The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Now, given a musician will be your audience, here's something important: as acoustic "78 RPM" records, these disks almost certainly were cut at speeds other than 78 RPM. In the acoustic era, there was no "standard" pitch like the 33 ⅓ for LPs. Victor *claimed* its records revolved at 78 RPM, but usually the figure actually is 75 or 76 RPM. Sometimes it's slower still, but that' the most common range. Columbia nominally recorded its disks at 80 RPM, but that figure is not reliable, either. Any decent acoustic era phonograph will have a speed control; don't hesitate to adjust it for correct pitch. For the same reason, if you choose to play the records on a modern turntable, you need one that has wide pitch variability. A Califone or like fixed speed machine, or a component turntable without substantial pitch adjustment, either of which would be OK for the bulk of electric records, will fail miserably as a medium for correctly playing acoustics. To determine the correct speed, I usually compare pitch with a reliable modern recording (YouTube is my friend here) made on modern instruments. If you are a dab hand--ear--with one, you can also rely on a pitch pipe, tuning fork, or properly tuned piano. If pitching against a modern recording, be sure it's not on "period" or "original" instruments, as those play at a lower pitch than modern standard A=440 Hz. Note, too, that singers not infrequently transpose keys; a modern recording of a soprano may or may not be reliable guidance for how to pitch a record of a 1915 soprano.

You will definitely want to check the speed for early recordings, Although A=440 was certainly not universal (and is still not so) at least you don’t have to worry about period instruments on recordings made much before the 1960s. Orchestral and piano music should be easy to find the correct speed if you know the key in which the piece was written. Songs and operatic material is a bit more difficult since the performers may have transposed it from the original key and that is sometimes hard to tell unless there is some other source or there is a clue from the sound of the voice at different speeds. If the material is in the original key, then comparison to other recordings, to a pitch played on a piano or other instrument, or to a tuning app can be very helpful. I have records that are correctly pitched at speeds ranging from the mid-60s to over 80. Most Victors do play at around 75 or so, but that is certainly not reliable. Depending on how it is set up, the speed control on the phonograph may also not indicate the speed correctly, so setting it by ear will be the most accurate method if the correct pitch is known,,

Bill

She plays!
Thanks everyone!

Congratulations! Now just be sure to change the needle after every record to preserve the records.