Robins Egg Blue Amberols

[Lenoirstreetguy]

In the past four months I've found more cylinders " in the wild" than I have in the past 10 years. Today it was 1743 On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine. It's a piece which amuses me beyond measure: it was Gerturde Stein's favourite song.I have two other copies all on robin's egg Blue Amberols: you know, the ones made with the wrong dye that wear terribly? The darker ones of course are much more durable. Today's copy is perfect: with a flat end too, so I thought just for fun I'd show the difference a little dye makes in durability. They're the same take but the dark one is from the mould number 1. The light blue is from mould 23.
Do any of you folks have any light blue's that have stood up over time? All mine are like this one. And when exactly did they issue these and for how long? I think it was in late 1913, but I wonder how long it was before the dealers had hysterics.

Jim

[EdisonSquirrel]

Jim,

My copy of Put on your old grey bonnet (BA 1575; Take 6, Mold 26) is just as worn as yours, yet the sound is quite good despite the prominent whitish streaks on the cylinder.



Rocky

[Valecnik]

Jim,

My copy of Put on your old grey bonnet (BA 1575; Take 6, Mold 26) is just as worn as yours, yet the sound is quite good despite the prominent whitish streaks on the cylinder.



Rocky

I also have a few of these that look terrible but yet sound like new. I have not studied it much but had thought the dye wore off for some reason without damaging the playing surface?

[SonnyPhono]

I'm with you Valecnik. I have dozens of these light blue cylinders that at first appearance look shot. But I play them and they sound just fine. It's like the dye faded or something. But the recordings seem to be preserved on the ones that I have. Strange...

[hillndalefan]

I would need to refresh my reading on this subject, but I remember reading some years ago that Edison had experimented with a different dye for his celluloid at one time because his main supply had become either too slow or too expensive. He soon found that there were qualities that changed in the record material with the new [lighter blue] dye that were not in a positive direction. Every one I have heard has sounded terrible [not aging well under the usual playings 60 or more years can give one of these], and that is why they went back to the darker dyes. Late Blue Amberol cylinders have almost a Midnight Blue color. Bob Ault