[78-L] Presto cutter

[Michael Biel]

On 5/16/09, Bertrand CHAUMELLE <chaumelle at orange.fr> wrote:
> > Thanks, but there is a 78/33 selector... Was it on the market
> > that long ?   BC

From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
> 33 rpm was intended for transcriptions, but the speed was first used
> in the mid-1920s for the Vitaphone soundtrack recordings.

I don't think that Presto ever made a lacquer cutter that did not
operate at both 33 and 78.  The 6 series was on the market until the
very end in the mid-50s.  They eventually marketed an adapter to allow
for cutting at 45 and another adapter for microgroove threading.

Royal Pemberton a écrit :
>>> The 6N was introduced in May 1941.

I don't have my paperwork with me, but I think that what is the 6 series
was instituted by Presto at the very beginning in 1934 but might not
have been given its model number until later.  It is the amplifiers that
were used with it that changed more than the separate cutting lathes. 
In the case of this specific deck, the 1-D cutter head it has is post
war.  The first ones would have come with an unmarked cutter head made
by Audak, and later pre-war machines would have come with Presto 1-C
heads.  Naturally the heads could have been interchanged and updated, so
the age of the machine itself would not be told completely by what head
it has on it.  I have a Cook head that could be put on my Prestos, and
some might even be found with a stereo head.  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com