[78-L] Can someone help this collectore re: Home Recordings like Record Disc Co?

[Chris Zwarg]

At 16:34 16.11.2008, you wrote:

>Collector Greg Cline posted this on Phonolist but I know there are more "experts" here who can help him. He is not a 78-L member.
> 
>Please read his question and email him DIRECT at: DrGregC at msn.com
> 
>Thanks folks!
> 
>Steve
> 
>Although this may be a little off-topic, I recently came into possession of a cache of old recordings made by my uncle in 1946. These are transcriptions of the voices of my family 62 years ago. Pretty cool. He also recorded some radio programs including a game between the Yankees & the Brooklyn Dodgers.In addition to The Record Disc Corp., there are also transcription recordings on National Recording Disc, Melodisc, Century Radio Co., The Recordisc Corp., Philco Safety Record, and the Wilcox-Gay Corp. Some are recorded at 78 rpm, but most are 33 1/3.In addition to getting more information about this whole recording process, I need to solve a problem. The discs are recorded on different substrates. Paper, aluminum, and some type of magnetic iron or steel. The most valuable recordings are on the magnetic steel records.In addition to my many victrolas, I have two fully functional turntables with modern magnetic cartridges. I cannot play the discs. The cartridge gets sucked flat 
> onto the steel records, compressing the cantilever & stylus by magnetic attraction.So. How do I play these recordings? My only solution is to find an old record player with an inexpensive crystal cartridge. Any other ideas? Any insight into this process is greatly appreciated.

Try to reduce the tracking weight; maybe you can get the tonearm counterweight outwards far enough to counteract the magnetic attraction. Also, there are dedicated 78rpm styli (like the Shure N44/C) whose cantilevers are probably stiff enough to withstand the downwards magnetic force. A high-compliance cantilever, as you seem to be using, will give more trouble than joy when trying to play ancient home recordings which are more often than not worn and/or warped and will likely need a higher than usual tracking force (which the "soft" cantilever won't support even without magnetism) to reproduce optimally without skipping and undue rumble.

A crystal cartridge would be the "last straw" only, as these usually have lower fidelity than you'd wish and often don't work together well with solid-state amplifiers (hum problems compounded by a lack of bass response, caused by the very high impedance of most crystal cartridges).

Chris Zwarg