The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi everyone.

While I am asking questions this morning I am reminded that I wanted to inquire from some owners and fans of Pathé records if what I am experiencing is a typical issue. I have a number of records which when played do very well and the sound is fine. But many of them have say one side where when the arm is put on the record the first grooves sound muffled or the arm wants to skate across the whole record. You can usually get it to work if you move it in a few grooves but often the sound is muddy and not as clear as the other side, or in some cases both sides are like that. I don't think its a needle issue since it sounds great on other records.. One record is so weak sounding you can barely hear it. It might be a poor pressing too? The records in question all came in the original jackets and don't seem the least bit abused but I am wondering if somehow those grooves get damaged from storage in a way that compromised the sound, oddly usually on one side? Any thoughts on this?

I don't know if it's your situation, but I've found that Pathé discs can be extremely sensitive to even a slight warp- a slight ripple may cause a skip or throw the arm skidding over the record. As to tone quality they are all over the place, it's usually blamed on the dubbing process.

Dubbing.. That could explain that really weak performance on the one violin record. Its about half normal volume in sound. I don't think I have any warped records so far.

I agree with what estott says. The type of "warp" he is referring to is not necessarily an obvious edge warp or anything like that... its where the entire record takes on the shape of a bowl, very very slightly. Its really not all that visible, frankly. In other words, the label will be higher than the playing surface on one side, and the label will be lower than the playing surface on the other side. Due to the shallow Pathé grooves, this very slight angle change can send your reproducer skating clear across the record, because there is so little groove wall holding it in place.