[78-L] Pathe Records Questions

[David Lennick]

Acoustical Pathe discs are vertical cut (or hill-and-dale), like Edisons, but 
with a much wider groove. If you're playing them in stereo, you'll hear audio, 
but as soon as you press the mono button on your amp you should hear nothing 
but surface noise. So you need to reverse the phase somewhere in the chain.

And yes, some started at the center and some were recorded at 90RPM (and some 
did both).

Salabert was a prominent French music publisher which also put out discs under 
that name..from Pathe, as far as I know.

dl

Bart wrote:
> David Lennick wrote:
>> Dave Stamper was a songwriter, but I don't know anything else about these. Are 
>> they center start?
>>   
> No.  They're, well, whatever the opposite of center start is - "edge 
> start" or "conventional start"?  I determined that by direct 
> observation, not seeing a more clever way to do so: I set the tone arm 
> in the middle of the record and compared it to where it had moved after 
> a minute or so.  Assuming the rotation is clockwise.  Do all disc 
> records rotate clockwise?
> 
> But there was a simpler way to do it if my eyes hadn't glazed over when 
> I saw French writing on the label.  "Commencer par l'exterieur" and "80 
> tours a la minute". 
> 
> There is  a good bit of text on the label.  Some is obscured by  a 
> postage stamp like sticker reading "Pathe EDIFO No. 36"
> encircled by "Ste. Gle. INTle. de L'EDITION PHONOGRAPHIQUE" and  "80, 
> Rue Taitbout, Paris".   On the label itself there are listings of awards 
> like "Grand Prix 1900" and something similar for 1906 and 1908.   There 
> is also an asterix followed by "Salabert" in just about the smallest 
> type on the label.  I guess "Salabert" to be the publisher, unless there 
> was a  performer named  Salabert? - it seems to be a not uncommon name.  
> But odd for a performer to be listed in the tiniest type on the label 
> and without a first name.
> 
> Some of the other problems may apply, though.  The grooves do look 
> rather big, even to the naked eye, when compared to a
> a mid-thirties record (Melotone 13159, which I have handy).  And I fear 
> the music may be impressed on the bottom of the grooves rather than as a 
> conventional lateral recording.  Can one tell from visual inspection 
> with a loupe or magnifying glass?
> Not having a loupe or magnifying glass I used a drop of water in a 
> brandy snifter turned on its side and I think I see undulations in the 
> bottom of these large smooth sided grooves.
> 
> I saw from an online database that Dave Stamper wrote some songs (though 
> "Allo! Cheri!" is not mentioned) and was involved with Ziegfeld's shows 
> but if he he is the songwriter and not the artist then it appears the 
> artist is not named on the label on either side of the disc.  On Edison 
> cylinders for a number of years the performer was announce in the 
> recording, often by Ed Meeker.  Was the practice of announcing the 
> performer common on other labels' product?
>> You need a lot of patience to play them. Or an old Brunswick phonograph with 
>> the Ultona tone arm. Or a stylus with a huge tip, 6 mil or so, and a phase 
>> reverse switch on your setup.
>>
>> dl
>>   
> Last things first, does "a phase reverse switch" mean a stereo cartridge 
> with one side of the cartridge's output in reverse phase of its normal 
> connection so that one can capture the vertical component of the motion 
> of the stylus and ignore the Left-Right split?
>> Bart wrote:
>>   
>>> The other is a large, but slightly smaller than 12 inch, Disque Pathe 
>>> 7019, Made in France.  It features "Allo! Cheri!" Dave Stamper one step b/w
>>> Florida Petillo Tango Milano. 
>>>
>>> Can anyone tell me anything about these latter two?  I haven't heard 
>>> them.  I wonder what's on them, and I wonder what I need to play them - 
>>> as well as  the usual  questions about when they date from and even 
>>> who's performing on them - is Dave Stamper the performer or the songwriter?
>>>
>>> Bart