Re: engineers-- I need advice!!!

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

At 11:29 PM 7/6/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Amidst all the wonderful stuff I got from Eunice Randall's home was
>something I had never seen before.  It looks like a record (a BIG record,
>like the old 78s only larger, like an lp from the 1970s) except it is made
>of... steel, or perhaps aluminum.  It says on it "do not use steel needles;
>use only fibre or bamboo needles".  I know we have some collectors on this
>list-- what do I have, and what do I play it on?  I'm assuming it is some
>kind of transcription, but again, I never saw one that is so obviously NOT
>vinyl or wax..       
>
Dollars to donuts (err, records) it's a master of an electrical
transcription (ET, for short). ETs were 16 in. in diameter and played at
33-1/3 RPM. They played at 33-1/3 years and years before the first
commercial LP reords came out. In all probability, the disk is recorded from
the center out (the reverse of what was normal for 33-1/3, 45, and 78 RPM
commercial records. The reason for the backwards recording was so that the
recording lathe would throw the metal chips onto the area that had already
been recorded rather than onto the area that was about to be cut. I don't
know the material. A refrigerator magnet will tell you if it's steel or not.
If it's not magnetic, your guess of aluminum sounds like a good one.

ETs normally played for 15 minutes per side and usually were recorded on one
side only. The reason that the playing time was so short despite the slow
speed and the large diameter was that the grooves were fat and far apart,
like those on 78-RPM records, not thin and close together like those on
33-1/3 and 45-RPM commercial records. So-called transcription turntables,
with 16-in.-D platters and long tone arms, were very common at radio
stations in the 40s and 50s. Before the advent of 45-RPM records, the
turntables had 33-1/3 an 78 RPM speeds. You need to find one. If you can't
find a collector who has one in working order, you might contact the
Smithsonian; I'm sure they have at least one.

As for the nonmetallic needle, I bet that someplace that sells old 78 RPM
records might have those. Although it sounds scary, you might be OK using a
relatively modern phono cartridge with a diamond-tipped stylus. That
transcription was apparently made before electromechancial recording
technology had progressed to the point where it stopped progressing--with
the introduction of CDs. Back when that recording was made, the needle
pressed against the record with much more force than the cartridges of the
mid-70s did. If you can find a relatively modern cartridge with a
broad-tipped stylus intended for playing 78-RPM records, you might be able
to play the transcription without damaging it.

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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