The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

There is a company in England that manufactures high quality cylinder recordings, called Vulcan Records (www.vulcanrecords.com). According to their website, they can also make cylinders from original records, CD's or MP3's. I am seriously thinking of having them make a cylinder of a Beatles song, purely for the novelty aspect of it. I love playing my phonograph for people, and I can just see the faces of folks when they hear something like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" coming out of the horn! Comments?

There's also Wizard records in USA- I think Vulcan use the same 2 minute moulds (from Peter Dilg)
I'm not sure if Wizard are offering 4 minute cylinders yet though.

I know what it's like to surprize people with a newish tune coming from a century old phonograph.
I recorded a few modernish tunes- Kylie Minogue, Eminem, Abba etc, and I usually throw one of those on the mandrel to start with if I'm showing my machines to someone for the first time.

I guess you'd have to contact Vulcan (or Wizard) to find out if they'd be able to do something like "The Beatles" due to copyright issues. Reproducing a record for sale is a little different to a home recording I would imagine.
I don't think Vulcan would charge lightly for the service either, so it might be more practical to buy a recorder & few blanks & make your own. They don't sound too bad if you get a good recording.

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

It sure does sound bizzare to hear Kylie comng out of an Edison phono! An interesting experiment though

RJ

I am sure they would do a Beatles cylinder for personal use but be prepared to make a considerable investment. This is a real advanced process where the manufacture of a galvanic master is required. They do a marvelous job and I could not have been more satisfied.

However, a good wax home recording will certainly cost a fragment of it and should serve you fine for this purpose. A few years ago I recorded a Chuck Berry tune on a wax blank which came out quite nicely.

I was thinking about what the limitations on songs because of the highs and lows. Just trying to figure how to pick a song that would play well when played mechanically instead of electrically. I have to check Wizard.

Just tried to Google Wizard Records and could find no listing. Does anyone have a web address for them?

If you want to get one of Peter's Wizard records, give him a call:

Baldwin Antiques Center
906 Merrick Road
Baldwin, NY 11510-3335

Phone: (516) 867-9842

egambino wrote:I was thinking about what the limitations on songs because of the highs and lows.

Well, certainly you can get more out of a reproducer than you think - though it's nothing hi-fi-like. I know that Shawn Borri had been successfull with using a modern cutting head that was capable of frequencies up to 20 KHz. About 6 years ago I heard one of his wax recordings of an AC/DC song, however, it was played electrically. Nevertheless, the sound quality was more than astounding. It did sound like it was coming from a modern tape.

That would be worth a try. Of course, there is the expense of the recording reproducer...but I could make quite a few. Vulcan got back to me with a price. $306.00 to do the mold, and you get 2 copies of the cylinder. You own the mold, so later if you wanted more copies you just pay something like $15 per copy. That's just for one title. Sure got that idea out of my head fast!

I'm not sure what recorders cost over there, but the last one I got was a little over $50. The extra $250 would buy you a lot of blanks, and then you have the fun of experimenting with different recording technics & music. I didn't even have a recording horn at the time I did the Kylie recording above, so I just made one from cardboard.

On ebay there is 2 that seem to be complete and working. One is $350.00 and the other is $275.00. There are a few more that either need rebuilding or are missing parts. I may have to wait a while to see if I can find one for less. Even a reproduction would be fine for my purposes.