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Hey everyone,

My latest purchase arrived today. It's an unreleased test pressing of "Ain't Misbehavin'" by American cabaret artist Barrie Oliver. It's a great track! I'm puzzled by a note on the sleeve though, it states "polystyrene pressing. Tracking force must not exceed 4 grammes".

Any ideas?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXPubb8rpxw[/youtube]

Enjoy!

Great tune!

Polystyrene was a cheaper material than vinyl for pressing records on. It tends to wear out more quickly. Anything over 4 grams tracking force would probably cause some wear to happen. There was a thread someplace where Greg Bogantz explained the differences between polystyrene and vinyl, but I can't seem to find it!

I'll keep looking...

FOUND IT!

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 2&start=10

Sean

Thanks a lot Sean! When I saw "polystyrene" on it, I immediately thought of the white powdery stuff that you get when you buy a new TV for example.

I had no idea records were made from it, but it's a good thing that I digitised it - that recording is the second play through of it. It was graded at N- so thankfully I don't think it's had much playing

I kind of doubt you'd have much of a problem with wear on something like this, honestly. As long as you aren't tracking at 5 or more grams, I highly doubt it's going to wear, although styrene just isn't as sturdy as vinyl. I have two Rosa Ponselle RCA Victor tests that I swear are styrene pressings, they sure look and feel like they are, that I've played dozens of times and I've had no issues with, so I say enjoy it and don't be afraid to play it with (of course) modern equipment!

Sean

OrthoSean wrote: I have two Rosa Ponselle RCA Victor tests that I swear are styrene pressings,

Sean

What are those of? The 1939 78's or the 1954 Villa Pace stuff?
I ask because of seeing an old Billboard as from 1954 trumpeting a 'new' development in record production, that being injection molding, which was what was used for styrene pressings.

As for the record in the Yoo Tube video, it's stated that it's from 1929. If it is a U.K Decca (test pressing) from '29 I doubt very much it would be styrene, or have to follow being played at less than 4 grams, as the machines of the twenties tracked far in excess of that. Perhaps the sleeve is just one that got stuck on there and has nothing to do with the record.

Wolfe wrote: What are those of? The 1939 78's or the 1954 Villa Pace stuff?
I ask because of seeing an old Billboard as from 1954 trumpeting a 'new' development in record production, that being injection molding, which was what was used for styrene pressings.

As for the record in the Yoo Tube video, it's stated that it's from 1929. If it is a U.K Decca (test pressing) from '29 I doubt very much it would be styrene, or have to follow being played at less than 4 grams, as the machines of the twenties tracked far in excess of that. Perhaps the sleeve is just one that got stuck on there and has nothing to do with the record.

They're Villa Pace things, two 12 inch single faced discs. I looked at them again last night and they sure do look and feel like styrene, complete with heavy "seamed" edges. I'm guessing they are. It's much stiffer and heavier than all the vinyls I have of the Victor stuff that was done in the 80s.

As for the test Jonathan has, I'd bet it's a later test, in the 60s and 70s a lot of stuff was repressed for in-house use by record companies for possible reissue purposes that later wound up in private hands. I'm racking my brain trying to recall if I've ever seen a UK pressed 78 that was styrene and nothing is really coming to mind.

Sean

Hmm, thanks for the info Sean. How would I determine if it's styrene or not?

JHolmesesq wrote:Hmm, thanks for the info Sean. How would I determine if it's styrene or not?

You could do a wear test by allowing a modern pickup to stay in the final lead out groove and let it do 20 or 30 revolutions to see if there is any appreciable increase in surface noise or hiss. If it does then its only the lead out groove thats affected and you'd know to treat the rest of the disk very carefully.

S-B-H

OrthoSean wrote:
As for the test Jonathan has, I'd bet it's a later test

That had occurred to me too, the label font reminds me of something much later. But there's not a lot of information to be found on Barrie Oliver (1899-1991) from where I sit.