The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi all:

In 2012, I plan on having some cylinders released of older material in 2 minute and possibly 4 minute format. These cylinders are made in England and are really nice. The initial costs of making a mould and then the copies, boxes, labels etc. can add up quick. I have done projects in the past and usually am lucky to break even. We have all been there as collectors in one way or another.

Some of the titles I would like to get feedback on are as follows:

2 minute

"Laughing Song".......... George W. Johnson
"Come Josephine in my flying machine"..... Debating Ada Jones with Billy Murray or with Walter Van Brunt
"Roosevelts Rough Riders March"..... (brown color to match brown wax)
"The Night Alarm" - brown to match brown wax


4 minute
"Fire!" - Earl Olivers Jazz Babies (from Diamond Disc)
"Rollem Girls" - Florida Four
"Sometimes I'm Happy" - Vaughn Deleath

Let me know any suggestions...prices will be around $ 99.00 each to cover costs.

I think the best version of "Come Josephine In My Flying Machine" is the Jones / Murray duet on 4 minute Edison, I'd be in for one of those! "Fire!" is a great record, it's a Diamond Disc I play often! Gotta love Harry Reser!

Sean

As for 4-minute cylinders: any good titles from the wax Amberols.....

Lucius1958 wrote:As for 4-minute cylinders: any good titles from the wax Amberols.....

Totally agree. There really were some fantastic recordings made on 4M wax that I cant believe never made it to blue amberol. They always pick on me by Ada Jones, Is anybody looking for a widow & Pull yourselves together girls by Florrie Forde, and A Tale of Paris by Billy Williams are just 4 of many I can think of.
I'd have no hesitation paying $100 for any of those in a vinyl cylinder.

That would be a good idea to release some good titles from the Wax Amberols since they are soooo fragile and some of the titles never made it to the Blue Amberol. This will be around the spring before I can get it started. But will let all fellow collectors know when things get started up and available.

I vote for those from wax Amberols. I had yet another one self destruct this week. I presume it was temperature change. I want to tell them that unfortunately I am not responsible for winter, so stop splitting in the box.
JIm

There are so many good titles on Wax Amberols, and they are so fragile, so yes. Yes, cylinders are expensive to make. I wonder if the cracking on them had anything to do with spin molding? The original molds for these are bell shaped, that is one end is closed and the other open. (Ron D wrote an article from the American Machinist of the late GM and wax Amberol production, pretty much an automated affair, each machine produced 7000 records a day. Those of you I am sure read it in the MAPS last issue. I am lucky if I can make 12 blanks in one day! Oh by the way, the new article on the cylinder production, I was getting flack from you guys a few years ago about placing cooling cylinders on mandrels so they do not warp, and the new article proves this point. There are trays with inserts for metal pegs, and after the records are ribbed and reamed, they are set on the metal pegs for about two hours, and are pressed off to keep the molded records true. The new wax I am making currently is so much like the original waxes because bovine based double pressed stearic is used. It is not only the formula amounts that is critical, but the way it is combined, and after over 12,000 experiments, I have finally produced a wax that does not have any bubbles stars or streaks in it, you can crack one of them open there is no crystaline structure to the mass, but even, as if you broke open a Hershey bar. Lets just say, if you have a basic formula, you have more chance of making it wrong, than right, even though all amounts are exact, each component must be processed and added at a definite temperature and time, and emulsified a certain way, and cooled and reheated exactly, otherwise, a crystaline structure will issue, or fog. I am happy to produce the only properly emulsified wax mass in the 21st century. I though do not mass produce them like the other person, I take much time.

Others may disagree, and probably will, but please don't do the gimmicky stuff, like the Laughing Record. Please pick some of the better quality music that can be harder to find. Come Josephine is a great choice as are some of your other picks.

How do people feel about recording music that's not necessarily from the cylinder era? 30's - 40's blues/jazz? Some things wouldn't sound right coming out of a cylinder player's horn, (Hound Dog comes to mind), but there may be some others that would be fun to try.