Playing vinyl records

[Curt A]

"Can you play a vinyl record on a gramophone?"
It depends on what your definition of "play" is...
Simple answer: NO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsMrhGQyOc

[edisonplayer]

The tone arm on a windup machine is too heavy for vinyl records.edisonplayer.

[epigramophone]

Many beginners and even some eBay sellers think that all records, including 78's, are vinyl. They have never heard of shellac.

[m_nakamura]

I'm new to shellac and just figured this out.

[paradroid1793]

Yeah. It sounds terrible plus you can wear or scratch the record very easily because of the soundbox’s weight.

[OrthoFan]

The sound box's/tonearm's weight (and mass) is the major issue, in term's of the record's surface. But, this is also coupled with the fact that an LP's groove width is much finer than a 78 record's groove.

LP's groove width -- Typically around 0.04 - 0.08mm (1.6 - 3 mils) wide.
78's groove width -- from 2.5 to 4 mils before the 1940s

This means that an extremely fine needle tip would be required.

Along with this, virtually all LPs are stereo, and in order to track the groove, the needle-bar must be able to move in a lateral as well as a vertical direction--with virtually no resistance.

[Lah Ca]

Dunno, eh?

Like ... cuz ... I see ... like ... so many postings on CL and FBM .... like with pics of windup "stereos" .... like ... with LPs on the turntables and tonearms down .... an' like ... I'm sure, eh, that the sellers know what they're doin', eh?

[Nat]

I tried to play one of those cool Edison tube things on my Victrola, but couldn't figure out How to do it! Can anyone help? /s

[dennis]

You have to stomp the Edison tube flat, then you can play it on your Viccatorola.

[jamiegramo]

Many beginners and even some eBay sellers think that all records, including 78's, are vinyl. They have never heard of shellac.

I believe that eBay itself is mainly responsible for this, it categorises ‘all’ records as ‘Vinyl Records’. There is no separate category for ‘Shellac’ creating the false impression that all records are vinyl and miseducating the public.