Any 78rpm record owners out there?

[David Mitchell]

Hi all,

Simple question, is there anyone else out there with 78s? I have a fair collection of Shellac 78s and a HMV 102 wind up gramophone. Just wondering if anyone else has something like it or if everyone thinks of the new fangled electrically recorded vinyl when they think of records lol.

I think one of my oldest records I have is probably a Winner record from 1922, but I probably have something older, I do have a Mimosa record though which is interesting as it was sold at Woolworths until about 1926.

P.S. when playing it with a loud needle, they are very loud lol its where the term 'put a sock in it' came from, which is why I usually play with soft needles lol

You can also see why I like vintage film cameras, I enjoy going back to the purity of the original recording medium and when you have cool hidden instructions deep within the player:

Also interesting when you have a record with this stuck on it which makes you wonder how it got here.

 

[Davie Hudson]

i have quite a few 78's all early 50's Rhythm&Blues/ Jump blues ... I dj with them at my club using a Numark tt200 deck with Ortofon 78 stylus

 

[David Mitchell]

Im looking to change to a turntable, as it doesn't wear the records, the issue with my records being older is that they didn't standardise the grooves until about 1940 lol

What would you suggest I look at getting as a starter turntable? How much was the Orthofan btw and what size stylus did you go with?

 

[Davie Hudson]

The problem with turntables, well for me anyway was finding a dj deck that played 78's, a lot of them don't but the numark does and is good value( I needed 2 obviously).The ortofon stylus was £50 approx and fits onto a standard concorde arm and the sound is AMAZING!! I played a Big Maybelle 78 at a Rockabilly do in Weston-Super-Mare and was asked to turn it down it was so loud

 

[David Mitchell]

I was looking at an Audio Technica ATLP 120, the reason being is that it has a USB output so that I am able to play the records and record the sound. Although the recording won't be as warm as the original it will mean I am able to keep the song and play it over again without wearing the record and degrading the sound. But still have the option of the experiance of playing the record every now and then. Furthermore using a normal turntable will mean that there are only a few grams of pressure on the record vs some substantial weight from the soundbox and arm on the gramophone.

Have you heard a gramophone with a loud needle lol at least with a turntable going through speakers you can turn it down lol I could hear the record standing outside the house in the garden through about 4 walls, double glazing and a floor lol

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I have 30 or so 78s, ranging from Andres Segovia playing classical guitar, to Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet. I love them, but, alas, the player is too loud for our flat, even with soft needles. I just dig it out occasionally these days. But the sound is truly wondrous

 

[David Mitchell]

What do you play it on? Would a soft needle and something in the horn not quiet it down enough? I like the fact that it works like this:

Record moves needle, needle makes movement in air = music - the actual physical movement of something reproduces sound
Light goes through camera lens, light exposes film = photograph - the light physically exposes the film

Both analogue methods have a high sample rate to reproduce the original as best it can on the recoding medium.

The same is true with digital, much like a record is to a CD as a film camera is to a digital sensor, it captures/reproduces in the same way but the sample rate isn't as high so is missing bits.

 

[Paul Lange]

Don't own any 78s but I do have this:

A Garrard 401 in a slate plinth, weighs loads but is rock solid and still works well despite its age. It does have 78 RPM as a speed selection but I don't own a 78 cartridge however.

 

[Davie Hudson]

Don't own any 78s but I do have this:

A Garrard 401 in a slate plinth, weighs loads but is rock solid and still works well despite its age. It does have 78 RPM as a speed selection but I don't own a 78 cartridge however.

very nice indeed, be a bugger to dj with though lol the quirk of the numark is it doesn't have a 78 selection, you press the 45 and 33 together

 

[David Mitchell]

Or there is this compressed air gramophone (compressed air was used for larger audiences due to the extra sound), it was used in the cinema for a continuous play of music, you can't have a record as long as the film so the next record was queued up to continuously play throughout the movie, gramophone DJ decks

 

[Davie Hudson]

Or there is this compressed air gramophone (compressed air was used for larger audiences due to the extra sound), it was used in the cinema for a continuous play of music, you can't have a record as long as the film so the next record was queued up to continuously play throughout the movie, gramophone DJ decks

Now that is brilliant !! I could only imagine the uproar if i used that hahah it was bad enough when I started using 78's it's amazing how many people thought the sound wouldn't be up to it, I heard loads of "not going to be loud enough" "going to be too tinny" etc and none of them are true when using the proper equipment ... i need to post this on facebook hahah

 

[Paul Lange]

Yep, the Garrard would be useless for DJ'ing and no buttons just a some dials connected to lumps of metal that reassuringly "clunk" when you turn them.

 

[David Mitchell]

Theres loud needles, and then there is compressed air gramophones lol a whole new level of loud

 

[Davie Hudson]

Theres loud needles, and then there is compressed air gramophones lol a whole new level of loud

even better when you allow a gorgeous sound engineer called Norah balance it all for you the club we use has a massive system and the sound is beautiful, I keep meaning to take a recording

 

[Pete Askew]

What, better than this?

 

[Paul Lange]

Looking at this I get sense there is a joke in there somewhere about how many men does it take to change a gramophone record.

 

[Pete Askew]

After the number of beers these two had had, more than two I'd say!

Reinhard (the elder - babelsberg studio photographer) has several gramophones and quite a 'collection' of 78s. A number of which have been custom balanced. Well actually, the rats have nibbled the edges!