The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently picked up a large lot of early Edison and Columbia black cylinders -- most are the kind that don't have any information embossed in the rim. They look very clean, and don't appear to have much wear, but they don't sound terribly clear; I have tried them on several different machines, too, including Edisons with C reproducers, and Columbias with floating reproducers. All the reproducers are good, so they're not the problem. The only thing I can add about the cylinders that may be useful to someone is that they seem, somehow, "soft," or "tacky," with a kind of cloudiness (definitely not mold, though; I am all too familiar with that, sadly) on the wax. You can see the difference between an unplayed section and a section you have just played; the latter is darker. Any theories?

The soft, tacky, cloudiness seems to indicate that your clean cylinders are not clean. Does the sound improve after multiple plays?

Good clear photos may help us understand better.

James.

JerryVan wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:45 pm Does the sound improve after multiple plays?

Yes, it does. Still not great, but noticeably better.

Did you clean the stylus after playing the "cloudy" portions of the cylinder? Whatever it is, it's probably gunking up the stylus.

If you've been playing a lot of Indestructibles or other celluloid cylinders in the past, then the sapphire could be damaged.

Thanks, everyone. I do clean the stylus after each play, and the sound is equally bad on two different kinds of reproducers. I've attached three pictures of the same cylinder from the same angle, with different lighting; the dark areas, like the one up toward the top (or the right, as the photos are oriented before you click on them), is where the cylinder has been played recently. I hope this helps you all pinpoint the issue.

I just took out another cylinder that I hadn't played yet, and played the first half. These pictures show the contrast even better.

Have you thought of washing the cylinders to clear out any muck that might be at the bottom of the grooves (similar to washing dirty records)?

I freely admit that I'm a novice with cylinders and cylinder machines. However, I can't help worrying that this might be a damaged stylus, a possibility that someone has suggested in a post above. And that the changed visual appearance of the cylinders might be permanent damage. I have a cylinder phonograph which is doing a similar thing, and I won't use it again until I get the reproducer rebuilt or source one in good order. Is yours producing any dust as it plays, or fine particles on the cylinder surface? Even just a little? To my mind, that would make this hypothesis pretty much definite.