[78-L] Climax record abrupt start

[David Lennick]

I've seen altered discs, most notably the Jean Goldkettte "In My Merry 
Oldsmobile" where a spoken portion was masked (and I've held a vinyl test of 
the unaltered version in my hands, so my DNA is on it..now all I have to do is 
wait). But one Columbia I'm thinking of is Vess Ossman's "The Darkies' 
Awakening" which has a very wobbly first couple of revs, as if they started 
playing too early.

dl

Royal Pemberton wrote:
> Is the first groove somewhat further in from the edge of the record than
> Columbias of the period generally are?  If the groove starts 'suddenly'
> without the appearance of the groove starting 'gradually' as evidence of the
> cutter being slowly lowered onto the spinning wax, it has indeed been
> altered.
> 
> I have one record with such an alteration:  it's Columbia A 376 'Evenin'
> time at Punkin Centre' (mx 1757-2) but as a 'Standard'.  Usually grooves
> begin between 5/16" and 3/8" in from the edge; this side starts more like
> 1/2" in.  I could detect at the point the groove begins that Cal Stewart had
> just said something (now I feel sure it was 'Columbia record') just as the
> opening sound effect began.  The flip, 'I'se gwine back to Dixie' by 'Male
> quartet' (mx 753) starts about 5/16" from the edge, and is not announced,
> and is hence unaltered.  (Strangest of all, many years ago, the disc fell
> out of my hands and dropped about a foot and a half onto a wooden floor.
> The disc snapped almost perfectly in half, revealing its non-laminated
> construction.)
> 
> If I get a chance, I will take a photo of the disc at the points where the
> grooves begin, so you can see the difference.
> 
> On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 8:19 AM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>wrote:
> 
>> I've had the occasional very early Columbia that seemed to start with less
>> than
>> half a revolution and before the cutter had even determined an even depth.
>>
>> dl
>>
>> Bryan Wright wrote:
>>> I just picked up a Climax Double Disk record (K412), one side of which
>>> uses Columbia matrix 532-2, a xylophone solo by Charles Lowe of
>>> "Suwannee River" [sic] recorded January 1902. I was surprised when
>>> starting the record to hear that the beginning of the recording is
>>> clipped. I place the needle at the very start of the groove, but  the
>>> piano introduction is already in progress. I'm wondering if this might
>>> have originally been an announced record (mentioning Columbia at the
>>> start) and perhaps the Climax "reissue" I have had those first few
>>> revolutions of the groove polished away to remove the announcement?
>>> The record doesn't show any signs of tampering -- i.e., the outer edge
>>> looks like any other Columbia from the period, so any attempt to
>>> remove part of the groove must have been *very* well done. Does anyone
>>> have the original Columbia issue for comparison? Are clipped openings
>>> on Columbia-derived pressings such as this common?
>>>
>>> Bryan W.
>>> __________________