[78-L] One Sided Red Vocalion Records..??

[zimrec at juno.com]

Interesting thing about the Vocalion red shellac records.  As I’ve reported in this forum in the past, I reinforce radial cracked records and do other repairs using methods shown me by John R.T. Davies.  There is a problem I unexpectedly encountered with the red Vocalions.  I came across a Yiddish one in shiny E plus condition.  The only problem was a small rim chip on one side which, while not extending all the way through the lead in area, was thin enough for me to be concerned that, left unattended, could cause problems later.  My normal method of working with rim chips is to find compatible shellac from a broken or valueless record, preferably on same label and same vintage.  Using a straight soldering iron, I then melt shellac from the broken record into the damaged area of the good record.  Some shellacs are easier to work with than others.  Brown shellac Perfects are difficult because, when the shellac melts, it becomes granular.  The red Vocalions do not melt.  At least, my soldering iron doesn’t seem to get hot enough to do so.

My solution was to take a file to a broken red Vocalion and make a powder, which I then mixed with a two-step epoxy.  But that created another problem.  Usually, when I make repairs to the edge of shellac records, I use a single edge razor to shave away the excess so that the surface of the repaired area is even and flat with the rest of the disc.  Dried epoxy, however, cannot be cut with the razor.  The only way I was able to flatten the slight bulge at the lead-in on the Yiddish record was to use fine sand paper.  That leaves an area that is dull in finish compared to the rest of the shiny disc.  When the opportunity to work on a red Vocalion next presented itself, I found that I could use the razor to slice the epoxy mixture if I didn’t wait until it completely dried.

Art

===================================================================
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:55:31 -0700
From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] One Sided Red Vocalion Records..??
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID:
	<20091103225531.b192746a6fddb703927f95bcf5fd261f.bd4d24e56f.wbe at email.secureserver.net
>
	
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Red Records Are Best.

Mike (been reading too many record sleeves) Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 

-------- Original Message --------

From: "Steven C. Barr" <stevenc at interlinks.net>


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Miller" <smille1 at nycap.rr.com>
> No, the first Vocalions (OK, Aeolian-Vocalions) were on black shellac and
> vertically cut as well. Laterals came out on black shellac in what, 1919?
> Then, the red shellac followed shortly after and labels became simply
> "Vocalion".
>
I often forget the 12xxx vertical Vocalions; this is somewhat odd, since
I 
bought
around a dozen at a yard sale here in Oshawa, Ont'o. several years ago!
I'd 
have
to dig through my "half-vast" shellac archive to establish the facts
about 
when
Vocalion started "red" records...

Steven C. Barr


____________________________________________________________
Criminal Justice Degrees
Start your criminal justice career. Earn your degree 100% online!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=Jlyda4t5FLO-nsmXkDzX1QAAJ1AuJEYQAH2je3i-R67rd8P6AAQAAAAFAAAAAN0ktD8AAAMlAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQKAAAAAA=