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Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:45 pm
by welshfield
Hey: I have several styli which I understood to be for playing vertical-cut records. However, after examining them with my (new, nice) microscope they seem to be either something eolse or missing their sapphire tips. I hope I can upoload micrographs of them for your examination.
One is much thicker in diameter than the usual lateral needles and is blue on the shank, apparently to indicate that it si something spedial. Another is brown on the shank. A third one has a brass baffle fixed to the shank, which I hope the photo shows.
Any comments regarding the missing (or not) sapphires and otherwise the purpose of these styli would be greatly appreciated.
John
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:52 pm
by welshfield
ok...I think (hope) I finally figured out the upload procedure.
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:59 pm
by soundgen
They don't look at all like sapphires to play hill and dale ,vertical cut records to me , just look like needles to play needle cut 78s maybe long play ? They did make 1,000 play sapphire needles for 78s , I had a load a while ago I sold some to a friend who thought they were great until he used them and said that you could see the shellac disintegrate as the records were played . His family were quite wealthy in the 30s and he said about them to an Aunt , she said they were wonderful for parties as you could leave the needle in all night . And anyway you could replace the records the next day ! 1.000 plays per needle , one record per play !
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:12 pm
by CarlosV
I agree with Soundgen, these are normal steel needles. They could be from different manufacturing periods.
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:46 am
by JohnM
The needle with the "baffle" on the shank is a Bell-Hood needle. Just a gimmick to add a little bell-shaped stamping to the needle and claim an improvement in sound.
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:03 am
by Stephen_Madara
Hopefully you didn't ruin any good records. There is a box of these bell-hood needles on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bell-Ho ... 1146843171
Re: Question about sapphire vertical-cut stylus
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:44 am
by FloridaClay
I wonder what the theory was behind the "bell" and if it was an improvement at all, vs. a sales gimmick.
Clay