Demonstration of studio recorder making laugh record.

[edisonphonoworks]

Bryanna and I demonstrate the flywheel on the cylinder recording machine , by making a laugh record. The recording diaphragm is a stepped glass one .0075" at the edge and 33mm in diameter, with a 15mm diameter step in the center that is .008" it has a regular neoprene gasket, coated with red RTV on both sides. I just added a flywheel to the topworks. The one with the flywheel is an orphan topworks, that has no phonograph, I have the original topworks, with original carriage and shaver set aside. I am making my recording phonograph similar to the studio recorder that made Edison Gold Moulded and Blue Amberol cylinders, The idea to make studio quality recordings. The recorder is an original professional recorder with advance ball circa 1903-1920's. Now the blank I used for the demonstration was again not of salable quality, that is what the maker of cylinder blanks gets to use, as good quality ones are sold or made into recordings for others, while ones that are not salable are used up for experiments until too small to use. The flywheel did make a big difference in how steady the recording is, I did some dubs off of original commercial cylinders, and it did not add variation to them. I also notice that the flywheel also made when the recorder is cutting, the groove quieter, than the shaved surface of the blank. Enjoy as we made it slapstick kind of 3 stooges like (two stooges) laughing .

https://youtu.be/BlSFr_CvSqY


https://youtu.be/0tdmdDdq6Lg

[edisonphonoworks]

It is pretty interesting I think to have something similar to what was actually used to make the records we love, and to re-enact how it was done. I find it pretty enjoyable. And daily working on making better quality blanks, and fine tuning the recording equipment, and make it similar to what was actually used to make the master records. Still lots of work, to be done, however it is coming together. Yes there are things that bother me about doing this, but It is the machine I have always wanted, and I never thought obtainable, especially that the recording head, is from a professional acoustical recording studio, circa 1903-1929. I will be making copies of the original recorder in aluminum so i can have a case of them with various diaphragms and dampening, and cutters. So now I have a nice recording machine and nice blanks. As I said, I am now doing it as a hobby and recording what I want so it is enjoyable. I will however do live recording for people (live people and instruments) that will be from now on, the only orders I will fill. I will make musical cylinders of what I feel like making, and offer them for sale on a first come first serve basis. This way I can work at my pace to increase the overall quality, and eventually also offer some live moulded records as well made in hard material. Again no orders please!

[edisonphonoworks]

More Cosmetic work to the studio recorder. I finished the bedplate. The corner decorations are hand painted, and the stripes with a stripe, wheel tool, for doing pin stripes on cars, it has several sizes of pinstripes. The base paint is a baked enamel then it is striped, and orange shellac on top, it is then rubbed out with fine steel wool, and then waxed. I also included some more detail of the machine as to the recorder and flywheel. In addition to an original Edison studio recording head, is an original professional feed screw(not added yet as a duplicate needs to be made as well as the 8 and 16 tooth gear that goes on the main shaft.) An original professional feed screw, probably also from the Edison company as it matches exactly to the ones on the master recorders at Edison Historical Park. For the Master, Mother, Working mold system and to compensate for when the groove T.P.I. condenses each time the masters were cut (for two minute at 97 ⅓ per inch) or 194.67 threads for four minute.) Now today for the hard resin records, the shrinkage is not as great.

[edisonphonoworks]

I have been working at making The North American Phonograph Company interesting. It is a place you can stop at in after 3pm if you are passing by Illinois Exit 56, Princeton, IL off of Interstate 80, I am right on main street across from the bank, above "The Villager"
clothing store. I don't have a large collection, but it is interesting if you are into cylinder making and recordings, that is where it shines, and you can look, touch and get involved. Pour a blank if you want, or make a wax cylinder recording on similar equipment (the recording head is original) to what made master records. (Collector community, "I don't believe you Shawn Borri, you are not approved by some of us.". The other day tried out the old mold, with the new molds, so I can make 3 blanks at a time. I was pretty happy how the old girl performed with the new knowledge I have gained, no dendrites or streaks. You will not find any streaks, holes or other defects in any of the new blanks or cylinders I make (they do happen occasionally, but are used for experimental purposes,or re melted.) I also just finished making a new trunnion for the studio recorder with a solid barrel, that is the part that hooks the horn to the recorder is a solid barrel, with cone shaped bushings. (The same idea of how your mandrel bushings on type A Edison's work.) Also now use two speakers when dubbing from electrical sources. I find I get much lower distortion, and brighter recordings from acoustical dubbing, than from electrical, I have full electrical capabilities with a fairchild record lathe driver, however like the results from the acoustical Edison studio recorder better.

[FloridaClay]

Fascinating Shawn.

Clay

[edisonphonoworks]

What is interesting about molding is all three molds go in the oven for 1 hour prior to molding. After the molds are put in the oven they are taken out, one at a time, with 10 minutes between pouring each cylinder. Depending on room conditions, it is from 70-90 minutes for the cores to be pulled, and about 10 minutes for the record to shrink and release from the outer tube. If I have made enough wax I can make 6 blanks in a day, not many but not too bad for a much slower, time consuming method.

[Chuck]

Shawn, that is brilliant!

I have been wondering about using multiple molds.

Take them out of the oven one at a time and leave the
others in there so they stay hot.

That is about the best suggestion I've heard in a long time!

Thanks for posting that!

Chuck