK.... let's take a deep breath and give Don a chance to work this out. As he mentioned, each title is a different mold and additional costs for production. In order to make this work, he probably needs to plan on making one title at a time (AFTER getting at least 15 solid, PAID commitments for each).

I'm not speaking for him, but I do know something about making custom items... First, I believe, is to select a single title that will appeal to a large (relatively speaking) number of collectors. Sorry, but no matter how much I love Rhapsody In Blue, I'm not sure there is a big following for that or other niche songs. No country or classic (at least at first), no quartets, war songs, advertising records, tuning discs or other limited interest titles.

Hot jazz from the late 20s seems to be the type of DD title that is not available in large quantities in the marketplace because old, deaf, hung up, Tom didn't like it - hence, the disproportionate high prices for original titles. This should be the focus... the most expensive records, available for the average collector or for the advanced collector who does not want to play his original.

As far as getting Norman involved, he already has his market and the last DD he made was at least $100, making it unavailable to the new or average collector. Don has the right idea and he is doing something no one else has done - making copies available at a reasonable cost.

Just my 2.5 cents worth...

I wasn't aware that Norman had made any DDs that were sold and I think maybe Don is on to something new and Norman would probably be helpful on many levels.
To get things rolling, I will be willing to buy two copies of "Hallelujah".
Any others care to join me to make it 15?

Hi,
To this point in time I have identified the label numbers of two of the selections:
52430 I Can't Give You Anything But Love, King For A Day
52014 Yes She Do, Hallelujah

The fifth one down is by the Georgia Melodians.

Don,

I think you should just concentrate on making copies of the DD that you already have the mold for. After looking around and listening to other DDs, there are not that many which would be good candidates that you can obtain. The Georgia Melodians are some of the best, but not easy to come by.

Another thing to consider is the fact that a lot of people think that copies would lessen the value of their rare records.
I think the opposite is true , that more people would be drawn to owning the Edison machines and having something they like to play their copies on, and, then to collecting the originals which would support the rarity value.
Better these than CDs.

Hi Curt,

Re:"After looking around and listening to other DDs, there are not that many which would be good candidates that you can obtain."

With all due respect to you, how can you speak for everyone?
I don't think you meant to do that and it was just your personal opinion, right?
John

A Ford 1 wrote:Hi,
To this point in time I have identified the label numbers of two of the selections:
52430 I Can't Give You Anything But Love, King For A Day
52014 Yes She Do, Hallelujah

Those will be the first two. 52014 because I already paid to build the mold and 52430 because the materials are on order and the disc is on loan...

Curt,
I copletely agree about the hot jazz discs... partially because I want copies of those ones too!!!!
For reasons I can't explain, I really want to copy the Sample discs too.

Curt A wrote:OK.... let's take a deep breath and give Don a chance to work this out. As he mentioned, each title is a different mold and additional costs for production. In order to make this work, he probably needs to plan on making one title at a time (AFTER getting at least 15 solid, PAID commitments for each).

I'm not speaking for him, but I do know something about making custom items... First, I believe, is to select a single title that will appeal to a large (relatively speaking) number of collectors. Sorry, but no matter how much I love Rhapsody In Blue, I'm not sure there is a big following for that or other niche songs. No country or classic (at least at first), no quartets, war songs, advertising records, tuning discs or other limited interest titles.

Hot jazz from the late 20s seems to be the type of DD title that is not available in large quantities in the marketplace because old, deaf, hung up, Tom didn't like it - hence, the disproportionate high prices for original titles. This should be the focus... the most expensive records, available for the average collector or for the advanced collector who does not want to play his original.

As far as getting Norman involved, he already has his market and the last DD he made was at least $100, making it unavailable to the new or average collector. Don has the right idea and he is doing something no one else has done - making copies available at a reasonable cost.

Just my 2.5 cents worth...

You make some good points, but there certainly ARE classical titles which would, at some future date, be worth duplicating. A few years ago I got a case fo the "cheaps" ande ended up the underbidder (at $355.00) on Edison 80903 and 80904, the Roth Quartet playing the Haydn C major. I later found out that the winning bidder would have gone MUCH higher. There are a few classical rarities (especially the late electric stuff) which would probably do well if the right folks knew about them.

That said, paid up orders for records which you can actually GET to copy would of course take precedence. I may know where a copy of 52145 (Rhapsody in Blue) may be borrowed should demand actually develop. Otherwise I will gladly send in my deposit for 52430 and 52014 when asked, and perhaps down the road 52430, 51724 and 51588.

I'm not a big fan of the 8000's but I do enjoy some Haydn 78's. If there were ones that made sense copying, I'd be interested.

Hey Billybob, the mold may be fixed, we'll see in the morning. You'll get first dibs on the copy.

Ps. I also just made (single sided) copies of (78's) Brunswick "Original Charleston" by Isham Jones and the Victor Paul Whiteman Charleston (a mint copy!!!).