The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I know this is a forum for phonograph recordings, but I know there are many here who also collect vinyls as well. I picked up about 50 16 inch 33 ⅓ rpm records awhile ago. How do i listen to them?

They are much too big for my vinyl record players, but the 16 inch turntable are really expensive! Is there another way to listen to these records?

Also... do they have much worth?

I bought a 16" disc a long time ago. Had no way to play it for years until I decided to try using my little toy Soundwagon on it. It worked well enough that I could listen to the whole recording. The Soundwagon was in the shape of a 4-½" long VW bus that would drive around on the record. Apparently they are quite the collector's item now, so maybe a Rokblok, a similar recently made product would work as well. Warning: these have the fidelity of a 1960's pocket transistor radio.

okay! Ill see what I can do!

Or you could hit a few garage sales in search of a kiddie's transistor record player that plays 33-⅓, and extend the tonearm a couple of inches and relocate it a few inches farther from the spindle. Probably a better choice if you've got 50 records to go through.

Detrbear wrote:I bought a 16" disc a long time ago. Had no way to play it for years until I decided to try using my little toy Soundwagon on it. It worked well enough that I could listen to the whole recording. The Soundwagon was in the shape of a 4-½" long VW bus that would drive around on the record. Apparently they are quite the collector's item now, so maybe a Rokblok, a similar recently made product would work as well. Warning: these have the fidelity of a 1960's pocket transistor radio.

LOL, not to mention record wear. Those things were lame THEN, and this is coming from a VW and record guy!

I do appreciate the thought that went into it, though. They had to gradually slow down the motor as it traveled toward the end of the record to maintain the 33-⅓ "laps per minute".

16" discs were the standard size for late 1920's Vitaphone sound on disc film releases such as The Jazz Singer and hundreds more, and were also adopted as the standard size for pre-recorded radio transcriptions, as at 33 ⅓ rpm you could get 15 minutes to a side with standard groove width (not micro groove). They were common up through the 1950's to distribute radio programs on. Universally all Radio Stations had turntables that could play these discs. Some school record players from vendors such as Califone, Nutone and others made models that would play them. One turntable vendor will modify a modern turntable to play them. It's not difficult to find a way to hear them.

Phototone wrote:16" discs were the standard size for late 1920's Vitaphone sound on disc film releases such as The Jazz Singer and hundreds more, and were also adopted as the standard size for pre-recorded radio transcriptions, as at 33 ⅓ rpm you could get 15 minutes to a side with standard groove width (not micro groove). They were common up through the 1950's to distribute radio programs on. Universally all Radio Stations had turntables that could play these discs. Some school record players from vendors such as Califone, Nutone and others made models that would play them. One turntable vendor will modify a modern turntable to play them. It's not difficult to find a way to hear them.

thank you

The Voice of America was a widely distributed program for radio stations.

Are they hard to find?