The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello everyone,

I have a Jedson Triphonic, which is a knockoff cabinet brand from the 1920s.
I played a 78 rpm shellac record on it and I noticed the day after that there are multiple straight diagonal cracks on the record (the record is not broken into pieces) just scratches on the surface.
Is this bad luck? Or cant my machine play newer shellac records? The record I played was from the early 50s.
Can someone please explain it to me.

I don't think just playing a record would crack it. I'd be more suspicious of how it was stored--put under stress in a plain paper cover? exposed to temperature extremes?--or it could be, as you posit, just bad luck. I have once or twice had a record crack for no apparent reason while just sitting undisturbed on the shelf. All that said, I'm not a big fan of playing late '40s/'50s records on '20s machines that were never meant for each other; the result tends to be less-than-ideal sound and more-than-ideal wear, considering that the later records weren't formulated to withstand as much tracking force. A matter of personal taste, of course, and less of an issue, if one at all, if you have one of the retrofit reproducers designed for electrical recordings.

I can nearly guarantee that your phonograph is innocent of this crime. It kind of appears that your record may have lamination cracks, which are superficial cracks in the record surface and not cracks that go all the way through from one side of the record to the other. Does that seem like what you're seeing?

Thats what it looks like yeah, surface scratches but I'm still afraid to play the record though, or is that possible?

I have them stored in a special briefcase specially for 78s, it is stored horizontally.

If you really want to preserve your records then don't play them on any acoustic phonograph, especially records from the 50's, which shouldn't be played on an acoustic machine anyway.

JerryVan wrote: Mon Oct 20, 2025 5:36 pm If you really want to preserve your records then don't play them on any acoustic phonograph, especially records from the 50's, which shouldn't be played on an acoustic machine anyway.

What JerryVan said. These 78s from the 50s were designed to be used on the "newer" technology of lighter tonearms, no steel disposable needles. They were electrically recorded and the composition of the shellac changed, some even being pressed on vinyl. Even the Orthophonic machines of the electrical period (late 20s to 30s) are too heavy for these. Doesn't mean folks didn't play them on those machines, but explains why so many found in the wild are hard to listen to today.