Cleaning mold off edison cylinders

[ejackett]

Since I just purchased my first edison cylinder machine (standard model B), I have a few
questions. I understand these machine only play the gold moulded 2min cylinders, are
these generally black wax?, also if they have mold on them does this effect the sound
quality? Can you clean the mold off? and if so how and what do I use? I have seen so
many different types & colors of cylinders for sale on ebay and I just don't want to buy
the wrong type or color. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Gene

[fran604g]

Hi Gene,

The mold definitely affects the sound in a negative way. As for cleaning, I'll leave that to people here with more expertise. Unfortunately, the mold "eats" into the wax, so some amount of permanent damage occurs with even the slightest amount of mold. Many of the records I have that were original to my Model B Home, are unplayable because of the problem, sadly.

Best,
fran

[Curt A]

Gene, just my opinion... If you want to play 2 minute cylinders on your machine, look for 2 minute black celluloid Indestructibles. If you buy black wax from the internet without seeing them, they can be moldy, cracked, damaged, etc. With Indestructibles you do not have the mold issue and as long as they are not physically damaged, they play well... Do not buy blue Amberol cylinders or black wax Amberols (in green boxes), since they are 4 minute only. Also, shipping wax cylinders, especially by uninformed sellers can result in broken records. Black wax is also temperamental and fragile, which can result in cracked cylinders just from temperature changes. Putting a warm cylinder on a cold mandrel, or vice versa, can cause them to crack. Also, leaving them on the mandrel can do the same thing...

[ejackett]

Hey Fran, Hey Curt
Thanks for the info, I did buy a few off EBay just havent got them yet
hopefully today. 3 are black wax 2min and one is a black indestructable
2 min. Sounds like they are very tempremental records. I'll make sure
they are at room temp. before I even handle them, they looked good in
the pictures, one did have a little mold at the beginning of the record.
I just want something that will play halfway descent to show friends.
This will not be a daily player like my other machines. Can the mold be
cleaned off like on 78's?
Thanks again
Gene

[edisonphonoworks]

There are many companies that make 2 minute records.Vulcan, Wizard, Edisonia, I make them too, I make brown wax recording cylinders.

[welshfield]

Let's not dismiss Gold Mold cylinders off hand. I have plenty of them that I have owned for a good 40 years that are perfectly good and not moldy. For anyone who cares, Don Gfell has boxes of nearly unused Gold Mold cylinders he sells (although not cheap). He gave me one with my last machine purchase from him. I recently bought a bunch of cylinders of all kinds at an auction and probably 75% of the Gold Molds were totally acceptable. There is much musical history as part of the Gold Mold legacy that must be preserved and appreciated.
John

[edisonphonoworks]

I will second what John said! A good Gold Moulded Edison, sounds very nice indeed, loud, clear, articulate, very little surface noise. I get more enjoyment from Edison Gold Moulded 2 min than any other records, I like the arrangements, and the quality.

Let's not dismiss Gold Mold cylinders off hand. I have plenty of them that I have owned for a good 40 years that are perfectly good and not moldy. For anyone who cares, Don Gfell has boxes of nearly unused Gold Mold cylinders he sells (although not cheap). He gave me one with my last machine purchase from him. I recently bought a bunch of cylinders of all kinds at an auction and probably 75% of the Gold Molds were totally acceptable. There is much musical history as part of the Gold Mold legacy that must be preserved and appreciated.
John

[ejackett]

I just got my first three 2min gold moulded cylinders.
and one indestructable.I bought them off ebay from a guy
with 100% positive feedback. I paid 16.00 plus s/h, I
just wanted something to play when I show people. Well
all four have great sound even though one has some minor
mold near the start. I'm very happy and the standard
model B I have is a great little machine. I have gotten
so much information from all of you that have replied to
my initial post, many thanks to all of you.
Gene

[ambrola]

Why does some of the 2 minute wax cylinders play clearly even though they are dirty? I have a copy of Take me Out to the Ball Game that looks like it would sound terrible, but it don't? It plays with very little noise but looks like crap.

[ejackett]

Thats a good question Amberola, I have a copy of "Don't be Cross Waltz" 8261
that I got for nothing cause it was dirty and covered with mold. So I said
what the heck since I got it for nothing I would experiment with it. I
took an old tooth brush and some dishwashing detergent and gently washed it,
and let it air dry for an hour. It does have some noise but it is playable
and really for 100yrs old doesnt sound too awfully bad, then I have another
one that looked the same way, so I cleaned it the same way and you couldn't
understand a thing, so I tossed it.
Gene