[78-L] Condition freak

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Erwin Kluwer" <ekluwer at gmail.com>
> Ok, I'll admit I am a freak when it comes to the condition of vintage
> records...
>
> I generally won't settle for a less then a E or E+ condition... Over the
> years I have a lot of desired rarities passed by because there were in 
> less
> condition (except for exceptional  rare items were virtually no better
> copies seem to exists...)
>
> Over the years I became more and more strict about this so I don't buy too
> many items because of my severance in this.. I almost don't  mind what I
> pay for a record when it's close to perfect (I always seem to  manage to
> suppress what I paid for a record, but Iam constantly bugged by it's 
> defects
> (the worst (in order of horror): a crack, greying, needle runs (very 
> visible
> on label brrrr), obvious scratch, lamination cracks, needle digs
> (small).........
>
> The worst torture for me is to purchase a rare overgraded record...
> It's becoming  a sick thing. I want even a Berliner to be  near mint, or
> Blues Paramounts.... Well guess the trouble  finding that!!
>
> My guess is that a lot of collectors are a lot less picky about a
> record's condition....Or am I mistaken...??
>
> If any out there, please come out of the closet!!  I am hoping to have
> enough troubled reactions to start a selfhelp group.
>
Well, 78's are over fifty years old...in many cases, MUCH older...and
they were usually owner by folks who weren't that careful how they
played (or handled or stored) their records. This was even MORE
true once the records ceased being "hits!" As a result, the typical 78
one finds these days would be best described as E-; no majorly
"greyed grooves,"but also no longer having the sheen of a new 78!
In fact, I would say 90% or thereabouts of my 55,050 78's would
be as above described!

However, I have always played my 78's on fifties/sixties "record
players" modified so they can be plugged into "Line In" jacks of
audio equipment...and my sound system has never been "state of
the art," either! IMO, using this approach...with a tracking pressure
of around one ounce, and ceramic cartridges...substantially reduces
the "high end" reproduction, which on most 78's contains little
important signal. In fact, I have often noticed that folks with
"state of the art" TT's feeding s-o-t-a sound systems hear much
more noise than actual recorded signal...?!

Someday it MAY be possible to feed the content of a 78 into
a super-duper-whooper computerized analysis and correction
device...which will then remove ALL extraneous content and
recreate everything that wasn't originally recorded...producing
an accurate version of the actual sound that occured at the original
session...?! Until then, one just plays the records one has and
TRIES to enjoy the sound thereon...?!

The human mind is a VERY POWERFUL editor/corrector, and
can be (and usually is) employed to enjoy as-is phonorecords...!

...stevenc