[78-L] 'Modern' 78s.

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill McClung" <bmcclung at ix.netcom.com>
<snip>
> I've got George Benson on Groove vinyl 78 but that would be part of RCA.
> Seems like a couple of my Sam Butera Groove 78s are vinyl as well.
> And didn't MGM have their "unbreakable with normal use" 78s which were a
> composite of materials?
>
"Unbreakable" part-vinyl 78's were sold by MANY labels in the 
fifties...after all,
most players used "light-weight" arms which tracked at an ounce or so, and 
thus
didn't destroy those records in the first few playings!
>
> Because vinyl records were produced in the mid-1940s I'm amazed more 78s
> weren't produced in that way.
>
Too many record buyers, especially in the late forties, still had old 
players
which quickly destroyed vinyl 78's! After all, there was virtually no 
production
of "household devices" from 1941 until the late forties, due to wartime 
shortages;
so even those who wanted a new player with a light-weight arm had no way to
acquire one. From 1948 onward, folks wanted new "multi-speed" players, and
these had to have light-weight arms, since the new 45's and LP's were all 
vinyl!

Steven C. Barr