The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just thought I'd share this, in case you guys hadn't heard about this oddity. Besides my interest in old phonographs, I'm also a big fan of the Beach Boys. This year, in celebration of record store day, Capitol records put out a set with two ten-inch 78rpm discs (!!!) featuring "Good Vibrations" and a few other cuts. What a strange thing to do, but it was so strange that I had to pick one up:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... D&viewitem

The discs are vinyl, and I'm not sure if they're using 1 mil or 3 mil grooves. The fans on the Beach Boys message board are quite perplexed by this thing, and a few jokes about having "Fun Fun Fun" issued on cylinder next year have been exchanged. I'd definitely buy that!!

I assume they were made for jukeboxes and so should be played with a 2.7 or 3.0 mil stylus. That is done a lot.
Some artist do issue one microgroove 78, probably because of superior soundquality as result of the higher groove speed.

I assume they were made for jukeboxes and so should be played with a 2.7 or 3.0 mil stylus. That is done a lot.
Some artist do issue one microgroove 78, probably because of superior soundquality as result of the higher groove speed.

Here's the video for these vinyl discs. This record appears to have a microgroove - so it's not a big deal as a Beatles 78rpm.

[youtubehq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvUOrjK7qRc[/youtubehq]

[youtubehq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeYi0RA2_7A[/youtubehq]

Mark.

These are mono and microgroove discs. I picked up two sets, one to play and one to keep sealed. They're very cool.

Sean

The Beatles 78s were pressed in South Africa (some say also in India) in the sixties for the local market. They are the real stuff. Sound wise inferior to the original singles - I've heard a mint copy - but nice to have for a collector. Not particularly rare though, not like an original Elvis on Sun.