[78-L] Disc Rot in Pearl Music from the New York Stage

[Christopher Steward]

There is reference to the problem with the RCAs in an article in the Gramophone magazine of August 2002 (p. 105), and a follow-up letter in the November edition (p. 23). I haven't found any reference to the Pearl Caruso problem in the Gramophone archive (viewable at Gramophone.net)
Chris

--- On Mon, 3/8/09, Jeff Sultanof <jeffsultanof at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Jeff Sultanof <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Disc Rot in Pearl Music from the New York Stage
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Date: Monday, 3 August, 2009, 5:03 AM


Dr. Biel,

Thanks for refreshing my memory. I remember the problems with the RCA
Caruso. Back up the truck indeed!

However, the Pearl Caruso was in fact affected by bronzing as well. My
cousin had a copy of this box and several discs were affected; he was the
person who told me about the problem. He of course sent for replacements and
got them quickly, as did I when I asked for new copies of discs for two of
the Broadway sets. I specifically remember he read about the replacement
offer in a British classical music publication. I am due to see him when I
get back to New Jersey, and will ask him which magazine had the article.

Jeff Sultanof

On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 7:11 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> From: Jeff Sultanof <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
> > I've been on vacation and am only now catching up on e-mail.
>
> OK Guys, back up the truck.
>
> > Back in the late 90s as I recall, there was a short article
> > in a British publication about Pearl's complete Caruso box
> > having certain discs spread with rot (these were pressed by PDO).
>
> Nope, it was RCA's box set with the reproduction batwing Red Seal.  The
> red ink ate thru the protective lacquer.  They repressed it without the
> red ink, and this is the version I have.  I've been looking for a red
> example for demonstration purposes.  (Some people think that the
> unplayable RCA discs sound better than the playable ones!)  (I recently
> bought about 30 LaserDiscs --cheap-- and discovered DGG 072 223 1,
> Mahler 1 & 4 Bernstein Vienna Phil was playable but had a very noisy
> picture and partly cloudy reflective surfaces.  Ironically, the
> cloudiest part was near the rim but that is the part at the end of the
> sides with the best picture.  The disc was made in England with a 1990 P
> copyright.)
>
> > I don't remember now why this occured (this was not the same
> > as laser disc rot, which was caused by the glue binding the
> > two sides of the disc together).
>
> The RCA Caruso problem and the Nimbus problem were both related to ink,
> and this was similar to the LaserDisc glue problem.  The PDO Blackburn
> problem is that instead of using aluminum they used silver (!!!) for the
> reflective layer, and the protective lacquer is unfortunately permeable
> by sulfur which interacted with the silver but wouldn't have affected
> aluminum.  Sulfur is used as one of the bleaching agents in the paper
> used in some of the inserts and especially in the sleeves used for CD
> Singles.  The first discs to show the problem were the CD singles.
>
> >> The disc rot in Volume 4 is red or dark orange and
> >> is present on the outside edge, affecting only the
> >> last few tracks of each CD. Sammy Jones
>
> It got the nickname "bronzing" since the coloring of the metal looks a
> bit like bronze.
>
> > Pearl isolated the problem to the Caruso, the four Broadway
> > boxes and a few other titles, and asked purchasers to send
> > these discs to them for replacements.
>
> Actually the PDO Blackburn problem relates to several years worth of
> pressings, and I thought that the Pearl Caruso sets were made after the
> change.  PDO was responsible for replacing hundreds and hundreds of
> different titles on many different labels, but they stopped doing it
> about two years ago.  Some of the individual labels might still be doing
> exchanges as a good will gesture.
>
> > The ones that were pressed later do not have this problem.
>
> They switched back to aluminum and changed the lacquer formula.
>
> > I should check my volume 4 set as well, but am still in Flordia.
> > Jeff Sultanof
>
> OK guys, back up the truck!
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 2:52 PM, Sammy Jones <sjones69 at bellsouth.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Volumes 1 through 3 seem to be okay, but I bought
> > those MUCH later than I did Volume 4 (crazy, I know).
> > As best as I can tell I got Volume 4 in about 1997,
> > and Volumes 1 through 3 around 2003 or 2004. I wonder
> > if they are from different press runs. Do Pearls have
> > a well known problem with this? Should I clone the ones
> > that are still okay.  The disc rot in Volume 4 is red
> > or dark orange and is present on the outside edge,
> > affecting only the last few tracks of each CD. Sammy Jones
>
>
>  > > I can't help you because I have had these sets on my wish list for
>  > > years
>  > > but haven't gotten around to getting them. It's nice to know that
> at
>  > > least Vol 4 is on the list for self destruction. How are the other
>  > > three volumes doing? I've got about a half dozen Pearl's I'm
> watching
>  > > that still play. I ought to do clones anyway.
>  > >
>  > > Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com
>
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